Thankszilla.

Happy Labour Thanksgiving all! (In Japan, anyway.)

And to the Americans out there, Happy Thanksgiving to you too.

What do Americans do apart from squabbling and eating on Thanksgiving? They watch sports, mostly football, but I'm sure there are those who indulge in baseball as well. So here we have the mashup between Godzilla the Kaiju and Godzilla the player aka Hideki Matsui.

A cameo...

His skill in English is amazing.

Godzilla has been known to play a different kind of football, soccer.

Here he is either giving the peace sign or flashing a gang sign.

And in a more contemplative pose. 

I wanted to get in on some Thanksgiving action and consume something besides Turkey-Spam so I drove out to a Meat Festival in Shichigahama.

Unfortunately the bear, boar and deer sausages were all sold out by noon.

I settled for a can of deer.

Here are some panorama shots and other shots of the ocean from a handy observation station.

Be thankful!

Telepathic Turtle Triumphant?

Well, the big news-maker all over the world is of course the World Cup (news to everyone but me who doesn't give two hoots). Hoping to trump Paul the Octopus, Brazil has recruited a 27-year old sea turtle named "Big Head" to be their prognosticating pet.

To show my support for this terrific terrapin, here are some Gamera-camera pics of stuff I have around my desk.

First two giant stuffed Gameras, one fully grown and one newly hatched.

A model of Gamera from GIII (that I can't bring myself to release from its packaging.)

Lastly, I have a half-dozen pages of an incomplete set of Gamera cards from 1995. I wish I could have finished the set but those packs were hard to come by in Toronto.

Without rummaging through boxes or a closet, that's all the Gamera I have on hand but I do have some other turtles available. I suppose with the news of a new TMNT movie hitting the airwaves, I discovered a Gacha-capsule of the Quartet of Mutated  Adolescent Renaissance Ninja Reptiles and for one of the first times, I landed all four by buying only four! That is, NO duplicates! Woohoo.

Sawa Grapes!

What's the best thing to come out of today's match? The above 親父ギャグ oyaji gyaggu! As usual, there's lots of Japan bashing whenever they accomplish something and now instead of "Sour Grapes" (負け惜しみ), we can exclaim "Sawa Grapes" thanks to our MVP-winning Captain, 澤穂希 (Homare Sawa).

I already wrote about the game this morning but was shocked to learn that it made the front page of the Toronto Star! Considering most of Canada doesn't know what a soccer ball looks like (myself included), I'm surprised it got any coverage.

I also asked my brother if he has any flowers from the Genus Dianthus where their team, Nadeshiko, derives its name. He quickly forwarded me some of his Pinks (from last year, they're not in bloom right now.) FYI, trivia nuts, the colour Pink may have originated from this flower due to its frayed edges. The verb "to pink" or to cut into a jagged edge (eg. Pinking Shears) does.

Today is 海の日/Marine Day and that means a day off for me and this year...I get paid for it! WooHoo! So I stayed home and did bugger all all day. Not quite following tradition* but I got a lot accomplished.
*(海の日の趣旨は「海の恩恵に感謝するとともに、海洋国日本の繁栄を願う」ということです。The purpose of Marine Day is “to appreciate the benefits of the sea, and to pray for the prosperity of this seafaring country, Japan.”)

In honour of our petite yet spunky Cup-winning gals, I'm going to showcase some of the cuter paraphernalia I've accumulated over the last few weeks.

First up is a quartet of RiraKuma pens and the timing couldn't be better for the mini-pens I have on my keychain are almost out of ink.

Other cutesy animals include a bearhair-clip, two bejeweled rabbits, a triptych of penguins (snoozing, skating and servicing) and a trio of Skelanimals.

More animals: Panda and Frog McDigi, a bear-light, a Nyanpire, and a couple of Care Bears!

There are 15 of these Thomas trains! How much coffee do kids drink?

As usual, there are pieces of One Piece products. I got this mini-file folder with two of these candy-cones and this big file when I bought 6 cheap teas. The fan is one of three I got for one coin at UFO Catcher! (Although this one is busted!)

Finally, a few new KitKats. The Bitter Strawberry came out a while ago but it came in handy last week when a couple of young lasses didn't believe me when I dubbed myself the "KitKat King". I'd given them all a new Cookies and Cream and I bragged that I always have an emergency KitKat with me. Doubting my sincerity, I had to prove myself with the Bitter Strawberry. The Strawberry Hazelnut just came out so I have a new weapon to whip out! They really are minis, aren't they?