WHAT in God’s name am I even talking about?
Someone in Japan has set up a Virtual On Center in a small inn named Ryokan Mokuzin. A ryokan, for those unfamiliar with the ways of Japan, is a sort of inn/resort where people can go to the middle of nowhere and just get away from life and relax. They typically serve gourmet meals prepared using seasonal ingredients and some are even equipped with hot springs.
This ryokan in particular offers no hot spring, but instead a Virtual On Center with many Virtual On model kits, multiple 360s and monitors, vacuum tube amplifier, custom speakers, and a 140 inch projector setup as their center piece.
WHERE exactly is this place?
Hakuba, Japan. Hakuba is a ski resort town in the Alps, north of Nagoya. You can get there via train or bus. A night’s stay cost about $100 a night. If you want more information feel free to google Ryokan Mokuzin, there are various booking sites in English waiting to serve you.
WHEN did this happen?
The Virtual On Centre was officially established on 11/11, aka Pocky Day/Twinstick Day in Japan. The Inn was destroyed in an earthquake back in 2014. They had to take it apart and rebuild it from the ground up. I supposed they decided to turn it into a Virtual On Center as they rebuild the place, as to why someone is insane enough to do this is a question I cannot answer.
WHO did this?
柏原周平(Kashiwabara Shuhei in romaji?) is the man who runs the inn. He goes by the nickname BackYenNew(the name shares the pronunciation with 爆炎乳/Explosive Flaming Breast in Japanese). He is a Virtual-On fan and a garage kit maker. To say he is a strange character would be to flirt recklessly with understatement. The director of the Force department (pictured below) are quite interesting individuals as well.
WHY would you care?
It is always nice to see someone trying to keep Virtual On alive. They hosted the first Mokuzin Cup tournament just last week which may be of interest to some of you. I am personally fascinated by the fact that a bunch of folks negotiated through miles of countryside just to do an offline meet up and play some Virtual On. Here is the list of players and the results.
From Up to Down, Left to Right:
(01)Cassy AT/Moteen ??? (02?) Buru-ri/??? (17)Aoruka DOR (09) Jag RAI (12) Silber(silver?) SPE (20) Bita FEI (29) sumal24u RAI (04) YOO ST (05) Hyugajin CYP (28) Yamada ST twinstick (21) Core RAI twinstick (13) Nakane CYP (16) Riding The Blade??? RAI twinsticks (24) Tesoga (25) Dokufu TEM (08) SOYOHANE (Soyoka) CYP
(07) Kaieda TEM (26) Kabune CYP (23) [illegible]DOR (15) Bon-chan or Pon-chan BT (14) Hio FEI DOR(22) Joe AG DOR (27) Ki-ru GRY twinsticks (26) The Emissary From North America DOR pad
(03) NRO BT twinstick (30) AZY Type R RAI BT (19) Ghost RAI (11) E Panterid S twinstick (10) Miwamiwa fei TWINSTICK (18) Zera-chan DOR (31) Osen BAL (02) Momo TEM
1st Place sumal24u
2nd Place AZR
3rd Place Soyoka
4th Place Joe
Recordings of the fight courtesy of Moteen.
https://www.twitch.tv/moteen/v/100563212
https://www.twitch.tv/moteen/v/100565080
It's like they went in trying to build a VO shrine and accidentally put an inn around it.
The cup.
An impressive display of Virtual On kits. Note the lit up Raiden.
Their family treasure: a pair of twinsticks signed by Watari and Yasuhiro Mori
Upon enter you will be greeted by this lady with giraffe legs. She is apparently a character from various VO side material.
A tangram fishcake.
Sticks.
LINKS
The manager's twitter
https://twitter.com/backyennew
A very normal looking Facebook page of the inn with no Virtual On stuff
https://www.facebook.com/mokuzinyado/about/
