Lofty Kaiju.

I am SO impressed by the latest display at LOFT. Every time I see an Ultraman display, it features all the Ultramen and maybe the odd token villain. This time, they've done it right! All villains and NO heroes! Woohoo!!

There's a trio of baddies in the lobby, and they have a "Cameras are allowed" sign. Yay.

As you can see, they are taller than me (then again, what isn't?) Those pictures on the wall in the background are unphotographable. They are original drawings/paintings of the kaiju and sell for 500-600 bucks!

Other photogenic figures are the guys in the window display. Several tons of vintage monster mayhem showing off their wares for passersby to witness. I'll take this display over a Christmas scene in a Department store any day.

Also in the window are these ginormous posters of two of our buddies, Red King and Gomora.

Watch them pit against each other in a battle royale!



There's also a sweet poster of Kanegon and the elevator has been covered with the event's promo.

 Of course, there were tons of items for sale and considering the price, you'd expect these to be vintage figures. But I strongly suspect (thanks to the modern packaging) that they are reproductions and hardly worth a tenth of the price asked.

But I couldn't leave empty-handed so I picked up a couple of clear files and some postcards.

These two are quite nice featuring several of the characters from Ultra Q.

These two clear files have Kaiju guts on the front and obverse. I love the idea of showing off the internal workings of the monsters.

I got two sets of postcards, one set featuring the UltraVillains, one set featuring Gamera and a cutie.

The only big ticket item I picked up is a t-shirt. Very funky design by Kotaro Kita.

I may head back there before December 8th and peruse the display when I have more time. Any fan of the big U-man's nemeses should go as well.

Shakken is Shocking.

My biannual (is that twice a year or every two years?) car inspection (Shakken) comes due this month so I have given my vehicle over to my dealer to scrutinize it and make it road worthy. Fortunately, there shouldn't be much problem and my estimate was for 66,000 yen (around 700 bucks) give or take an ichiman. I spent the last week figuring out trains and buses to and from my schools only to discover today that I've been given a loaner! It's a bit of a tank to drive, but it is better than nothing!

I recently won a pair of gloves that'll make dandy driving gloves. They're from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and there is some kind of Smart-Phone connection as well if I can figure it out.

 I recently won one of the loser prizes from an Evangelion contest and it is the worst of the lot. It's Dendou and it lights up. Big whoop!

Every day, the Conbini workers ALWAYS give you a bag unless you catch them in time and tell them you don't want one. You could be buying a piece of plastic junk wrapped in plastic and they'll throw that in a plastic bag for your convenience. It's good to find out though that this is helping me save the Earth. All this time, I thought it was ruining it!

Slipped a Mickey.

Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mickey Mouse. That's how the lyrics go in the Japanese version of the theme to the Mickey Mouse Club. Today just happens to be Mickey's 85th birthday and there was a Recorder Duet at my Elementary School and much to my surprise, they were really quite good. I missed taping the Mickey Mouse theme but I did get Jiminy Cricket's.



Here are some pictures of the guys and their instruments, from a tiny 3 inch long recorder to a huge bass recorder 2 metres long!

I taped lots of their tunes from classical to Anime themes but none were as nice as this, the theme from My Neighbour Totoro Laputa*.
(*oops...Thanks Dan.)



Other than the Frying pan I showed off in my post yesterday, I don't have any recent Mickey paraphernalia, here though is an oldie that is a little scary, The Mad Doctor:



America wasn't the only country to use cartoons as propaganda, here you'll find  Evil Mickey Attacks Japan:


I'll finish off with some leftover Halloween drawings by some of the students at this school.

Happy Mickey Day!

Ruru's Back in Town.

One of the Ernie's troupe is in town right now after deserting us for a job in Taiwan last summer. She was only available for last night's revelry but it was really nice to see her and her smile. Alas, my tummy problems are still with me so I called it an early night. But not before giving her my Kitty Brush. After doing so, I found out that it was not a makeup or marinating brush but a brush for cleaning one's keyboard. Darn, I would have kept it had I known.

An appropriate tune to accompany her arrival is Harry Warren's 1935 masterpiece, "Lulu's Back in Town." Here is Fats Waller scatting along to it back then.



I probably first heard it sung by the Twiggy clone, Lulu, back in the 60's. We were avid watchers of The Red Skelton Hour so I wouldn't be surprised if I saw this back when it was first broadcast.



Yet the version I remember best has to be from Sesame Street. I sent this to Ruru for her birthday last year.



Don't tell her but I think next year, I'll send her this one from Justice League Unlimited sung by Circe.



Not much of interest at the party last night, I gave away my other Kitty paraphernalia to my namesake, Mike, to go to his daughter.

I kept the good loot for myself. I landed this Mickey Mouse Frying Pan for a buck at UFO catch. Not a bad deal, I must say.

On my way to catch a cab, I snuck back into that very same Game Centre and won this Groovy Gatchapin Carrion Carry-on Bag on the very same machine, only this time it took me 4-5 tries. Now I can travel in style!!

Being a sucker for all things creepy, I spent several 100 yen coins on a trio of living prehistoric creatures.

The Woodlouse, the Coelacanth and the Giant Squid. They're SO cute!

I also got a trio of ama gaeru also known as the Japanese Tree Frog. Disappointingly, it's just three different shades of the same design.

That was it for last night's haul. Since Halloween ended, there hasn't been much to shoot for, it's all Christmassy Crap. On November first, (and probably a week or two before) there was no longer any Halloween-oriented goods, except for this ghostly RiraKuma who must not have received the memo.

Here is a smattering of all the other Ho-Ho-Horendous stuff stuffed in the games.

The only ones I'd consider getting right now would be this Jack or Gloomy.

Thanks for the fun few hours Ruru and thanks to the Game Centre for making it easy for me to land some loot!

Godzilla Attacks!

I had a wedding up north in Tsukidate and decided to take the long scenic route home instead of the Highway. (You take the Highway and I'll take the Lowway and I'll be in Sendai 'afore ye.)

I was lucky enough to see a few flocks of ducks, there were about 8 Vees of 20 each. Even luckier, I was stopped at a red and could snap a pic.

My first stop was at a Game Centre and Recycle shop but the shop was under construction and closed. Pretty lame toys but there was an awesome Godzilla ride and no staff around to tell me I couldn't go in!

For a buck, I ventured inside and tried to take a video. Unfortunately, the place is SO bright, that all I got was glare (I blame JJ Abrams) and a reflection of myself. If you skip near the end, you can see a bit of Godzilla getting firebombed by Destroyah. I'll need to go to another one and put up a curtain.



One Conbini that I infrequently frequent is Mini-Stop and they had a Hello Kitty mystery draw. I didn't get any of the big ticket items, but I got a mini-pocket bag and a brush. It may be a makeup brush but it looks like it'll be good for marinating steaks. I'm meeting an ex-pat tonight so I'll give her the choice of which she'd like. I also bought a drink with an unusual name, "Fruit Vinegar Sparkling!" It lived up to its name and was very tart.

 The only other stop I made was at a Book Off in Furukawa. I didn't buy much (for a change) but found a pack of ET stickers and a Daredevil comic. Comics are really hard to come by over here and someone had sold off about 60 of them. I picked up issue 100, mainly because it's the best bang for a buck (105 yen with tax) and because it included a reprint of Daredevil 90 with Black Widow!
I also grabbed some other books, but I'll showcase them later.

Not a bad haul and pretty cheap!

Giri Giri Geri.

ギリギリ Giri Giri = Just in Time, げり Geri = diarrhea. All day today, I have managed to get to the loo just in time for my bowels to explode. Too Much Information, so enough of that. What it does mean is that I'm in no mood for a long blog post, so here are a few items that have crossed my path in recent days.

I found a Conan/Lupin pudding at 7-11 today. The Lupicona Movie (pretty cool portmanteau of the two iconic characters) doesn't open till Dec. 7th so the merchandising will inevitably be coming fast and furious until then.

Check out the link above or if you can't be bothered, here's a trailer and a teaser for you:





If I make it through the night, I'm going to a nearby clinic in the morning. I hope I continue to make it in time!