Return of the Native.

One of the founding fathers of Echophonyk, Stefan, is back in town. He moved out to Vancouver 3 years ago and though his wife and child have paid a visit, it's the first time that he's returned.









We all met up at Hide and Seek
(電話：022-214-7978 住所：宮城県仙台市青葉区一番町4-4-5 八百善ビル2F) and a small gathering enjoyed themselves immensely. As you can see, we weren't the only ones acting infantile.








We all ended up at Ernie's, and I remained until the wee hours.










The next evening, we went to an excellent dinner party at a photographer friend of his and we all had fun (I only wish I could remember their names.)









And the other night, I met he and Alex for his last night in Sendai at a fancy-shmancy restaurant and wound up at Title.









I've finally got rid of him and I can finally get back to routine. Oh, until this weekend, when I'll be clubbing with him in Tokyo!

Nothing Odd About This.

For the Japanese, odd numbers are considered lucky, so today is the day when proud parents celebrate their girls aged 3 & 7 or boys aged 3 & 5. I wrote about 七五三 (shichi-go-san/7-5-3) last year and did a pretty good job of it, I must say.

Not much to add except that I learned that this tradition dates back to the Heian Period (794-1185) and that November 15th is a particularly auspicious day, thus good for celebrating kids' growth. Prior to the age of 3, children's heads were kept shaven and after age 3, they were allowed to let their hair grow out. (They have since stopped this practice.)

I spoke with a co-worker who's daughter is approaching her third birthday and she tells me that she'll be waiting a year to buy her daughter's first kimono, for she's too short right now to walk comfortably. Several other families have also opted for this and some will be waiting until the 7th birthday for a kimono and just use formal dress-wear for this year.

I have to go buy some 千年飴 (Chitose-ame) or 1000-year candy tonight. I hope it isn't too stale.

Ultraterrific!

Ahh, the glory that is the Book-off chain of book stores within Japan. For a buck, I picked up this pictorial collection of Ultraman's first set of Villains from his first (of innumerable) series. Without further ado, here are some of his baddest 怪獣 (kaiju = strange creatures.)












First up is ベムラー or Bemular, a dinosaur-ish creature from outer space who guested in the Big U's first ever episode.








One of my favourites and one of the more popular baddies is バルタン星人 or Alien Baltan an entire race of Crustaceans who must taste quite yummy with garlic butter.





This guy, ネロンガ or Neronga
can turn invisible, eat electricity and shoot rays from his horn.







アントラー or Antlar (a Scarab Beetle-type kaiju, that Wiki says looks like an ant-lion, yet I don't see it), regardless, he looks cool.







Another really popular dinosaur-like monster is レッドキング or Red King who started back in '66 and has shown up in most incarnations of his series.






ギャンゴ actually started off as a sentient meteor who can take on the shape of whatever one dreams up. A thief thought up Gyango and the rest is wacky Ultraman history.






A Rodan clone with feathers: Roc & Roll ヒドラ (Hidora)!








Forget about Sodom, we proudly present Gomorrah! Actually ゴモラ or Gomora can burrow like an insectivore and is named after "Go Mole!"






Woo-hoo! I really like this Yeti-wannabee, Woo.









Finally we see Ultraman giving noogies to ザンボラー or Zambolar a dimetrodon-esque creature that can generate intense heat and start forest fires.






Stay tuned, I've got two more of these books to go!

Why it is Called a SUPERmarket!

Occasionally when grocery shopping, I pass by the Magazine rack and eyeball the latest in Fashion, Homes and Gardens and the Kiddie mags. This one leapt out at me with a Godzilla and Gegege on the cover, how could I resist?

100+ pages for 5 bucks includes: A sheet of trading cards with a new Godzilla, Gegege, Ultraman, Masked Rider, etc.

















A similar sheet of stickers.



















A page of Golden Gegege Goodies. I don't know how to acquire them, but they're referred to as a present, so maybe you send away for them.















16 pages (on recycled paper) including: Puzzles and Mazes.





















Kiddie drawing submissions.

Recruitment pages for Kidzania. I think their first battle will be against Freedonia.


















I like the Kidzania currency.



















One of Ultraman's villains dissected.

















Godara's Guts, another bad guy of Ultraman.














12 pages of cardboard somehow fold into this Transformers diorama.

Another 4 pages of cardboard fold into this funky gun.






























That's a heckuva lotta Ultraman figures, a four-page spread!

One of two Kamen Rider masks.

20 pages of glossy paper including this Purple Transformer with a freakin' T-rex headed gun on its hand.













The epitome of awesomeness, a Gorilla wearing sunglasses vs. a Shark with a red baseball cap.

One more shot of the Gorilla with a few friends, including a Penguin ballerina riding a lynx.

 





















Godzilla in all his glory.


















A little more Gojira.


















Another four pages of Gegege vs a Miira (mummy). This one looks like a full-length movie.












Four pages of Gegege TV previews.

And the Ultimate Gegege goodie is a 目玉のおやじ (medama oyaji shooter game) a mini-basketball game where one shoots an eyeball through a hoop.















Christmas and my birthday are coming. Any of the above goods would be appropriate gifts for me.

HoHoHuh?

I had a few tall ones with Dave yesterday at a place called "Jazz Spot Count". I'd been there once before and it's amazing. It's this little hole in the wall place that you can sit down, have a drink or a coffee and just sit and relax while the guy plays one of his many Jazz records. I hazarded a guess at 4,000 as the amount of records he had...he told me that it's more like 6,000! I love this cigar chewing dude he has sitting on the bar.












He gives out lighters! 022-263-0238.


















I then went and played Simpsons Pinball for about an hour (lots of free games) and did a tiny bit of UFO Catching. I picked up these four awesome goofy-looking wrestling characters, Kinniku Man.
















Now I want them all. I hate wrestling, but I love these guys!












I was a little peckish, so I chucked the diet and got a Happy Set. It comes with this little frog-like creature called ケロロ (Keroro) and there are 66 of these buggers to collect. Talk about otaku-overkill!















En route home, walking along Kris Road, they had all their typical Christmassy decorations up and I snapped this photo with my phone. Sort of a Zen-Santa, don't you think?

Happy Poppy Day!

In Flanders Fields












In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

—John McCrae

I don't need to add to the above, except to mention that when I was listening to the Leafs/Rangers and the Oilers/Flames games, they read the above accompanied by bagpipes. Too bad the Leafs lost in a Shootout, but the Oilers kicked the Flames collective butts.

"Just give me the aspirin. I already got a Purple Heart."
Bill Mauldin, Stars and Stripes (1944)


For Canada's southern neighbours who celebrate a Vet Day (veteran not veterinarian) as well, I recommend you check out Blogger-Bully's entry on the cartoonist, Bill Maudlin. To check out more info on Snoopy's Root Beer quaffing pal, check out Bill Maudlin.










By the way, in Japan, the Poppy is known as the けし (keshi) and there are several different colours and varieties, other than the red ones that the Royal Canadian Legion sells today.


I actually had a few uncles who died in WWII, but darned if I can remember their names. I'm not very good at paying tribute, am I?

Every Sha-la-la-la...

When I was young, I'd listen to the radio waiting for my favourite DJ's songs. When they played I'd sing along, it made me smile.

So now it's your turn...tune into Sendai Radio 3 if you're local or to Internet Radio if you're not. Then you too can hear DJ Mixture be interviewed on Worldwide Radio with host Jeremy Jenkins. It'll be broadcast live across Sendai on Friday, November 9th at 11:30am on Radio 3, 76.2 FM. (I don't know where the heck you live, so check the Internet Radio link above for times...maybe.)

DJ Mixtureが仙台のラジオ3に出演します。
放送時間：11/9（金） 11:30-12:00
チャンネルは FM76.2

詳細はこちらで
FM76.2 RADIO3





I sure hope he plays some Carpenters, everyone hum along...

Every Sha-la-la-la; Every Wo-o-wo-o Still Shines.
Every Shing-a-ling-a-ling, that they're starting to sing, So fine...

Marry, Marry, Quite Contrary.

I've got some new Engrish for you. I picked up a five-pack of tissues entitled ニュー リトル マリー (New Little Marry) the other day. My constant allergies cause me to go through a considerable amount of tissues and since these were on sale, I couldn't resist the cutsie design and catch-phrases.



"Bird is wet, and me too. Rain...Rain. It's Rain every." and "It's rain my way today still!!" It's been a relatively dry Autumn, but in April and May, these statements couldn't be more true.

"When rainbow is hang over the sky. We are very happy every time."

I like the sentiment, if not the grammar.