Normally I would be continuing my posting about Saboten Con, but this update is so big it deserves a blog post and honestly, is an excuse to hold off on Saboten updates. ^^;; In titling this post my intent is that this isn't the only large update this site undergoes. This week I picked up a parcel from the post office from Japan. In it were the results from auctions won from Yahoo Japan Auctions (YJA) and an order from Surugaya. I found out that the USPS can also track international packages with a tracking number. Japan Post had not tracked this package once it got to the Osaka airport, so I thought it was still there all this time. The parcel was shipped out just under two weeks ago via SAL and this is a very good turnaround. As to how I get items from Japan, I know someone who lives there who has helped me make two prior orders from the Eva-T store. This was the first time I had her help with with YJA and Surugaya. She won all the auctions so everything you see here is everything that I wanted to get. Everything below is preowned, so even with bank transfer fees (none of the YJA sellers used Paypal) and commissions to my contact, I came out ahead on prices. I was also under budget for everything with international shipping factored in. The Surugaya items were ordered directly from their website, which is slightly chapter than their Rakuten storefront. Going forward I may cut back on my orders from domestic retailers depending on what I'm getting. Here's an overview of all the items: Now for a breakdown per vendor. Auction 1 - HMV promo shitajiki and 2.22 postcard: Auction 2 - Cellu Club hand painted cel with IMA-EVA 03 as a bonus: Auction 3 - 1112G shitajiki with two flyers for an exhibit in Sapporo which were wrapped around it: Auction 4 - Six Lawson clear files: Auction 5 - A 2.0 shitajiki and clear file: Bonuses included by the seller of the above two auctions, two copies each of Eva Extra 06 and 07 and three copies of a chirashi for 2.0: Surugaya - Four shitajikis, Symphony of Evangelion program and 2015: The Last Year of Ryohji Kaji: Bonus items from Surugaya thrown in by my contact:, a mini keychain, soundbyte gashapon, and doujin uchiwa. I also received some origami and snacks (not shown).
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Saboten Con is the largest anime convention in Arizona and is held in Phoenix on Labor Day weekend. Now the farthest I've been for a con is Sac-Anime and I have yet to go to Anime Expo or cross country. But this year, there was one guest whose attendance demanded that I go and that is Yuko Miyamura, the seiyu for my favorite anime character of all time, Asuka. A lot of the original dub cast was also there: Matt Greenfield (producer, director, ADR, Makoto Hyuga, the Evas), his wife Tiffany Grant (Asuka), Spike Spencer (Shinji), and John Swasey (Rebuild Gendo). Amanda Winn-Lee (Rei) was also to have come but cancelled the night before the con began due to having had back surgery the week before.
Miyamura currently lives in Australia and this wasn't her first American con, but it was her first one stateside in five years since she attended Kawaii Kon in Hawaii in 2008. Since then her only con appearances have been in Australia, primarily at SMASH! in Sydney. I was thinking that I'd have to travel to Australia to see her, but was saved by her announcement that she would be at Saboten Con. However shortly after I learned that Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, the character designer and mangaka for Eva, would be at the debut incarnation of Japan Expo USA the week before. I was torn between one or the other but in the end decided to attend both. It worked out better than I expected and was a very Evatastic two weeks. This was the most planned out con I've attended so far. I set spending budgets for both Japan Expo and Sabo since I normally only go to one con a year, FanimeCon. I was able to get a room at the Sabo con hotel with three other roommates, which helped out quite a lot and included a VIP upgrade, which was very beneficial. Although it was a three day con, I brought a luggage I'd previously used for two week trips and packed around a plastic storage container in case I picked up any figures to prevent them from being crushed. I brought enough granola bars to feed myself through three days and packed a bunch of shikishi boards for signing in addition to two posters in a tube for Miyamur and and Grant to sign along with some shitajiki for ease of transportation. There were also a lot of panels that were Eva-related so I set up a matrix in Excel with the signing times so I wouldn't miss what I wanted to hit up. |
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