Kamakura event

Greg

Okay. Going to Kamakura today. Pictures and movies to fill this space by the time many of you wake up.

Cap'n Carter

I'm up and I don't see nothing

Buuhan1

As am I. And I'm gonna be up all night seeing how I woke at 5pm.

tonitonichopper

I almost forgot, hope you and Crossbones have fun. Bring back some Videos and Pictures please!

Greg

I dunno who moved this but thank you. I've gotten so used to posting in the manga section. Okay, heading out now.

Buuhan1

Goodluck, Greg! Have a blast!

Greg

Hopefully this picture of some sexy ass mofo I know that happens to be wearing a SUPER hat, skull bandana and Kaizoku Ou Liquor t-shirt will tide everyone over.

tongue firmly planted in cheek

Mr. All Sunday

Is that your brother Greg?

raj

So when do we have to sleep for this to work?

Buuhan1

@Greg:

Hopefully this picture of some sexy ass mofo I know that happens to be wearing a SUPER hat, skull bandana and Kaizoku Ou Liquor t-shirt will tide everyone over.

[qimg]http://www.thegrandline.com/jp2006/samf.JPG[/qimg]

tongue firmly planted in cheek

Is that a pink Tweety?

What-the-fuck.

Greg

This post is deleted!

Greg

Okay, this summer's OP-themed event was a 'Stamp Rally' called Kamakura Hijack. Stamp rallies are common activities in Japanese historic or famous places as an event for children. Basically 'Go here, find the station, get the stamp, go to the next place, get a stamp, etc.' and when it's all over you go to the goal, show your stamps and get a shiny pin or some shit.

The story goes that the OP crew landed on the island 'NIPPON' and running around having adventures in Kamakura area. Each character could be found in a place somehow related to their character. That was a pretty nifty idea. For example, Nami was at Zeniarai Benten shrine where if you wash your money at the shrine it will eventually double or triple itself. Chopper was at the shop-lined Komachi Avenue where they sell plenty of sweets. Franky was at Enoshima near the beach. Usopp was at a temple dedicated to the Seven Gods of Luck (which he swears he's seen), etc.

Anyway, I headed out right after posting that smarmy pic of myself and traveled to Kamakura Station. Since I didn't remember the exact station name where the event started from I figured I'd at least go to Kamakura and be able to ask a station attendant. After wandering around for 10 minutes with little luck I asked a JR employee where it was and she directed me to the neighboring local Enoshima Line. I found the Zoro station but wanted to do the rally in order so I figured I'd go to Enoshima where I THOUGHT the event started from. I waited for the train and I was lucky that when it pulled in it had the OP-themed cars. And I pulled out my camera to take a movie I was greeted by a screen reading "Memory Card Full". This was impossible since I just emptied my card before coming. And upon opening the memory card slot, there was the source of the problem.

I left my goddamn memory card in my computer because I downloaded the smarmy pic of me above. Call it divine punishment.

There was no way in hell I was going without taking pictures so I traveled an hour back home. Picked up my damn memory card and then traveled an hour back. I was not a happy camper.

Since JR and Enoshima Line were so close at Kamakura I thought they would be the same at Enoshima. Not the case. I had a ten minute walk to Enoshima Station where I THOUGHT it started. That's where I found the Franky stamp station.

Video of the first station I visited, Franky at Enoshima Station. The conversation in the background is cute. The kid says he wants to stamp the pamphlet but has no idea where to get the pamphlet to stamp so he asks his mom and she doesn't know so tells him to go ask a person at the station.

Vid. of some of the decorations at Enoshima Station. The posters you see all have famous lines from the characters. They were different depending on the station. Yes those kids are dashing for the Franky Stamp Station.

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2558.jpg
So after stamping my Franky area I took the time to look at the actual course. It was to my horror that Franky was NOT the damn start. It started from Fujisawa Station which was 10 minutes in the opposite direction from the rest of the rally which was 15 minutes from my present location.

This meant the following. 10 minute ride to Fujisawa. 10 minute ride JUST back to Enoshima, then 15 minutes to Kamakura. 20 minutes totally down the drain and since it was 2 o'clock and the event would be finishing at 4:30 I was not in the mood for fuckups. Needless to say when I got off at Fujisawa the place was littered with OP stuff and I didn't have time to take a single picture. I flew off the train and across the turnstyle. The Sanji station was just to my right and I vaulted over to it, stamped my sheet and turned right around to attempt to get back on the same train I just came on (Fujisawa is end of the line). Of course my damn Suica pass card wouldn't allow me through the turnstyle because I just happened to run out of money on the card. Cursing in multiple languages to myself I dashed to the charge machine, pumped 1000 yen into it and flew past it and got in the train just as the doors closed. Missing that train would have meant another wasted 15 minutes. So eventually I got to Kamakura where i found the Zoro Station I passed earlier that morning and stamped the shit out of my paper.

While riding the train I was reading the map of the rally to formulate a plan. It was to my horror that Nami was a 25 minute 1.5 kilometer walk from the station in the complete opposite direction of ALL other stations. Of course this thrilled me since I was quickly running out of time. After hitting Zoro I flew out of the station and found the closest map and once I got my bearings headed towards Zeniarai Benten Shrine. I passed a group of very otaku-looking Americans all herded together grasping the OP stamp sheets. It's always fun to see them working together in huge groups to get from Point A to Point B or with Japanese friends to guide them and there I am navigating by myself. I was also wearing my Pirate King Alcohol t-shirt at the time so the Japanese fans I passed on the way all got a chuckle.

Anyway, upon arriving at Nami's station I stamped that bitch.

From there I ran my ass back to Kamakura Station and headed straight through to the other side in search of Chopper on the shop-lined Komachi Avenue.

What a bitch.

With it being super bright out and the stores being super dark it was difficult to see more than a foot inside. I traced back and forth more times than I can count on the same stretch of road before finally asking a couple holding the OP pamphlet "Uh…where's Chopper?" They also had no idea but they said they heard it was near a Maneki Neko. About 5 minutes later we both found it together. I was so pissed I didn't even take a movie of it.

After that I flew to the Hachiman Shrine where Robin was waiting.

And then Usopp. It was a walk back to the station plus some. Finding the entrance to the temple dedicated to the Seven Gods of Luck was a task in and of itself (I ended up in a residential district somehow) but I finally got it completing all the stamps before the goal, Luffy.

Usopp Stamp Station from afar.
http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2559.jpg

After wrapping up there I got back on the train and headed to Yuigahama Station where the OP Beach House was located. I arrived at the station with just 30 minutes to spare.

Video of the OP Beach House with Sunny.

A view from Sunny.

And here are a series of pictures from the event area.
http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2560.jpg
Franky open

I took an awesome 'SUPER' pose with him but the incompetent fucks who I asked to take the picture never pushed the shutter hard enough.

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2562.jpg
Pretty cool shot. Hope you have images set to auto-size fit to window.

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2564.jpg
Sunny

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2566.jpg
Sunny

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2569.jpg
Money shot

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2570.jpg
Money shot 2
http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2573.jpg
Zoro n' stuff

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2574.jpg
Zoro n' more stuff

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2577.jpg
Goofy ass Luffy

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2581.jpg
Me fucking around

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2583.jpg
Me fucking around 2

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2584.jpg
Scene of the crime

It was pretty cute. Much smaller than the pics/drawings made it look. The so-called 'museum' was just some colorspread originals hung on the wall with a surf board Oda colored. Upon presenting the completed stamp form you got the chance to roll for a lottery with a number of prizes. I didn't win shit so I got the 'door prize', a poster of the event's promotional image (which I really

On the way back I was lucky to have been able to ride the OP-themed train cars I had seen that morning. The inside of the cars where ads usually hang were covered in the entire OP story from start to Thriller Bark via famous scenes.

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2587.jpg
Almost cried on the train just seeing that

It was kinda like this

And since the fastest way home would be via Fujisawa Station where the Sanji stamp station was, I figured I'd headed back there and take some movies and pics.

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2589.jpg
Oh yeah

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2591.jpg
Oh yeeeeah

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2592.jpg
Nnnnnn SUPEEEEER

http://www.thegrandline.com/opstuff/DSCF2594.jpg
Sanji stamp station

So there you have it. It was certainly an adventure. It was also great to have a day with nice weather. It was sweltering hot but it ending at the beach was a cool touch.

Tare_chan

wow…. these are soo cool...... thanks for sharing Greg!! ^^
aw... I wish I could visit it >< I want to go to Japan!!

btw, those stamp stations thing, what are those? I don't get it =S

Ajiro

I think if you get all of them and go someplace you get free stuff. Thanks for the awesome pics greg.

Mr. All Sunday

Japan is truly One Piece obsessed isn't it?

Pretty awesome Greg, the life sized Strawhats are really cool. I'm hoping Brooke joins just so they make on of him. XD

CosmicDebris

I would totally pay to have that Franky in my house. Particularly if he was a working refrigerator. That would ROCK.

Mr. All Sunday

"Where's the coke?" "Oh, it over their in the Franky fridge."

That would indeed be extremely awesome.

Jay_n_Silentbob

Thx for the pics/vids, Greg; you are truly a god amoung men!

P.S.: I second the Franky Fridge idea…It'd be nice if his hair automatically changes, depending on what drink you put in, and he has a phrase for EVERY SINGLE beverage in the world. Ex:
Vegetable juice: "FRESSSH!"
Cola: "Supaaaaaa!" (Of course)
Etc.

On second thought, scratch that; that'd probably get annoying after a while (maybe).

KaizokuFan22

@Jay_n_Silentbob:

Thx for the pics/vids, Greg; you are truly a god amoung men!

P.S.: I second the Franky Fridge idea…It'd be nice if his hair automatically changes, depending on what drink you put in, and he has a phrase for EVERY SINGLE beverage in the world. Ex:
Vegetable juice: "FRESSSH!"
Cola: "Supaaaaaa!" (Of course)
Etc.

On second thought, scratch that; that'd probably get annoying after a while (maybe).

it could be a minifridge sized franky too..

Cool pics Greg!

tonitonichopper

Wow those are awesome, thanks Greg! What are those stamp stations?

Greg

Okay, uploaded all the vids. Will have a play-by-play explanation later.

http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ochimusha

Buuhan1

I fricken LOL'd at you having a screaming match with Franky's wanted poster. You're too awesome, Greg. XD

EDIT: Watched all the videos, it makes me feel warm inside that so many people love One Piece. I really enjoyed the video at Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine, first time I really saw a video like that of a Shrine..

Greg