Poppy and Pocky and Pretz, Oh My!

11/11 is Pocky Day or Pretz Day or Poppy (Remembrance) Day depending on who you ask. For Pocky Day, there was a photo opportunity set up at Sendai Station as I passed by there early in the morning.

Upon return, there were several Pocky boxes on display.

Including some unique monster-sized Pockys (Pockies?).

I bought the Snoopy a while ago and the Almond Crush today. I also gave my Wedding gals some Coconut Pocky but didn't snap a pic.

As a result of my purchase, I won two chances at Pocky-Roulette. I lost the first time though the second time, I won the top prize!

I also scored an inflatable Pocky Bonking stick.

For the Pretz enthusiasts, one can buy Edamame-flavour.

I opted for Gyuton (Beef Tongue). It'll either be incredibly awesome or terribly disappointing.

I wore my Poppy all day in honour of Remembrance Day.

I'll finish off with Leonard Cohen reading "In Flander's Field".

Happy Gojira Day!

I've taken a few days off from blogging to fight my post-Halloween head cold but I can't neglect today, for it's Godzilla's 64th birthday! Rather, the anniversary of his premiere in Japan on Nov. 3rd, 1954. While wandering the otaku shops over the last month looking for Halloween treats, I did come across several Godzilla items. Such as 3/4 of these little dioramas from 2000.

Now I need to find this fourth one.

I haven't found a reasonably priced book in ages and at a BookOff, I discovered three for a buck a piece!

 First up, Gojira 2000 (Millennium).

It includes a nifty sticker I may place in my car.

Gojira vs. Megaguiras came out the following year and it includes a nifty poster.

Also I scored Godzilla: Final Wars.

Within is a little Godzilla sun visor to cut out and wear.

It also has a paper model of the aircraft, Gotengo.

Finally I found this Rodan in the grocery store the other day.

As you can see, there are 5 more in the series. I couldn't find the #6 below otherwise I would have purchased all 6. As it is, I'm glad I didn't spend the 500 yen each for I've just been crippled with a huge bill for car repairs.

I never found the right opportunity to add this particular Kemono Friend during the Countdown to Halloween, yet she fits in rather well on today's date.

As you can see, she's based on Shin-Godzilla and to contrast her giant size, she carries a tank and a helicopter and treads on buildings.

Here are some images I've scammed from the interwebs.

I hope they come out with a figure for her!

More Godzilla next week when the 3rd installment of the Anime franchise premieres.

Happy Birthversary Gojira!!

Happy All Soul's Eve!

I'm off to a Halloween party so I don't have time (once again) for a detailed entry. I still have a backlog of pamphlets, UFO Catch Crap, Halloweeny Snacks and other stuff that I intended on adding prior to this but, alas, it was not to be. That's why I'll have a Post-Halloween Catch up effort until I feel as though I've caught up. In the interim, here are some of the masks and accessories that I've provided to the classes so they can have a costume show in class.

Above are three hoodie/blankets that gals like to wear and the guys enjoy adding spooky masks to their get up.

My time was limited, so I wasn't able to show each of the masks individually, but you can get an idea.

Then there are the headpieces used to adorn heads (natch), some girls like to just wear a single pair of ears, others go all out and wear three or four (which I think looks silly.) The boys especially like to wear 3-4 masks at a time which looks very dumb and then they can't see. Not my style of choice. I do like to see the Iron Man or Hulk mask worn with a pair of bunny ears. That is fashion at its best.

With my smaller classes, the entire class puts on a single mask and we parade into the Teachers' Room and then they are given a treat after they say "Trick or Treat". I am amazed by how few children bother to say "Thank you" or "Arigatou" afterwards until their homeroom teacher admonishes them.

They each get a few of these Craft supplies and the students then place them in their name cards.

Here are the highlights of the artistic efforts by today's tiniest school. 13 Grade Five students and only 8 Grade Sixers.

I've said it before and I'll reiterate it, Japanese ghosts are very cute.

I dig that elaborate font she used for Halloween.

See my comment above about ghosts and add in anthropomorphized felines.

Unfortunately, she was rushed. I know she wanted to add more.

Another adorable witch.

Not sure what is going on below.

What follows are the Grade 6 kids' works. I do like the witchy Pikachu who has a case of the Munchies

I don't question why the cat has an apple upon its head, I just accept it.

This lad insisted on finishing his creation. I give it 5 stars.

An anxious ghost.

Is that a robot or Frankenstein wielding a crossbow?

This cat is adorable.

And this one wins my pick of the 6s.

For the last of the Kemono Friends this month, here is キュウビキツネ Kyuubi-Kitsune, the 9-tailed fox.

Scammed from Wikipedia (you can tell by the change in font), "The nine-tailed fox or Huli jing (狐狸精; literally: "fox spirit") or jiuweihu (九尾狐; literally: "nine-tailed fox"), having been originated from Chinese mythology, is a common motif in the mythology of East Asian countries. In East Asian folklore, foxes are depicted as a familiar spirit possessed of magic powers. Nine-tailed foxes appear in Chinese folklore, literature, and mythology, in which, depending on the tale can be a good or a bad omen."

That's it for now, I probably won't get back to reporting on tonight's party until tomorrow, so until then...
Happy Halloween!!!