A favorite interaction with a video game enjoyer that pops up in my head often:
I went to the launch party for Silver Case’s remake somewhere in Tokyo. At the end of it, Suda was signing things for a little crowd that gathered around him. I bought a copy of SDATCHER at Tower Records a day earlier for him to sign. While waiting, a guy walks up and says 「あ、スナッチャー!」 and I shook my head and pointed at the “D”「スダッチャー!」
He asked if I could speak Japanese, I said not much, so he whipped out his phone and began typing in Google Translate. We had a conversation in Google Translate. It was a Good Time. We followed each other on twitter after.
Fast forward a year later, I’m browsing around BEEP in Akiba, I’m suddenly approached by a worker, he says excuse me and points at his phone on my twitter profile asking if it’s me. We both were like, “Whoa, long time no see!” He asked later while I was checking out if I learned anymore Japanese, I said “Slowly…” and he mentioned he started studying english. It was nice! I wonder if he’s still working there? Would be nice to say hi again the next time I travel.