CAVE shop?

[Aleksei]

So I stumbled upon this website
http://www.japan-shops.com/rc/we70614/? ... =&keyword=

When did CAVE open this online international store and when and why did it close? Will it ever reopen? I just got into CAVE games this year and they are now my favorite company for shmups, as I bet many on here will also say the same, and now that Christmas is coming up....Anyway, any info will be appreciated.

[AntiFritz]

It closed a while ago, not sure exactly when but it was roughly a month or so before the main japanese cave shop closed down. It will unlikely reopen.

[rancor]

The international store opened around the middle of last year I think, and it was only open for a few months. The Japanese store closed earlier this year. Stuff was being sold at Kotobukiya in Akihabara up until this month, but I have no idea where you'll get new stuff now. You can check the link in my sig to see if anything I have interests you. What exactly are you looking for?

Here are some pics from Kotobukiya:

[Aleksei]

Well, I wanted everything they made, I saw news of the collection coming out so I think I'll wait for that and save up.

[Aleksei]

OOOOOhhoohohohOOHOOOOO!!!
Now all I need is money, plane ticket, passport, time, and a kind translator!
Is that too much to ask Santa?

[rancor]

Ask for a time machine too, because its all gone now. That area of the stores been taken over by Monster Hunter shit.

[Aleksei]

So theres no place in Japan that has a collection of stuff like this, not even the company headquarters? They must have a shop in their headquarters, didn't they move recently?

[rancor]

No. No shop at their headquarters. Their office is tiny, and there's only two arcade cabs in the lobby. There's an office tour on the Muchi Muchi Pork DVD in the Bonus Features section. I'm sure their new office is even smaller since they're hardly in the black these days.

[Aleksei]

Hardly in the black? Meaning the company is trying to stay in the spot light?

[rancor]

Meaning they lose money faster than they can make it. Just check their stock price since October:

http://www.nikkei.com/markets/company/i ... =3760&ba=9


Or, look at this:

[Aleksei]

Brutal...I hope they can bounce back...
Well, at least I know that I will get the collection when it comes out so that will help a little.

[GaijinPunch]

Brutal...I hope they can bounce back...
Well, at least I know that I will get the collection when it comes out so that will help a little.

They can't. Google "Japanese Corporate Fist Fuck" and just fill in the name of your favorite company. Corporate Japan is this bizarre microcosm of weirdness. Nobody knows how it works. It's a miracle most of the small businesses stay alive, and is ultimately why most foreigners eventually leave the country. It is REALLY hard to dedicate your life to it. Trust me. I know people that have worked in the games industry here, and the rules apply. Garner all the common sense you know about business, and throw it out the window. Now, you're virtually working in Japan. One of my favorite recent examples is in the OT forum. Sega coming out w/ a new Shining game. What do you do? Kill all Shining related videos on Youtube and Nico Nico.

Just b/c I don't sound like a total dick, I'll list my own experience. I worked at a foreign-managed Japanese business. The big boss was Australian. It was an English teaching company. Yes, you laugh. HOWEVER, on our roster of clients we had:

Mitsubishi Chemical
Mitsubishi Heavy Insdustries
Bandai
Banpresto
Louis Vuitton
Hermes
Toshiba Battery
Japan Development Bank
Dresdner (RIP)
Deutsche Bank
...and special guests.

What happened? The owner sold it to some other Aussie hillbilly, and they ran it into the ground. Soon they couldn't pay teachers, and it eventually folded. Last I heard the new owner was in prison in Australia for Fraud. Yes, for the most part, it was a whites company, but the owner was pretty much bred in Japan... at least in terms of higher education and work experience. His Japanese was a few notches above what mine is now I think, and he is definitely a lifer. I meet w/ people from that job from time to time... which I started 15 years ago now. We make fun of it left and right (it truly sucked), but the client roster was fucking impressive. Another company would have simply sold the contracts for a nice sum, but these jack asses saw it fit to destroy it.

I gotta lay off the booze. That tangent got personal...

[KAI]

Maybe they are too passionate for business or not ambitious enough.
I have see many companies whit small profit and a "do-it-for-the-fan" way of thinking/policy.

[Kollision]

I almost shat my pants with those pictures!
I want to go to Japan!

[djvinc]

I want to go to Japan!

Too late.
Every time I go there, I see less and less "enerugi". Even considering the fact I grow older and older.

[O. Van Bruce]

Pics at Kotobukiya

I want to cut my veins open at the thought of losing the opportunity of getting that Hibachi Bowl (I would buy 2, 1 for exhibition and the other to eat my ramen) and the keychains, and the posters, and the deathsmiles stuff...

[SuperPang]

I've got that bowl, and the Guwange bowl....and most of everything else

[drunkninja24]

I'm just glad I got my Ketsui T-shirt and Futari poster before the international shop closed. I actually wear that shirt all the time (sacrilege to some, I know )

[Gingerzilla]

Brutal...I hope they can bounce back...
Well, at least I know that I will get the collection when it comes out so that will help a little.

They can't. Google "Japanese Corporate Fist Fuck" and just fill in the name of your favorite company. Corporate Japan is this bizarre microcosm of weirdness. Nobody knows how it works. It's a miracle most of the small businesses stay alive, and is ultimately why most foreigners eventually leave the country. It is REALLY hard to dedicate your life to it. Trust me. I know people that have worked in the games industry here, and the rules apply. Garner all the common sense you know about business, and throw it out the window. Now, you're virtually working in Japan. One of my favorite recent examples is in the OT forum. Sega coming out w/ a new Shining game. What do you do? Kill all Shining related videos on Youtube and Nico Nico.

Just b/c I don't sound like a total dick, I'll list my own experience. I worked at a foreign-managed Japanese business. The big boss was Australian. It was an English teaching company. Yes, you laugh. HOWEVER, on our roster of clients we had:

Mitsubishi Chemical
Mitsubishi Heavy Insdustries
Bandai
Banpresto
Louis Vuitton
Hermes
Toshiba Battery
Japan Development Bank
Dresdner (RIP)
Deutsche Bank
...and special guests.

What happened? The owner sold it to some other Aussie hillbilly, and they ran it into the ground. Soon they couldn't pay teachers, and it eventually folded. Last I heard the new owner was in prison in Australia for Fraud. Yes, for the most part, it was a whites company, but the owner was pretty much bred in Japan... at least in terms of higher education and work experience. His Japanese was a few notches above what mine is now I think, and he is definitely a lifer. I meet w/ people from that job from time to time... which I started 15 years ago now. We make fun of it left and right (it truly sucked), but the client roster was fucking impressive. Another company would have simply sold the contracts for a nice sum, but these jack asses saw it fit to destroy it.

I gotta lay off the booze. That tangent got personal...

ARGHHHH I live and work in Japan as an Auzzi Hillbilly and all this talk about how badly run corporate Japan is..... ARGHHHH depressing. So hang it I just want to play my Shmup games and forget about it before I get bitter. It's too much of a mess to think about really so don't as they won't change. Living in Japan now is like living in the restaurant at the end of the universe hitchhikers style. You know it has the potential to end badly but at least you will eat well in the meantime.

BTW I encourage all of you to take a holiday here it's a wild place.

[KyoKusagani1999]

CAVE... I regret not investing that much into your International Shops.
I'm So Sorry that Business in Japan is such an atrocity! Whoever's running
you into the ground should feel ASHAMED for making these bone-headed
decisions that soil your ability to innovate.

[Casey120]

Just grabbed me some posters here :
http://www.solarisjapan.com/categories/Merch/Posters/

I see I secured the last Ibara Black label one and you can't beat that Pork poster for that price .


Are CAVE still going to hold matsuri's and offer stuff there or is that a thing of the past also ?

[KAI]

No more matsuris.
And they never made Windia's onahole TT___TT

[Casey120]

No more matsuris.
And they never made Windia's onahole TT___TT

You ass , I had to Google that

[MachineAres 1CC]

Brutal...I hope they can bounce back...
Well, at least I know that I will get the collection when it comes out so that will help a little.

They can't. Google "Japanese Corporate Fist Fuck" and just fill in the name of your favorite company. Corporate Japan is this bizarre microcosm of weirdness. Nobody knows how it works. It's a miracle most of the small businesses stay alive, and is ultimately why most foreigners eventually leave the country. It is REALLY hard to dedicate your life to it. Trust me. I know people that have worked in the games industry here, and the rules apply. Garner all the common sense you know about business, and throw it out the window. Now, you're virtually working in Japan. One of my favorite recent examples is in the OT forum. Sega coming out w/ a new Shining game. What do you do? Kill all Shining related videos on Youtube and Nico Nico.

Just b/c I don't sound like a total dick, I'll list my own experience. I worked at a foreign-managed Japanese business. The big boss was Australian. It was an English teaching company. Yes, you laugh. HOWEVER, on our roster of clients we had:

Very true, great post. I've found that Japanese business runs on an entirely different wavelength and set of standards that anywhere else in the world. As is with just about anywhere, corruption is also omni-present from all fronts and in all industries, but its usually actually supported by their government instead of looked down upon like it is in the US/elsewhere. Their businesses are constantly getting involved in organized crime to maximize profits and a large majority of the companies out there, especially if they're in the entertainment industry, they keep the company private so they can basically do whatever they want and cook whatever books they want and no one will ever know. Bad decisions are constantly abounding and the lines between reality and what you're meant to see and believe are probably more blurred than anywhere else I've ever known.

Give me one of everything in that shop, though Sakura dakimakura

[O. Van Bruce]

If Japan's companies are run like that, how the fuck did they become the 3rd (till some years ago, 2nd) economy in the world?

And they never made Windia's onahole TT___TT

Someday, I will end tatooing your name on mah sides, KAI.

[MachineAres 1CC]

If Japan's companies are run like that, how the fuck did they become the 3rd (till some years ago, 2nd) economy in the world?

Because their currency is worth more than everyone else's and they play a good front to the public when it comes to this stuff :p

Their country is extremely hyper-capitalist and just about everyone outside of the homeless is a super-consumer because necessities there are fairly cheap (housing, food, etc.) compared to other areas in the world, so lots of money is spent on leisure/hobbies/etc. They're constantly fed advertising and marketing about EVERYTHING (way more than even America) and constantly buy these things because they can and gain extreme product/company loyalty. They have unique business markets that other countries do not have and they profit greatly from them, even if 99% of the profit is domestic. They're also home to some of the biggest multi-national companies in the world, like car manufacturers (Toyota is the biggest and highest grossing car company worldwide,) Sony, Hitachi, and Nintendo, etc., so all the money coming into those companies from anywhere in the world feeds right back into Japan. "Self-sustaining" is one of the biggest factors in their success, I think. They get lots of money from other countries without giving away a ton of it to other countries and don't outsource everything like the US does.

[GaijinPunch]

There's not any one reason why they became #2. It' a lot of reasons. And remember, they became #2 when their currency was worth shit. If anything, the soaring yen is something to blame for making them #3. Some factors to think about:

1: In bed w/ the US just after WWII
2A: Perhaps the best work ethic in the world
2B: Long hours for low pay
2C: Company first, family second
3: Very even dispersal of wealth.

A lot of what MachineAres 1CC said is true. Japanese are very loyal to their own brands, as are other parts of the world. However, their creativity is slipping. They are no longer the driving force that leads the electronics industry that they once were, and those companies are literally bleeding money because of it. Samsung is making things better than Sony, and for far cheaper.

Now, just like why they rose to power so quickly, there many reasons why many think Japan is doomed. If I had to make a statement based on my personal experience, I would say "the world is a changing place, and Japan is incapable of change quick enough to adapt. I truly believe that (seeing things as they are). Note however, that I'm one of these poor fuckers that could get anally penetrated by their stance on the Hague Convention. The fact that they sit there w/ their thumbs up their asses doing nothing does help my lack of faith. So, note, I'm quite jaded, but I have a reason.

For some better educated, more concrete reasons (and scary ones), read this. It's worth reading to the end...especially if you're an expat living in Japan.

Here's a quote from page 1, that's worth noting:

Aside from Olympus, look at the consumer-electronics companies in Japan compared to U.S.-based Apple or South Korea's Samsung. The top 40 technology companies in Japan add up to the market capitalization of Samsung now. We've seen Panasonic, Sharp and Sony have their debt ratings cut to junk status. Yet the banks are still lending to them. Those companies would be allowed to fail elsewhere. But in Japan there can be no failure in the system.

[sven666]

wish i would have bought more tshirts, the deathsmiles dead-head one is awesome!

[Skykid]

I want to cut my veins open at the thought of losing the opportunity of getting that Hibachi Bowl (I would buy 2, 1 for exhibition and the other to eat my ramen)

Cut your veins open? Jesus.

I position mine near the TV just a few yards from my chair, and try to shoot sperm into it from a distance. Currently top of the leaderboards.

Pork poster for that price

Hate to break it to you, but the blue MMP poster is practically worthless. It's probably the only poster that got reprinted as many times (if not one run more) than the Ketsui, and it's a matsuri variant, not kit. Blame Cave.

Their country is extremely hyper-capitalist and just about everyone outside of the homeless is a super-consumer because necessities there are fairly cheap (housing, food, etc.) compared to other areas in the world

I thought property was extremely expensive in Japan? At £8752 per sqm, Toyko costs more than New York.

They are no longer the driving force that leads the electronics industry that they once were, and those companies are literally bleeding money because of it.

Hello Sony.

CAVE... I regret not investing that much into your International Shops.
I'm So Sorry that Business in Japan is such an atrocity! Whoever's running
you into the ground should feel ASHAMED for making these bone-headed
decisions that soil your ability to innovate.

They're responsible as a unit for their business failures, it's not one guy looking to scupper the program. Also, their international shop was a flight of fancy/desperation attack - I doubt you or anyone else's investment would have bought the office a McDonalds cheeseburger after tax.

Cave are in the protracted process of suiciding, leave them be, I'm more interested in the sequel.

[rancor]

I thought property was extremely expensive in Japan? At £8752 per sqm, Toyko costs more than New York.

They're actually now giving away land in areas outside of Tokyo/Chiba/Osaka/etc. if you'll live on it in hopes that people will move out of the big cities into the smaller ones. While the cities are overpopulated, the countryside is damn near vacant. This is evident if you drive the Tohoku expressway about 30miles / 50k north outside of Tokyo. There are cities now and again, but the areas in between are completely devoid of civilization. And while land prices are expensive in the cities, construction is not so ridiculous (but then again you get a house made out of paper that you can feel anytime a strong breeze blows through). I think that may be what he means by "housing".