Do Ya Feel Lucky, Punk?

I got up relatively early and head downtown for this year's Lucky Bag extravaganza (click here for previous years). My first stop was E-Beans where I was greeted by a big Monkey (this being Year of the Monkey and all that). We had a Jan Ken Pon battle and she won, yet gave me a booby prize nonetheless.

After that, I popped into to the UFO Catcher Game Centre just to check out its wares and sure enough, I landed two giant pillows that I had to haul around with me all day!

I went to the AniMate on the top floor and bought a Lucky Bag on spec, not knowing what the heck "Show By Rock" is. Within the bag were two Clear Files, 5 Sanrio keychains (market @500 yen per) and twelve similar keychains (at 600 yen per!). Not a bad haul for 1000 yen.

 Sorry for the fuzzy pics, I wasn't wearing my glasses when I snapped them.

Not much else worth buying in the building but I needed a 2000 yen purchase in order to try the "Guru-Guru machine" (at least that's what I think it's called; it's a big red apparatus like a Bingo machine that you spin until a little ball pops out. White wins the small prize, red a big one.)

So I bought two packs of Star Wars trading cards to put me over the price minimum. Alas, I landed NO cards of any interest.

I was hoping for the big Canadian coin, although any of the prizes would be nice.

This is what I won:

Ah, well.
I like the fact that you can win free stuff just by walking in a door. I got a box of tissues and didn't even purchase anything.

I didn't purchase any other items until I got to the Ghibli Store and there I grabbed two of their bags.

Bag #1 had a glow-in-the-dark Kodama coin bank from Princess Mononoke. (The bag cost 3000, this retails for 3000.)

It also included three towels

    

a bookmark,

 a notebook,

a lace bracelet,

a postcard,

and a card case.

The other bag was even better. 3 similar towels,

 a pen-case,

a couple of seals,

   

another lace bracelet,

a sketch book with a Totoro picture as an example,

and an awesome Laputa picture frame (retail 3300!).

It is definitely more worthwhile to go early in the morning than late afternoon, the pickings are far less slim.

Holy Sh*t!

Holy Sh*t, it sure didn't take long for me to break a New Years' Resolution. I had planned on cutting down on my UFO Catching but lo and behold, I just had to catch some sh*t!

The poo is cool and squishy so I plan to keep it in its plastic wrap until I need it.

While I was there, I saw a couple trying to catch a plastic Anpanman change purse to no avail. The machine beside it held these mini-Star Wars pouches. I landed fourteen of these in 20 tries. I still didn't have a complete set of eight, so now I have lots of doubles!*

*I now have two complete sets and a ton of doubles/triples/quadruples. Tomorrow is "Lucky Bag" Shopping Day and I plan to wander the streets of Sendai amid the masses of bargain hunters. IF you see me, mention this blog and I'll give you one of these pouches!!

Happy New Year!

ps. I made it to my local shrine to pay my respects but almost all the lights were out and only a few stragglers were there. So I snapped a couple of pics and went on my merry way home.

I love that turtle!

Happy Newt Year!

This is an アカハライモリ, also known as a Japanese fire belly newt. We wish you all a Happy Newt Year with an amphibious prosperous 2016!

I quaffed a few pints with some friends at the Hub and then rushed home in time to ring in the New Year.  I caught the subway and walked in my door at 11:58, had a pee and then shot this video:



Now I'm relaxing with a Burton Batman marathon (not sure if I'll stay awake long enough for 3 and 4) and a pint of Hobgoblin.

2015 had its ups and downs, yet I hope that 2016 is wonderful for all of us!