Best Laid Plans of Mice.

I'd hoped to tie up the loose ends of some Pre-Countdown to Halloween posts but circumstances have caused me to lay low. Therefore to make up for it, here are some YouTubes of Hashimoto-San. I vaguely recall seeing these though I remember Deputy Dawg more so. When created in the early 60s, there were slightly racist overtones but for the most part, the Japanese people mice and traditions were held in high regard. This is because these were written by Bob Kuwahara, a Japan-born and American-raised animator.

Enjoy!

No Longer a Toys R Us Kid.

There was a time when I loved popping into a Toys Am Us to pick up some cards or figures or just to browse.   Today I popped into the one in Natori on the way home from work. The first thing I noticed was a display of Monstrous Lego! Alas, I have neither the time, money, patience or space to build such a monstrosity but they sure are sweet!

Too expensive but I'd consider getting the Creature or this LOTR Spider!

A rather auspicious start but unfortunately it went downhill from there. A cool game mixing the classic Universal Monsters and some classic Japanese Yokai. I still haven't played my Kitaro game, so I'll hold off on this one.

I'd considered this puzzle but again expensive, time consuming and it takes up a lot of space.

 If I had a spare C-note kicking around, I'd definitely get RoboSaurus!

Very disappointed in the lack of Superhero material. All there was was some Spider-Man junk from the last movie. Why are Spidey and the Lizard buffed up in Robotic suits?

So ultimately, all I ended up picking up was a Captain America Pez!

I also grabbed some Halloween treats. I found some KitKats (Pumpkin Pudding) but I'm not sure if they're the same as the ones I bought and forgot in Morioka. They taste okay and there are 13 minis in the bag, each one has a little Monster cartoon character upon it.

I also got some Snoopy Gummis; I particularly like the vampiric Snoopy & Chuck and the Linus Mummy with the Masked Marvel!

The most intriguing snack was this package of different Senbei, crunchy rice cakes by Befco called Bukkake Bakauke. Great packaging but boring little snacks themselves.

Woohoo, less than a week away from The Countdown to Halloween...stay tuned...same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Some Random Crap From Morioka.

While I was in Morioka, I didn't buy too much but I occasionally had to enter a Conbini for a tea break or a pee break. While there, I usually felt obligated to buy something, so this is what I got. 7-11 has a huge Disney campaign going on right now and next month Disney Sea has the gang from Toy Story in a Monster-Mash-up and lots of crap to go with it. Right now, there's a lot of vintage characters at exorbitant prices to celebrate Walt's 110th birthday. I got a big "D" with a Donald.

There has to be a new Doraemon movie out for he's featured as well. Another crappy Key Holder (good thing I need some Halloween presents for the party next month.)

A couple of Monster Hunter characters and Nintendo has choco-eggs and coffees with characters right now. Apart from Donkey Kong, I'm not too interested in getting any more.

I was getting dehydrated and happened upon some NAIVE EVIAN water with these cute little cat post-it notes. Well, I was thirsty, so I landed all six of them.

When directed by my Navi to an empty parking lot while looking for a hotel, I had to stop for directions. I espied this little Schnauzer kit that you make with pipe-cleaners. It's beyond my capability of assembling, but I have a friend with a Crafty Canine that'll love it.

There was very little to buy at the Kenji Miyazawa Museum, still I needed some Omiyage for some work-colleagues so I bought a big box of Galaxy Railroad 999 cookies.

As a follow-up to my Halloween treats post, one of my roving reporters has added a "Bootiful" bounty. Furthermore, I opened up the Pretz and it comes with a ghost mask, pretty scary, huh?

Since this is mostly about Conbinis, I thought I'd share a picture of a Moth that I discovered on the window of a Lawsons. It was about the size of my hand and was either resting or checking out the porn!

It's Talk Like a Pikachu Day!

In honour of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, here are a few mash-ups you might enjoy! (Not much difference between them, I'm afraid.)





No real Pirates here but it features my favourite character, ホラーマン (Horrorman).



And I'd be remiss if I didn't include キャプテンハーロック Captain Harlock!



I really have to do a Harlock post one of these days!

I managed to do this entire post without talking like a pirate. Aaaarrr!

Tricky Treats.

Taking a break from more Morioka, here are a few of the snacks out there for Halloween season. I picked these up two weeks ago just in case they disappear from the stores. Effective September 25th many of the shelves that are stuffed with Halloween goodies today disappear to make way for Christmas goods. It's pathetic!
The top two bags will be Treats for the Halloween party at Ernies on October 26th, start working on your costume now!

I plan to eat the Mickey Pasta on October 1st to start off a month of Halloween posts for the Countdown to Halloween, if you love all things Spooky, go to that site and start clicking to see what other blogs will be doing next month.

Last week I picked up some Marshmallows, Toppo & Prez. Since then I've decided to cut out 90% of my snacking. Therefore these are up for grabs if anyone wants them!

I still have to keep my eye out for the Supermarket shelves though. There's a new KitKat out but the ones I bought were left in the fridge at the hotel last Saturday. I sure hope that it wasn't a Moriokan regional issue.

Camel Balls.

I'm pretty sure that title will pick up some odd Google traffic.

After my wedding, I had no particular plan whatsoever so I decided to hit a nearby museum. Glad I did, details later. From there, I went to a Children's Science Museum, details later. I espied a flyer for a zoo and decided, why not? (Gotta take a quick break from blogging, just spilled a huge glass of water! Hey now I have a clean spot on my floor. I gotta get tidying someday.)

So I went to the Morioka Zoo Zoological Museum. You're greeted by a menagerie (troop) of macaques who have red cheeks at both ends!

I popped into an uninhabited building and saw a few stuffed specimens and a flotilla (army) of frogs. Unfortunately like many amphibians, a lot of these guys are endangered. Cute though! (Sorry I didn't get their scientific names. Click on any pic to Kermitize it for a better view.

I caught Red Foxx's act and he was as foul mouthed as ever. Nice to see that Dennis the Badger is still up and around.

A sweltering day and the only activity of note were the squirrels. I never knew that there were squirrels other than flying squirrels in Japan. Cute little buggers too. Tough to get them to stand still for a picture though.

I couldn't get a decent photo of a civet but I did manage to get a nice one of a friendly Tanuki. Alas, there was no drumming on his balls today.

Bare Bores! Oops Bears and Boars.

You oughta like the otter, it's Canadian!

Remember Pete Puma? Hard to tell whether or not he's in drag here.

American Bighorn Sheep...so why is their latin name Ovis canadensis?

My brother has a big problem with raccoons in his yard. I'm sure he'd be happy to ship them over here.

Que Serow Serow. I have never heard of this goat/sheep/deer creature before. Despite its Japanese shika suffix, Kamoshika  is more goat than deer.

There was a petting zoo with goats & sheep & ponies & horsies & guinea pigs & rabbits & chicks but the only animal I was interested in was the cow! This the first time I have seen a cow in Japan!! They are like ninja, they can only been seen when they want you to.

Cute prairie dogs & ugly buffalo. How many buffets can a buffalo buff if a buffalo could buff buffets?

(I once knew a girl who came from Buffalo. Why can't I meet a girl with normal parents?)

The emus amuse and the kangaroos roost.

Moving on to another continent, we get to the big guns. Here's Dumbo! How do you know he's African and not Indian? He doesn't like curry. Check out the rhino's lips. Do they look square to you?

Finishing up, we have a lying lion, a zestless zebra, an ornery ostrich, a giant giraffe, a flock of funky flamingos and another antelope that I've never heard of, the Sitatunga. 

Finally I came to the end of the zoo and took a shuttle bus back. The driver seemed taken aback when I put on my seatbelt. On the way out, I saw a young lass with the best...ever...t-shirt and she allowed me to photograph it. 

 Oh, for those who have a need for a cigarette in the cafeteria, you'll be saddened to learn that there's No Smorking.

Finally our friendly camel was not sporting a camel toe but did have quite a pair hanging down there.