Sadako Sunday!

I had another wedding in Tendo and afterwards drove out to Yamagata for some nerdy shopping. Much to my surprise, I discovered a NEW Sadako so I snapped it up.

 

 

Lo and behold, this is a NEW figure in the UFO Catcher bins. I did not know that when I bought it. I AM glad I did buy it because it'd probably be twice what I paid to catch it.

This is one of the creepiest figures I've seen so far. BUT, man, did they miss an opportunity. The white garb in which she is draped looks to be the shade of white that Glows in the Dark. BUT, this figure DOES NOT glow in the dark!

Oh well.

I dug up a post of older figure of Sadako's hand, so I'll share it here.

So I had a destination in mind when I drove back from Yamagata to Sendai, and Google Maps routed me up and down a mountain. A rather harrowing drive (mostly single lane, so one has to pull to the side for the infrequent oncoming driver. Only one A-hole who just barrelled down the slope willy nilly, without any regard for other cars. Fortunately, I escaped a head on collision. DINK!) Near the peak, was a lookout opportunity so I snapped a few pics of the escarpment.

 

That pano worked fairly well.

So my destination was a brewery that I passed yesterday but missed the turn. So I planned to go today.

 

I arrived and was so relieved I made it, I sat down for a while.

 

Then I noticed the spider!
 

 

Apparently Akiu is having a Halloween fair.

 

 

Impressive Kakashi! 

 

 

 

A nice smattering of decorations throughout the brewery.

 

 

Since I was driving, I couldn't imbibe at the location. So I picked up a few brew to go.

 

Above: best of the bunch albeit most dear.

As I type this, I'm on my fourth Great Dane brew. I must say of the above, the first was tastiest and the last was average. Alas, these are pretty expensive so I shan't be imbibing these again unless they're on sale or I'm at a party where they are free. 

Second best of the bunch was the Oktoberfest brew. I will try this again...

 Next beer: third bestest.

 

And the fourth favourite out of four.

Since we're talking about canines, (Great Danes) and I'm drinking from a lycanthropean mug, it makes sense to link to today's Monster, the Werewolf (狼男 Ookami-Otoko).

 

 

While drinking my brew, I ate my two treats from last night. Although cute looking, they turned out to be just average cakes with frosting. The Pumpkin face and Cat visage were just a plastic sheet. Rip off!

 The pumpkin is the tastier of the two.

 

While typing away last night, I watched a few animated specials:

Unfortunately, I missed the best ones and saw the tail end of Grinch Night (looked okay, but was missing Boris Karloff). The Fat Albert Halloween Special may have been pretty good when I was a kid but it sure doesn't hold up over time. The Trouble with Miss Switch (Miss Witch! Oh, now I get it.) was cute, helped immensely by June Foray as her frenemy. Claymation: Comedy of Horrors: Technically great, cool claymating, ultimately dull. Finally, Men in Black: The Jack o' Lantern Syndrome came on just as I was going to bed.

I'll watch it later. 

Tonight I was once again busy as all heck so I caught the tail end of Hausu. SO fun! 

I'm going to finish my last beer and watch another webisode of Coven Academy.

Check out fellow blogger: Alexis' 31 Days of Halloween. 

Kappy Anniversary to ME!

October 10th is usually Thanksgiving in Canada and Sports Day in Japan though both shall be postponed to Monday this year for the holiday. It is also the TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY of my setting foot in Japan!! In the Yokai Countdown, KAPPA is the featured creature. Thus, I shall regale you of a recent trip I made to the Kappa Festival in Shikama Town. I last visited this same festival 3 years ago.

 

I met the same two mascots I met before, though I can't tell if it's the same individuals inside. As you can see, I'm consuming a cucumber, as it is the norm.

 

A very cool statue in the town square.

I ate a HUGE burger from one of the food trucks. It was almost more than I could handle. (I never should have eaten the cuke.)

 

There were a couple of mediocre J-pop groups.

All in all, it was not as enjoyable an event as before. Almost NOBODY was dressed up in Kappa garb, except for the staff.

I suggest you click the link at the top. THAT was a fun day.

I didn't stick around for the lucky draw because it was beginning to drizzle. There may have been a Kappa parade, I don't know. Here is the parade from a video I took those three years ago. Check out all the costumed individuals and Boogie along.

 

Here is my Kappa pal. 

 

In order to celebrate my anniversary, I picked up a couple of cupcakes, but don't really feel like consuming them before bedtime. I'll eat them for breakfast.

 

 

I was in Tendo, Yamagata for a wedding today and I have another one there tomorrow, so off to bed shortly. I did buy a couple of goodies, one in particular is this Jack Frost* character. I don't know much about it but it looks rather funky.

A quick Google shows that he is a "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona Jack Frost Mini Figure vol. 1 TAKARA TOMY (B) 

Sheesh, someone is asking a ton of money for a similar one. I paid 220 yen!

Speaking of Jack Frost, he shows up in my Monster book. 

 

As for another blog to investigate, try 2 Cool Ghouls.

Good night, more mischief tomorrow.