Thursday, August 16, 2012

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Killing time with DVDs from Tsutaya!

Hey guys I'm back at the Manga Kissaten throwing away my money again! Although I've been having a good time for the last few days, I can't live (as I expected) without the internet!

Although I have an old TV, I prefer my clearer Mac screen and better speakers!


You're probably wondering..

"What in the world is 'Tsutaya'?"

Good question! I'm going to answer that right away!



Yesterday, when I came to the Manga Kissaten, I had a short list of things to do.

1) Find somewhere to buy cheap tshirts
2) Find a 100 yen shop (basically a PoundLand)
3) Find someone where to get a haircut
4) Find a DVD (etc.) rental shop

You will (might) be pleased to know that, while #1 and #2 are still out there, I accomplished tasks #3 and #4! I'm finally getting my hair cut on Saturday at 3pm so I can get rid of this hunk of fur which is turning slowly into a half-mop!

Anyway!

There is a very famous rental shop in Japan called Tsutaya, which is basically the equivalent of Blockbuster in the UK (are they even still going?). They have rental stores all over Japan and I knew that there would be one in my area; I just had to find it!Luckily, my nearest Tsutaya is literally a 5 minute bicycle ride away, so I can go there with relative ease!
So, onto the nitty-gritty.


"Culture Convenience Club" sounds a bit dodgy but just ignore it, yeah?

Although I think it differs from store to store, there was no sign up fee when I joined Tsutaya. I just had to show a piece of ID with my address on it (so I showed my National Health Insurance Card) and then they made a membership card for me. I had to fill in an application form (Oh boy, do the Japanese love filling in forms!) but I made a mistake on the kanji for my address (although it was written clearly on my health insurance card D'Oh!) so the kind lady at the till offered to fill the whole thing in for me to get things moving (I felt like a right child!)

Anyway, after I received my card, she told me that I could use it at that particular store for two weeks (probably for security reasons) and then after two weeks I could use it in any Tsutaya store. I'll be leaving Japan in just over a month anyway so I doubt that I'll be renting from any stores other than this one, but I included that for reference!

There are a couple of differences between Tsutaya and Blockbuster:

1) Tsutaya's service is much better (come on, we're in Japan)
2) Tsutaya lets you borrow CDs and manga comics
3) Tsutaya doesn't stock games (unfortunately!) but a rental company called GEO does!

I'm not really sure about the pricing because I've been renting out pretty old DVDs so far!
I was able to rent out 6 DVDs for a week at 100 yen each (600 yen in total) which works out around 4.5 GBP ish! I rented out:

 「働きマン」 (Hatarakiman)



A ten-part series (five DVDs) about a woman who basically puts work at the top of her priorities to the point of constantly cancelling dates with her long-term boyfriend. You follow her through the trials and tribulations of working at a weekly magazine publisher! I really recommend it! Check it out here!

「サマーウォーズ」 (Summer Wars)



Summer Wars was a fantastic feature length anime movie about a maths-wiz teenager who is falsely implicated in a plot by a hacking program to take down a huge social network and ultimately destroy the world. This teenage boy must band together with his friends and acquaintances to defeat the AI hacker and save the world! Check it out! 

Well that's about all I have time for today, I better leave here before my wallet dies!

I will update this post next time with more details on the prices!

Until then..

BYE FOR NOW :]

1 comments:

  1. They made Hatarakiman into a drama? My friend was telling me about it in a Tsutaya in Yokohama back in March, but it was only an anime then. I'll definitely watch it live-action lol.

    Summer Wars is so good, right? The director, Hosoda Mamoru, also did a great version of Toki o Kakeru Shoujo which is worth a look.

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