Ever felt a little lonely at Sweets Time? Perhaps you needed a little support, a little pick-me up, someone to sing while you take a bite, whip out back-flips as you brush away crumbs, and rustle pom-poms and dance when you swallow. Who hasn’t needed that at Sweets Time? Disney is finally hooking us up. There are 6 types of Sweets Time Mascots, all of them featuring Mickey’s grinning mug, each one with a different type of bready candy goods: cookie, doughnut, chocolate, waffle, pretzel, and macaroon. It’s not a real bit of food though- it’s plastic.
What remains of Matsumoto Castle
Matsumoto Castle in Nagano is one of the few remaining original castles in Japan. A fort was first built at the site in 1504, then in 1550 the Takeda clan under big boss Tokugawa Ieyasu built it up further, with the Norimasa clan taking over stewardship from 1590, extensively reinforcing and adding to the structure. That makes it around 500 years old, no doubt one of the oldest buildings in Japan. It’s a traditional wooden structure of several levels, with the pagoda-like structure common in traditional Japanese buildings. It is nick-named “Crow Castle” for it’s black walls and spreading wings. … Read More
Battle Cards: Destmoon vs. Obama vs. Nidoking
Battle cards hold a special place in the hearts of all Japanese- from childhood they are accustomed to trapping the spirits of nature in little plastic balls (Pokemon, Dragonballz) and unleashing their fury upon each other- their incarnations ranging from monsters to cute yellow mice to beatles (rhino-horn!) to girls in various cute outfits to Obama. Yes, Obama is now in the market- complete with fighting stats and assorted team members and enemies. Japanese pour their hope and dreams into him just as readily as they do into Gundam and Hello Kitty. How will he fare against those stalwarts of … Read More
Weekly Links
BBC– A Florida couple pay $150,000 to clone their dog. Crazy. It’s really happening. Tokyo Otaku– Great post on the Tocho- government building in Shinjuku. I’ve got my own photos and post lined up, won’t post for a few weeks though now. Mike’s Blender– Crazy old Mike reviews chocolate-covered squid. He actually eats it. Respect. Youtube– Japanese TV show mime-attacks people in Osaka with mime-gun and sword, people react, funny.
Memories of Nichitsu 4. The Dr.’s brain in a jar
Nichitsu is a tiny little village huddled in a chilly mountain pass, far from the nearest population center. Come an emergency the Doctor’s office would have been the only ER, so its few rooms were crammed full of equipment, now forgotten and lying in shadow: rusted iron operating tables, toppled X-ray machinery, birthing stirrups lying in puddles of water and moss, leather dentistry chairs ripped and spewing foam, ancient defibrillators on window-sills, walls lined with shelves stocked with bottles of nondescript pills and musty tinctures, documents sheafed and scattered everywhere, surgical clamps in heaps and organs floating in formaldehyde jars. … Read More
Fortune City
I started talking out loud around 3, I think. It’s a sweltering day, but that’s no excuse. It’s more to do with the height, I think. The wind rushing in my ears and I couldn’t hear a damn thing I was thinking. What was I saying? Oh. I started saying things like this. “I really want a tuna sandwich, I don’t know if I can do this without a tuna sandwich, I think I really need one. perhaps I should call the vets and make an appointment for Barney the goldfish. I want a sandwich. The knife is digging into … Read More
Yoyogi Poodlers
Yoyogi Park is the consummate Japanese melting pot- perhaps the most varied and vivid spot in the whole country. On any given weekend you’ll find Cosplayers and Rockabillies near the entrance, frisbee throwers and spinners, hula-hoopers, and dudes doing comedy in leather face masks in the first stretch, African drumming groups, badmintonners, the artist with the stereo, the cyclist with the drums, folks rehearsing a musical with brooms in it, and all kinds of instrument-players and circus-skills practisers by the empty water pools, couples canoodling, photographers, dog-fanciers, partying gaijin, kite-flyers, hacky-sack-ists and more on grass beyond the fountain. Oh, and … Read More
Nanchatte Orange Soy Sauce
Soy Sauce is ubiquitous in Japan- the Japanese splash it on everything with gay abandon: fried fish, chicken bones, california rolls, potatoes, ice cream, tea. You name it- they condimentize it with soy sauce. Some soy sauce companies- perhaps following their brethren in the candy and snack world- have taken to augmenting their soy with extra awesome flavors; in this case- Nanchatte Orange, by Cheerio. Yum. Soy Sauce surrounded by little empty plastic fish- which come in bento lunchboxes filled with a single serving of soy sauce.
DoCoMo Tower, Shinjuku
The Docomo Tower in Shinjuku soars over the Southern exit / Yoyogi area like a great pink middle finger, thumbing its nose at the graceless cluster-bomb mess of old-modern Shinjuku with its super-sleek lines, haute-couture design domination, and clean parallels to other auspicious buildings like Big Ben and the Empire State Building. At 492 feet high, it houses 28 stories of pure DoCoMo goodness, capped with the Gothic-esque bell-tower clock-face, complete with flying buttresses. From the bridge over the tracks in front of Takashimaya.
Ikebukuro Jingle Key-Chain
Train Stations in Japan have jingles; at least the stations on the JR Yamanote line do- when the trains pull in and when they pull out. They’re bright, cheery, and last about 10 seconds. I suppose they let us know- OK, now it’s time to get on the train. Now it’s time to get off. Oops, mind the gap! Each train station has a different jingle – Buddha alone knows why, perhaps so the blind know where they are – but now an enterprising toy-maker has produced a range of collectible key-chains that burble out the full range. Who needs … Read More