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| From Japan 147 |
Mmm... peach dango.
Nothing really to talk about, so here are pictures of more food. They just came out with Peach Fanta (wohoo!). Next: a random peach drink. Next: a peach calpis drink, but you mix it with water to make it. I was happy when I found Nikkuman (meat buns), unfortunately it had mushrooms or something in it so it didn't taste good at all (*snif*). I saw this box for peach dango at the store and had to buy it, yummy stuff. The last few things are ice cream I bought. I think I took a picture of the balled ice cream before. The second to last ice cream was pretty neat, it had a hard outer shell, then a kind of syrupy gel between the shell and the ice cream. The last ice cream didn't taste that good, ended up throwing them out in the end. Oh yeah, and an interesting thing happened on TV: almost every channel aired the same commercial at exactly 9:00pm wishing Nissin a happy birthday to celebrate it's 50th anniversary.
8/26 Tuesday:
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| From Japan 148 |
Shimatta!
Err... yeah... I'll get back to that. First, a huge bottle of Peach Fanta (bwahahaha). Some of the shows on TV are um... I'll just say odd. For instance, one guy has a microphone head for a... um... head. The next picture is from a show called "Lincoln". Basically a bunch of comedians from different shows get together and do stupid things for the sake of entertainment (some pretty funny stuff happens). For instance, in the picture I took, they are trying to catch balloons as the air is let out of them and they fall to the ground (yes, one of the people on the podium who let the balloons go is a girl in a bunny outfit). Next: mmm... ice cream mochi, a big box of em'. I kept trying to find green tea ice cream mochi, but the only ones they had were ones with chocolate in the center, which ruined it. Now Banana Street:
Ok, this is actually a different one than the one I saw, but it was funny. In the one I saw, the guy they were trying to get to say something um... amusing... in english ended up taking the note card from them and beating them with it (I guess he actually knew what it said, either that or he found out).
Side note - found something interesting while looking for "Lincoln" clips:
Notice something about the guy who is front and center of the group (Masatoshi Hamada, part of the comedy duo Downtown, one of the most popular comedy duos in Japan) that is watching (and laughing at) their friend (Hitoshi Matsumoto, the other half of Downtown): he is wearing a Stanford shirt!!! Sweet!
8/27 Wednesday:
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| From Japan 149 |
Ramune.
This was the drink that the people from work gave me at the welcome dinner. Anyway, first picture is of my dinner: Omurice (basically an omlette with rice inside, actually pretty good). Then a bunch of pictures and a video of Ramune. I described it before, so here are some pictures of it. And now for the unveiling of the Square Enix Bag (well some of it). Mostly figures (actually half of those I got earlier, when I went to Akihabara). All the "Play Arts" figures (except for Auron) I got from the Square Enix shop. I also got a free leather notepad since I spent (well) over 8000 Yen. Also some pictures of the manga I bought. The first group is Chii's Sweet Home, a cute manga and anime about a kitten (couldn't resist). The second group is Soul Eater, a manga/anime I really wanted to get. The Trading Arts I got at the Square Enix shop, it only has one of the figures in each box, I don't know which one though. The last thing is the miniture gold-colored replica of the Tokyo Tower I bought when I went to the Tokyo Tower (sorry, didn't want to open the box yet).
8/28 Thursday:
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| From Japan 150 |
Saku Saku, a Yokohama-area TV show featuring a cute girl and a puppet.
Here's a clip:
The odd thing is, she never really looks at the puppet when she talks to it...
Anyways, more stuff I bought. First: peach gummy candy (:P). Next: peach flavored water (:P). After the TV picture is a shot one of the things I bought at the "It's a Rumic World" Exhibit: a bag with the chick from the apron of one of the characters of Rumiko Takahashi's manga (Maison Ikkoku) with the words "Piyo Piyo" (aka Cheep Cheep). A large hand cloth of Sasuke and Naruto from the Naruto movie I saw. A 3D folder of Ponyo and a Ponyo bookmark. A nice fan that my host-mom gave me before I left. A purple Doshisha University T-shirt. A neat Nikko Kegon Falls T-shirt. An "I (heart) Kyoto" T-shirt. And an awesome Gurren Laggan T-shirt.
8/29 Friday:
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| From Japan 151 |
Here is what 120,000 Yen (~$1,200) looks like. Watch as it disappears tomorrow.
Not a lot to talk about. The people from work took me to a Chinese restaurant for a farewell dinner (well farewell to me and another guy who was leaving the company today). They tried to get me to eat dog... I politely declined. I discovered another thing about my boss (the Sargent), he secretly has the same Laputa phone strap I have (hehe). Oh, and we had some crazy rain and lightning again today. The power even went out a couple of times in the restaurant. Got back pretty late and needed to go to bed so I could get up early tomorrow, so I only took pictures of the money I will be splurging and the ticket to the Ghibli Museum I will be using tomorrow. :)
8/30 Saturday:
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| From Japan 152 |
The (not quite life-size) robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky at the Ghibli Museum.
Lots of fun today. First stop: The Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Thankfully it wasn't raining (well at least not right away). You know it's going to be fun when the bus to get there is Ghibli-themed. I took a lot of pictures here, it was really like something out of a Ghibli movie, so awesome. As usual, I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside (bah). So much to see, the pictures pretty much explain it all (well at least the outside). Even the stained glass windows were all pictures from Ghibli movies. After exploring the museum I had to get lunch at the cafe (although I didn't really want to wait in the long line). After lunch I headed to my next stop: Nakano (W of Shinjuku). I wanted to find more character goods (not the type that was in Harajuku), and Nakano Broadway apparently had some. At the station in Nakano I saw someone in a pepper costume (at least I think that's a pepper) advertising for Hot Pepper (whatever that is). It was pretty crowded there, but there were a lot of different goods, floors of them, although most were used goods. After exploring there for a while, I headed to Ikebukuro (N of Shinjuku) to search for more character goods. Walked around for a bit (taking pictures) but had a hard time finding the place I was looking for. Eventually I found it and spent some time there buying things before grabbing some dinner and heading back home.
8/31 Sunday:
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| From Japan 153 |
A five-story pagoda at Sensō-ji in Asakusa.
Well I didn't spend all my money yesterday, so I have more to spend today. First picture is the results yesterday's splurg, now for today! First stop: Asakusa. Well, the first stop is actually Ueno station (which was pretty neat, and also has a Hard Rock Cafe, but I didn't have time to go there), then Asakusa. Wow is this place busy. Lots of things to buy here and lots to see. Hehe, I saw a little dog with boots, jeans, a jeans jacket, and a hat (it was cute). Samurai swords, stuffed dogs/cats, masks, food, you name it, they have everything you/a tourist would want to buy here. I eventually made it to the end of the long street of shops leading to the Hōzōmon (the inner gate). The gate features two large statues (representing Niō, the guardian deity of the Buddha), as well as three large lanterns (err two large, one HUGE). This then leads to Sensō-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple. I took some pictures there, then headed back into the shops. Took a picture of a Maneki Neko (beckoning cat) shop (that's right, an entire shop just for beckoning cats). As I was leaving, I grabbed some more pictures of the other gate, Kaminarimon (the outer gate). Spotted the dog again, which now had sunglasses on (lol). Also some random interesting things I saw while heading to Akihabara again. Took some more pictures around there before spending some more money. Came back home and took a picture of all the fun stuff I bought (well, the bags). Another amusing show on TV, this time one of the comedians (in full Geisha costume, makeup and everything) was teaching the others (including the Downtown comedic pair) how to be a real Geisha... sort of. Task one: serve sake... from a barrel... that sprays when opened. Task two: bring the tray of food... by way of obstacle course... including a slide (Hamada-san actually almost made it... except for the slide, where he painfully, and repeatedly in slow motion, slammed his ass onto the mat). Task three: bedside manner... which Matsumoto-san apparently didn't do right. Final task: make it to the house (set)... through wind (huge-ass fan)... and rain (fire hoses). Well he made it... not in one piece though.
Next week is my final week in Japan! *snif* :`(
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