The weather was cold, the rain pouring and the jet lag fierce, but nothing could stop TEAM JUMP from visiting the homeland of Jump and bringing back these heroic tales! It was a true honor to get to go to Japan and experience what makes Shonen Jump so great.

Soon after landing, we battled the elements and a nasty sore throat and headed for the Jump Store. With 100 yen umbrellas and hot ginger ale purchased from a convenience store in hand, we faced our first major challenge...the Tokyo train system! I attempted to enter Sage Mode and use Naruto's sensory abilities to locate the correct train to board. While I was concentrating, Eric interrupted me with "it's over there!" Smartphone Apps are very useful!

Located in a mall attached to the Tokyo Dome baseball stadium, the Jump Store is the place to buy all the best Shonen Jump merchandise. The place was full of amazing One Piece figures, Naruto posters and more. I also loved that they were playing the songs from my favorite old anime! The larger One Piece figures were the highlight for me. They aren't cheap, costing upwards of a hundred dollars, but the detail on them are amazing! I wanted to buy a Buggy one and some similar figures from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, but I had no room in my luggage! I left the Jump Store with a big hole in my heart that can only be filled with a transforming General Franky figure...

I awoke on Day 2 at the reasonable hour of 4 a.m. and plotted out the full day we had ahead of us. With a scheduled trip to Shueisha, the publisher of Shonen Jump, still many hours away, we decided to go check out the mecca of all things manga and anime, Akihabara! Known as the Electric Town, Akihabara is the place to go if you are in need of a piece of cutting-edge technology or the latest limited-edition, super-special, mega-awesome anime collectible! We were a little overwhelmed the moment we arrived.

We checked out a store called Don Quijote first. I had been told this was a great store to get really cool stuff for cheap and it did not disappoint. I would describe it as a giant version of those seasonal Halloween stores in America. It was very hard to leave Don Quijote without grabbing a few nick-knacks. We then made our way over to Animate and won a Octopus Hot Dog Luffy! Akihabara is a great place and we unfortunately did not have enough time to fully explore it. Next time we will have to visit a Maid Café for sure!

We then rushed over to the Shueisha offices located in Jinbocho. We immediately saw the area where young manga artists present their art to an editor, just like in Bakuman! We took an elevator up a few floors and were greeted by even more toys and figures as we entered the office. I want them all... We learned about the plans for Jump Festa and that Eric would need to wear a pink jersey when taking official photos at the event. Some areas are off-limits to picture taking, but with our special pink jerseys, we gained the powers of a Hokage with a camera! Plus Eric looks great in pink!

Next was our interview with two amazing editors and Daisuke Ashihara, the creator of World Trigger! Ashihara Sensei was gracious enough to lend us his time and we got a lot of insight into World Trigger and what it takes to be a mangaka. Check back in the coming weeks as we get these translated. We were able to record the editor interviews so look forward to seeing me ask Akira Hattori if he's as amazing as his namesake in Bakuman!

After a long, tiring day, I crashed around 9 p.m. and woke up at 4 again the next morning. Jet lag is cruel. On Day 3, with pink jerseys in tow, we made the trip over to Makuhari Messe where Jump Festa is held. Wow! The crowds! The passion! The Shonen Jump! One of my favorite parts of these events is the cosplay! At Jump Festa, cosplayers are asked to stay in a specific area and photos are only allowed there. We saw some amazing cosplayers including a Mayuri from Bleach and a Bartolomeo from One Piece! The editor of World Trigger even cosplayed as Jin!

After wandering the hall for a few hours, it was our big event. Masashi Kishimoto had agreed to let us interview him. I tried hard not to squeal. What a kind and humble man. He answered all the questions thoughtfully and even revealed what he plans to do when Naruto ends! He also let us film him sketching a picture of Naruto. Stay tuned for the interview and video. The funniest moment of the day was that after the sketch video he kept commenting on how great the Sharpie pen was that I had brought for him to use. Maybe they don't have them in Japan? I let him keep it and he was very appreciative. So now you know who to blame if the next Naruto chapter is drawn with really thick lines!

Later we joined thousand of fans and watched a Naruto panel that featured Kishimoto-sensei and the major voice actors. The voice actors are incredible! That was one of the big surprises for me. Very talented people. It's very weird when Junko Takeuchi and Mayumi Tanaka switch back and forth from their cute regular voices to the tough Naruto and Luffy voices! The Naruto panel was great and Kishimoto-sensei revealed that he hasn't come up with how Madara will be defeated just yet. Good luck Naruto, you're gonna need it!

Day 4 included more cosplay photos and hall wandering until it was time for the One Piece panel. This one featured even more voice actors and the creator of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda. Getting to hear the entire cast of One Piece live was really something. Ikue Otani, the voice of Tony Tony Chopper is particularly cute. And the way Franky's voice actor, Kazuki Yao, pronounces SUPER is well, super! Oda-sensei drew an awesome picture of Luffy and Momonosuke live and the show ended with the cast wishing everyone a Merry X'mas! It was a great way to end the event and the fans seemed really pleased. Eric and I then headed for the train station along with 100,000 other people. I've never seen a line that long just to buy a train ticket.

On the final day we headed for a mall in Ikebukuro called Sunshine City. The mall was gigantic but we eventually found what we came for, J-World! J-World is a Shonen Jump theme park featuring all of our favorite series. Something called Super Saiyan Festival was taking place as well. We were able to ride the Merry Go and take pictures with Naruto. I even got to wear 3D glasses and help Goku defeat Freeza! And Eric got to sit in one of the Saiyan space pods. The food court  was filled with all sorts of themed food and we were told the most popular dish was the Naruto Ichiraku ramen. We had a chocolate-filled bun shaped like Majin Boo. It was delicious! J-World is a delightful place and seeing all the young kids having fun always brings a big smile to my face.

As we left Sunshine City, we were a little sad that our trip was coming to an end. Especially since we just located a cat café in Ikebukuro! But with no time to play with kittens, we headed to the airport. As we waited for our train, we spotted a new copy of Shonen Jump and couldn't help but take a picture of it. We can take a little solace in the fact that Jump Festa will return again and hopefully we'll see you there next year!

Stay tuned to shonenjump.com in the following days for extra Jump Festa coverage!

by Alexis Kirsch