Hello, this is wappa writing.
Japan got cold from this week suddenly.
I don't like hot seasons but also don't like winter too…

Anyway, after participating in “Festival della Creativita” in Florence, we moved to Lucca to participate in the talk show on 1st day of “Lucca08 Comics & Games”. This festival was different from “Festival della Creativita”'cause this festival is focused on Comics, Animations and Games. Lucca is the walled city and we can not find a similar city in Japan. There are a lot of trees outside of the wall, and it's a best place to go for a walk. Actually, there was no time to walk around, but this city has been my favorite place!


Nobiyo walking in the city wearing the “Dog Ear” Samue.

The festival was held in 2 kinds of places. One is outside of the wall with big tent, and the others are held at the city inside of the wall. So we were able to see many cosplayers inside of the town. And each category was divided as “Game pavilion” “Comic pavilion”. There were also “Japan pavilion” with lots of Japanese items, like “Cho-Gokin Robot”, “Saint Seiya”, “Gundum” and etc. I was really surprised and almost going to buy Japanese toys in Lucca.

Nobiyo’s schedules started at 2PM doing an interview at “Japan pavilion”.

I realized again in Lucca that there are huge number of Nobuo’s fans in Italy.


There were many requests for his autograph, while moving to the other place.

This is when we asked for recoding their message which you can listen at “Inu-mimi Radio #003”.

During the stay in Lucca, we found our favorite place called “Piazza del Mercato”. We went there a lot of time when we had a free time until next event. And of course, DRINK BEER!! We went there after the interview in Japan pavilion, too!


From 6PM, interview at Game pavilion had started. Not just press agent but also fans were there. Italy, the country of Mario. When Nobuo talked about the music of “Super Mario Brothers”, all the people there got excited. :->


That night, a commendation ceremony was held at the convention center; the place which was used as a church. And Nobiyo was awarded as a special guest of “Lucca08 Comics & Games”.



Event in Lucca had finished except the signing session next day, but same as Florence, it was busy days for Nobiyo. But the exuberant welcome and cheers from the fans were very impressive, and gave him a big energy. And all the staff whom with us was very kind and almost like a body guard. One thing which I was disappointed was I didn't see any Japanese media or even Japanese people at Lucca's event. (I also didn't know about the festival until I went there, but...) most of Japanese don't know about this event. More than 90 thousands people come to Lucca (which has a population of about 70 thousands) and Japanese culture plays an very important part in this festival. I felt that we should know more about these things, and it was really a precious time for us to visit there and know how much Japanese culture are loved by the people in Italy. I wish that in the near future, many Japanese people visit this festival, and it would be wonderful if this festival will be the place to exchange the culture of each other.

In closing,
Tommaso, Gabriele, and Francesco –the member of EGO3 whom organized both events and take us to many other beautiful places in Toscana−, Marco, Jgor, Davide, Duccio, Alberto−from FFonline.it−whom took care of us kindly during our stay. Also, all the friends from FFonline.it. Lunch with you all was so fun (especially drinking LemonCello). And Duccio, whom always walked in advance of our group. Thanks for the cigarette! And Alan the bodyguard who gave us the strong impact message for our “Inu-mimi Radio”. Matteo−staff of Lucca08 Comics & Games− whom took care of us during our stay in Lucca. Edoardo whom translated Nobuo’s interview. And all the staff and promoters of both events “Festival della Creativita” ”Lucca08 Comics and Games”.
And all the Nobuo’s fans in Italy whom welcomed us in open hands,

“Thank you so much and looking forward to see you again!!”
from Nobuo Uematsu and Dog Ear Records.


We still want to bask in afterglow of "Italian days", but there's only one week left to Stockholm concert "Distant Worlds music from FINAL FANTASY"!!
See you there!
-Official site of "Distant Worlds music from FINAL FANTASY"-