Visiting Nanba

One of my long-standing ambitions on this blog has been to do a sort of "Boxer's tour of Second Life". I haven't really had the time to pursue that particular theme, but the Nanba region seems like it would be a good place to start.

I became aware of Nanba through a tip from a friend who likes to shop in the Japanese sims. A lot of creators there seem to be content to let their items go for shockingly cheap prices, apparently for no other reason than the joy of creation.

We begin, of course, at Nanba's own pugilistic paradise, the Nanba Boxing Bar:


Owned by akane Kidd (and check out the Flickr page she links to as well), the Bar is home base to Nanba's own boxing team. They compete with other clubs in special events. We've had some brief talks about a Nanba vs. Averlast event, and I'm game, but there are a few hurdles to get over. The first is subtle, being the technical differences between Averlast gloves and their own brand. The second is a bit more obvious, namely trying to work out an event time that is convenient to both our fighters and theirs, given the time differences between the US, Europe, and Japan.

I'm sure we'll come up with something, though. Watch this space.

But moving on, across the street from the bar, one sees this dominating the landscape:



The shops within sell everything from clothing to motorcycles to tattoos. One shop even features pro wrestling move animations, stacked right next to various prepared foods:



I'll have a Stone Cold Stunner with extra wasabi, please. ;-)

This cheery fellow seems to be the region mascot. There are a bunch of poseballs situated in front of him for photo opportunities, and boxes stacked next to him so that one might take him home.


Not all statuary fares so well, though. In the riverbed at the region's northern edge, one finds an abandoned corporate icon:


Meanwhile, down along the southern edge of the region, rows of charming shoreside shops line the beach.



The spaces up top are for rent, but I don't expect that situation to be the case for long.

Nanba blends rather seamlessly with its surrounding regions, which warrant further investigation, to be sure. This certainly won't be my last visit to the area. If nothing else, I want to find out if their boxers are really as tough as they think they are. ;-p

Edit: Some confusion in the translation of akane's blog page, plus the fact that I hadn't previously had time to revisit and double-check for myself, led me to spell the name of the place as "Namba", rather than its proper name, "Nanba". Sorry for the confusion.