Inside the office of Group SNE, one of the two largest RPG/tabletop game companies in Japan.

So after the cafe, we went back to the Group SNE offices and hung out there, talking for a few more hours. I met with the CEO over there, Kariya, who I hadn’t seen in ages. It was interesting seeing the gang at work, and I just hope I didn’t disrupt them too much: Yet even though I’m currently not doing any work for them (the Japanese RPG I’m translating is for the other company, FEAR) they still treated me like a special guest. It was an honor just to chill out and talk to them, sharing stories about gaming in the US vs Japan.

That night, the four of us, plus another member (the one in the middle above, Rikizo) went out for dinner. We went to basically a chicken specialty hibachi place, and ate there until about 11 at night. Among other things, their specialty platter includes raw chicken sashimi. I gave it a try (after a beer), and dug into the hibachi meat.

Rikizo and Sanae prepping to throw more livers and hearts and stuff on the grill.

All in all, a wonderful day. I also got to see Kobe at night again. I really like Kobe, it’s a simple, small yet stylish city: Mountains on the right, the sea on the left.