Sound Meister Me

I mentioned way back here of demoing these headphones in Yodobashi. The sticker price was 29,800 yen, so I put it on the backburner for a while until..

Yahoo Auctions!

On Sunday night I saw them. The price was quite a bit lower, but what really got me interested was the guy bought it on the 6th of January this year. That is close enough to new for me. I noticed it was bought from Yodobashi in Kichijoji, so I figured this person must live pretty close to me.

I sniped my auction in the last seconds, and even though Yahoo has the annoying habit of extending the auction another five minutes I was left victorious in the afterglow.

I asked if I could pick them up at his station (which was actually Kunitachi), he said he was scared of being stalked, which was pretty strange considering he added his actual address to the email. Ohhhh K. The postage he asked was more than I thought, but less than a train trip so not all bad.

On Monday I decided to go to my bank alone to attempt a bank transfer at the Mitsubishi UFJ ATMs. UFJ in their infinite wisdom decide not to allow bank transfers in English, which usually have me relying on one of the geriatric security guards to help me do the transfers.

Today was more worrying. The actual bank was closed, so there weren't any staff to help and the queue was quite long. I asked the person behind me for help but she only confirmed what I already knew and didn't help at all! I stared at the machine hoping I'd be able to "work it out", but I was terrified of putting my savings somewhere I didn't want them to go.

I motioned for some Japanese in the line for some assistance, but no one was willing to help. I spied a westerner waiting at the start of the line and gave my saddest "please help me" face. If he reads this I hope I can add a few more thousand thank yous to the ones I told him afterwards.

I was tired and stressed from all this. Soon I will take some photos of a transfer and do a "How to", not only for myself but anyone else in my situation. I don't see UFJ doing anything about it anytime soon.

I decided to buy a Kirin Stout to drink on the way home. I was thinking this would taste similar to Guiness, but I think the chocolate beer I had the day before tasted closer to it. "Enrich my precious time"? I think not. I don't think I'll get this again.

Monday was also an open day at the kindy with all the parents coming to watch me. One of my kids gave me an "I love you" card with origami figures inside. Aww.. How cute. Oh the irony.

Anyway, back to the headphones..

They arrived at almost exactly 11:11am today. I was half awake beforehand, hoping I wouldn't miss the knock on the door. Everything looks brand new and the sound is great, especially for classical or jazz where the subtle nuances come through nicely. As far as I'm aware these are only available in Japan. I thought they were closed back, but there is a fair amount of leakage, so using these on the trains may cause some problems. (Probably why the guy decided to sell them).

I saved a bundle so I'm still real happy about it. My spending spree has not quite abated yet. Check back soon. I have another surprise coming up ;)