Glorietta's Japan Town

 This Chinese New Year, my mother and I went to Glorietta, a mall in Makati City to eat ramen for early dinner. We suggest to try the ramen shops in Glorietta's Japan Town, on top of the mall. My mother have no idea that there was such place in Glorietta. 

Marker going to Glorietta's Japan Town

Japan Town is located on the roof of the mall. You can access the area through Glorietta 4's cinemas or through the Holiday Inn side of the mall. In Japan town, there are a few restaurants like Coco Ichibanya, Mitsuyado Ramen Shokudo, Ramen Nagi, and Hakata Ton Ichi. On the center of the area, there was a small picture attracting spot that resembles Japan. Many mall-goers are taking pictures of the area.

Japan Town's fascade

After we browse through the restaurants, we finally settled at Hakata Ton Ichi, a ramen shop. I ordered a Hakata Ramen with Chicken Teriyaki Donburi. We really like to wait for the sundown so that we could see how it looks like during night time, however, during pandemic, mall close early and we don't have the time to do other errands. 

One of Hakata Ton Ichi's Ramen Set

When we left the Japan Town, people are starting gather. I think because dinner time is the horizon. Also, I found a teaser that MOS Burger will have its branch in Glorietta as well. 

MOS Burger will soon to open in Glorietta

Japan Town is good place if you want to experience Japanese cuisine within the Philippines or you miss the Japanese atmosphere. It will be better if MOS Burger would be relocated in Japan Town and adding more attractions in the area. 

Official PlayStation accessories can be used in PS1/2 BEMANI games!

During the PlayStation 2 era, there are a lot of peripherals were made. Most games at that era were bundled with a dedicated controller because a standard PS2 controller will not fit for gameplay experience. However, there are some official PlayStation accessories can be used in BEMANI line of games. 

1. PlayStation 2 HDD and BroadBand (BB) navigator software

PS2 HDD logo at the cover art

Only two games supported this feature, GITADORA! GuitarFreaks 4thMIX & drummania 3rdMIX and beatmaniaIIDX 5th style. It installs game file into the HDD for fast loading. Accessing this feature will also unlock the special modes of both games. I wonder if it's possible to install the broadband navigator into the PS3 and unlock the special modes.

2. PlayStation 2 EyeToy Camera

EyeToy logo

The EyeToy camera was first introduced to BEMANI for FESTIVAL: DanceDanceRevolution in 2004 and became a mainstay feature until DDR X. The selling feature is to play DDR's mini games and of course as a camera while playing DDR.

EyeToy camera supported

3. PlayStation remote control

The only feature of the remote you can use is the direction buttons for DDR games. Because its a remote, you can play wirelessly.

4. PocketStation

Sony PocketStation

PocketStation was released in 1999 for the original PlayStation. DDR and pop'n music used this feature in PlayStation 1 version. Too bad that Sony never made a PS2 compatible PocketStation alike. I posted a blog about the PocketStation feature years ago.

5. PlayStation 2 USB Keyboard

Used in beatmania dadadadadada! for the PlayStation 2. A typing game with beatmania songs. The game is also bundled with a Konami brand USB keyboard but PS2 official keyboard is also supported. A PC game was released at the same time of the PS2 version.