12/13/06: Let me just start off by saying that I'm excited about having a new Tamagotchi. It is my first real new one in years. Tamagotchi Connection V3 is part of my collection, but it's very similar to previous Connections, so it's not so "new" to me, if you know what I mean.

Tamagotchi School, on the other hand, is quite different from most Tamagotchi I own. While I don't know Japanese my husband, Brendan, does know how to read some and with the help of the internet I think I can make a site with some good information.

I'd like to say up front though, I don't claim to be an expert and you may find incomplete information here for a while until I really get the TamaSuku figured out. I will update and get the most accurate information here as soon as I figure it out. And if you know something or find something that needs correcting I'm always up for the extra help.

Some of the information on this first log is repeated on the Tamagotchi School Instructions page, this is so those that don't want to read instructions can read the logs and still understand what is going on. Please excuse the repetition.

Today at 3:53pm I started up my neon green Tamagotchi School. A little tune played and several characters danced across the screen. There were balloons and a lot of Japanese. At a glance the only thing I could figure out was (and this is a guess) the four balloons that the Tamagotchi characters were holding had four Japanese letters on them. It is my belief that these characters are "TMGC" - as these four letters are all over the manual and on the Tamagotchi and the Tamagotchi chain tag. That is just a guess. They flashed by too fast for me to be able to tell which Japanese characters they were, as I'm not that familiar yet.

After the tune played it stopped on the usual Date and Time screen. I entered the date and time as usual and than it went to the Name screen. Well I hadn't thought very ahead on this and realized that the alphabet for typing in my name was actually in Japanese. Hiragana to be specific. So I went to the internet and found me four valuable pages; a page that I could type in my name and get the translation in hiragana, the Japanese alphabet (and its romanized version next to it), a romanized to hiragana translator and a hiragana to english translator. These pages, especially the last three, are going to be my best friends during the next few weeks as I figure out this little Tama. Between all of those pages and my husband’s ability to read some Japanese, I figure we can really get this translated to a reasonable level of accuracy.

With the help of those webpages I was able to type the five letters in Hiragana that equaled the name Katherine. Feeling relieved at beating that challenge, I proceeded to put in my birth date next. Thankfully Tama-Instinct just takes over on some of these screens, as they of course have no hint of any English words.

The next screen that showed up was a little different. At the top it had two lines of Japanese and down below I could scroll through three images. Between the guide, the internet and Brendan arriving just in time to help me figure it out, we determined that this page was asking for a School Subject. The icons below represented three subjects: Japanese language (like English Class), Math and Science.

I choose Math from the list. I believe this means that I am a Math Teacher in my Tamagotchi classroom.

The next screen showed six Tamagotchi characters I could scroll through. Brendan determined that this page said for us to decide/choose a member/student. I choose the little guy who looked like Mimitchi - Shippokotchi. When I did that... something happened here. The character talked to me in Japanese. Brendan translated it and the Tamagotchi says "Nice to meet you!" He did his happy dance and than he started pacing across the floor in front of my blackboard.

At this point the TamaSuku was started and I could select the Icons.

I had to make dinner at this moment, so I handed the TamaSuku over to Brendan and he played with it while I did some cooking.

When I came back into the room he announced that he had figured out how to play all of the games! Lucky me to have such a smart husband.

I did not have so much time to pay attention to TamaSuku on this first day. I really spent much of my time trying to figure out the Japanese on the Tama and on the manul.

At 11pm the TamaSuku played a little tune and my student said, I think, goodnight.

My first impression is that this Tamagotchi is very different from any other I've ever played with from Bandai. The premise is different and so is the play. Not being able to read Japanese and the fact that this Tamagotchi is so different from any other has made it a real challenge to understand and get to know this Tamagotchi. However with time I suspect all the mystery will soon be revealed.

The Tama itself is big and comfy in my hand, it's not too light or too heavy. I personally really love the new kind of chain, it's not likely to scratch up the paint around the screen. Having extra buttons really isn't a big deal as I thought it might be. I also like that there is more music and sound in this one, it's not just beeping only.

In general I think it's a cool little Tama and I look forward to getting to know and understand what secrets it holds.