The Bright Knight.

As a wee lad of 8 or 9, I remember watching Batman on ABC after school at 4 pm. and then running home the next day at the Same Bat-time on the Same Bat-Channel to watch the follow up episode. My mother made us superhero costumes and my brother and I would run around portraying Superman, Batman or in my sister's case, Robin. The show would not have been the same without the deadpan acting of Adam West and I was saddened to learn of his passing at the age of 88. (Stupid leukemia!)

I was lucky enough to have met Adam West at a Card Convention sometime in the 90s and he was very charming, though he did refuse to dance the Batusi for me. Click on the pic above to see his signature.

Thanks to Pinterest, here are a ton of pics of Batman's Japanese connection.

I watched the cartoon as well and though Adam West did not do the voice in The Adventures of Batman, it was definitely done in the same vein as the show. Here is Sue Cream Sue singing the theme song to the Japanese version of the toon. (This guy has translated the lyrics for your perusal.)



Though not really West-related, while digging around looking for my copy of the Batman Movie (which I couldn't find, did I lend it out?), I found this coin that I bought two years ago. 20$ Silver Dollar featuring Adam West and Steve Reeves Batman and Superman.

I'll leave you with a choice clip of West as both Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, in conversation.



REVISION!
A friend found this obit for Mr. West in a daily Japanese newspaper.

Here's a translation of the above:
Mr. Adam West, 88 years old (US actor) 9th (*referring to June 9th in Japan), died in Los Angeles due to leukemia.

The family revealed on Facebook on the 10th. Born in western Washington. He acted as Batman, a leading role in the TV drama "Batman" which began in January 1966, and gained popularity. He appeared in many movies as well as acting as a voice actor of TV animation. (Los Angeles reporter Tahara Tokutani)

Minion Opinion!

The big news for aficionados of Kinder Eggs is that they are finally coming to the USA. Well, at least something similar is coming called Kinder Joy, which averts the American fear of choking on a plastic toy. Over here in Japan, kids are able to figure out that chocolate is for eating and plastic toys are for assembling and playing with. Furuta has been putting out Disney eggs for years now and recently Universal Studios* is getting into the act with Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me.

Though I do like Despicable Me, I find the Minions to be the worst part of the franchise. Yet they are extremely popular over here. After I bought the first egg, I was very impressed with the quality of these eggs, so I bought a few more. Then I found them at the supermarket for even less. Now I'm only two shy of a complete set!

  

  

 

  

I even landed the Secret one, a Minion King.

If you happen to have #s 3 or 4, those are the only ones I'm missing for this set.

Other Minion merchandising out there includes these candies.

Which comes with a little Minion on a chain.

These are about two and a half bucks which is too steep for me. I'll wait a month until they get discounted.

*Speaking of Universal Studios, USJ has added a Minion Park to its Amusement Park.

This is of course all in anticipation of Despicable Me 3!

Cute Q!

I had a pair of weddings last weekend in Kitakami which meant that I got to stay overnight for free in a Comfort Inn. Pretty nice digs and right beside the station, great buffet for brekkie as well.  I had an entire day to kill between the weddings so I called upon my pal, DantheMan who drove up and met me. We ventured out to Morioka and only got lost once and finally arrived at our destination, the Mansai (Mandai clone). Not much of note though between it and the Mandai clone in Kitakami, I did come away with some loot.

Such as this Ultra Q character (whose name eludes me).

I was curious as to what this card was and for only a buck, I thought it worth investigation.

 This is the flipside.

And this is what came with it. A little diorama for me to build. Pretty cool but where'll I put it?

 Another Ultra-goodie I bought were a couple of random rubber straps.

Other Kaiju karacters that I landed were a couple of bottle caps featuring King Ghiddorah and Mothra.

Four mini-figures. If I feel so inclined, I could use them for a finger-puppet show.

This may be a knockoff Godzilla, I couldn't find any Toho label on it.

And when I saw this King Caesar, I was intrigued because the bottom of it looked like a hollow dab through which I could stick my finger. It turns out that I was ripped off for it is missing its legs and tail!

I found a few Marvel figures such as these Bearbrick Spidey and Cap.

And best of all, Spider-Man cruising on a hog!

Speaking of Marvel goodies, I found a couple of TsumTsums at the cinema shop. They are rather expensive but look very cute!

Also at the Cinema are some rubber straps but are about 200 yen more expensive than similar straps.

I probably have other doodads to add though I'll do so at a later date...Signing off.

Gowlilla.

What do you get when you mash up an owl with a gorilla? A Gowlilla, of course.

This is the latest Gatcha capsule that mashes up Gorillas with various white animals. As you can see, there is an Alpaca-Gorilla (Alparrilla?), a Dog-Gorilla (Dorilla?), a Rabbit-Gorilla (Gorillabbit?), a Polar Bear-Gorilla (Porillar Bear?) below, an Owl-Gorilla (Gowlilla?) above, and a Seal-Gorilla (Searilla?).

They're so cute and repulsive!

Speaking of cute (and a tad repulsive), I went to 志和古稲荷神社,  Shiwa Furu Inari Shrine, in Iwate Prefecture. The best I can fathom is that Inari Shrines are dedicated to Rice/Fertility Gods and are often represented as Foxes, or something like that. Anyway, this particular shrine has a mummified fox in a box. Unfortunately as we went during the off-season, the box was closed so we couldn't get a good gander at it.

If you click and embiggen the pic, you may be able to make out a heap of fox bones.

If I ever need some spare change, I know where to go.

A few seconds of a babbling brook.

 

In our Iwate travels, we popped into Hanamaki to see the English Coast which alas had flooded so there was little coast and lots of river.

A nice trip overall but even nicer was the loot I purchased at the Mandai clones! Details tomorrow.