We're going on a bug-hunt, a bug-hunt, a bug-hunt! We're going on a bug-hunt to see what we can find!

Japan really is a country of bugs, especially in the summer. Whether they're crawling through the woodwork, flying through the windows, or buzzing incessantly outside when I'm trying to sleep, there's no escaping the things. But what counts as a bug in Japan? Well, the standard kanji symbol for bug is this:

But that doesn't really mean anything at all when it's by itself. The word mushi is, if anything, even more vague than the regular English usage of the word bug. All sorts of creepy-crawlies can be called bugs, and the symbol itself finds its way into many other kanji. See for yourself! The following pictures aren't for people who hate insects or spiders:

Obviously, not all of these are actually bugs, or can be refered to as mushi on their own, but the symbol mushi appears in the Japanese name for every single one of these. I included the symbols for anyone who wants to see. Starting from the top, we have a mosquito (ka), a higurashi cicada, an ant (ari), a common spider (kumo), fireflies (hotaru), a cute little frog (kaeru), a snake (hebi), a water leach (umabiru, not the blood-sucking type), a lizard (tokage), an octopus (tako), prawns (ebi), and a rainbow (niji). Notice that the kanji symbol mushi is incorporated into every single name symbol. Now, check out a a larger list. I specifically excluded all words that tack mushi at the end of a series of symbols, like kabutomushi (helmet beetle), kemushi (caterpillar), or mizumushi (athlete's foot).

Is it any surprise then that every RPG and fantasy/sci-fi anime ever made seems crammed with bug monsters? I've seen at least one of every critter on this list (and a rainbow or two as well) in the last month. Just like a swarm of little bugs, this column is full of small bits of news. Hope you enjoy!

Item #1

Dragon Quest IX came out last Saturday, as everyone probably knows by now, and I am quite thankful that I got my copy through my local convenience store rather than one of the big chain stores. Just look at some of the coverage from Dengeki. These were taken at 6:50 AM last Saturday, outside of the Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku. At the time the picture was taken, there were 150 people in line.

This is making me really glad I managed to avoid the insanity... Enterbrain had the sales figures out for DQIX out by Tuesday, and guess how many units were sold, just on Saturday and Sunday? Two million, three hundred forty-three thousand, four hundred forty. By Wednesday, it had officially passed the three million mark.

Sasuga DraQue...

Item #2

Square Enix has announced that the first of Dragon Quest IX's downloadable side-quests will be available starting today, July 17th, via the Wi-Fi Trader in the Saintstein Inn. New quests are supposed to be available through Wi-Fi every week or so. I guess I'll be getting fries at McDonalds sometime next week, just to see what this is about...

Item #3

Speaking of McDonalds, there's a specific Dragon Quest event taking place on McD's Wi-Fi connection from July 31st to September 3rd. Once a day, players can experience McDQ... er... Dragon Quest - Travelers to McDonalds, a simple adventure game similar to the original Dragon Quest. Winning five games (at one game a day) gets the player a coupon for a free burger.

Item #4

In other DQ-related news, Square Enix is releasing an updated version of the Battle Road spinoff game for various mobile phone networks. Based on DQVIII's coliseum, this version of Battle Road includes all the new monsters found in Dragon Quest IX.

Robots in the original version of SaGa 2 were kind of given short shrift. Humans and espers had male and female versions, and of course there was a plethora of monster forms, but robots were just robots. There were only two types of robot enemies, too, unless one counts one of the tougher bosses later in the game. It's nice to see that they're changing that part this time.

I am so getting the robot with kitty ears in my party.

The rest of our SaGa 2 coverage this week goes over more changes to combat. Basically, they're including Limit Breaks. There's not much more to say about it.

Capcom's always been one for reviving or extending its series beyond what might be considered reasonable. This week, they announced that a DS remake of the Mega Man Battle Network series was in the works. Subtitled Operate Shooting Star, it's been stated that there will be some sort of cross connection between this remake and the more recent Mega Man Star Force sub-series. Just how they're going to pull that off is anyone's guess, but I'm sure we're bound to find out more in the future.

Level 5 is back with more news of Inazuma Eleven 2, and this time around, it's double the fun. Or at least, double the cartridges. Inazuma has succumbed to one of the major trends of gaming on Nintendo handhelds -- multiple versions. Inazuma Eleven 2 is now coming in two climes: Fire and Blizzard. The major difference between the two seems to lie in who your main rivals are. In the Fire version, the rival team is called Prominence, while in Blizzard, the team's name is Diamond Dust. As well, various football techniques and characters will be unique to each version.

It's time for Famitsu's official halftime report, chronicling the top 100 games of the first half of 2009 in terms of units sold. Of the 100, 26 were RPGs. It's worth noting that in the last week, Dragon Quest IX outsold at least three-fourths of this list combined.

Position	Title	Publisher	Platform	# Sold
1	Mario & Luigi 3 - Bowser's Inside Story	Nintendo		647,844
6	Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days	Square Enix		462,453
9	Pokémon Dungeon - Explorers of Sky	Nintendo		357,271
12	Tales of the World - Radiant Mythology 2	Bandai-Namco		317,413
18	Pokémon Platinum	Nintendo		240,288*
20	Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - Echoes of Time	Square Enix		232,801
22	Dissidia Final Fantasy	Square Enix		229, 258
26	Star Ocean 4 - The Last Hope	Square Enix		208,438
27	Super Robot Taisen K	Bandai-Namco		207,079
30	Dragonball Kai	Bandai-Namco		184,056
35	Magician's Quest - Magical Times	Konami		165,919
46	Seventh Dragon	Sega		136,104
48	Demon's Souls	SCE		134,585
49	White Knight Chronicles	SCE		134,491
50	Inazuma Eleven	Nintendo		131,053*
51	Persona	Atlus		128,709
56	Phantasy Star ZERO	Sega		116,734
61	Devil Survivor	Atlus		106,779
71	Tales of Hearts (both versions)	Bandai-Namco		82,474
72	Disgaea 2 Portable	Nippon Ichi		80,927
78	Retro Game Challenge 2	Bandai-Namco		75,212
89	Harvest Moon - Welcome to the Wind Bazaar!	Marvelous		67,662
92	Suikoden Tierkreis	Konami		65,798
93	Shining Force Feather	Sega		62,907
98	Valkyria Chronicles (PS3 the Best)	Sega		57,842
99	Zill O'll Infinite Plus	Koei		57,652

* Pokémon Platinum and Inazuma Eleven were both 2008 releases which have carried over to this year. Platinum's total sales come to 2,427,625 units sold, and Inazuma's total comes to 360,069.

Anyone out there in need of more prinny love? The folks at Nippon Ichi have just the thing for folks like you. There's a new prinny cushion out in stores now. At 35 cm wide and 15 cm thick, this is just the thing on which to rest your head after too many excursions into the Item World.

This evening is my school's summer staff party, which means the next month or so is summer vacation season in Japan. Updates may get a little erratic for the month of August. Just letting you know in advance!

And that's the news from Hi-no-Kuni,

Your man in Japan,

Gaijin Monogatari