New Ipod

Yesterday I got a new Ipod. I got it to replace my 60G Ipod which has been full for a very long time. To remedy this I got a brand new silver 120G model.

It’s pretty nice the front surface is now a matte finish, so it doesn’t get all covered with fingerprints. I really like the new improvements to the menu system. There’s a lot more flashiness to it now.

You can see beside the main menu they now randomly show album covers. Also they added the ability to search though music in a cover flow now.

I really like being able to easily see all of the album artwork. For someone like me who has to have the artwork for every album in their library, this is a sweet bonus.

Kinnikuman

I got these little figures out of a Gacha Gacha machine. They’re Kinnikuman figures. Some people my age might remember them as being called M.U.S.C.L.E. figures in North America. I had a bunch of them when I was a kid. Anyways I got “Ramenman”.

The artist of the manga used to have an interesting way of coming up with new wrestlers. They would often have design contests where kids would send in drawings of their creations. This led to some really starnge and cool stuff. I also got a “Brocken” figure.

They released this figures to celebrate the 29th anniversary of Kinnikuman first being published. I wonder why they didn’t wait until the 30th. Here’s a cover of the old manga. You might recognize the main character, if you’re a boy and grew up in the 1980’s.

First Snow

When I woke up this morning I was sad to see this.

Yes, our first snow of the season. Thankfully it’s almost all melted already. After living though numerous winters in Canada, snow is an evil sight to me. One of my reasons for wanting to move to Japan was more mild winters. So far it hasn’t been too bad. At least we almost made though November with no snow.

James Bond

I got this flyer for the new James Bond movie at the local movie theater. The name of the movie in Japan isn’t “Quantum of Solace”. It’s actually translates to “The Solace of Revenge”. Which actually means something, instead of the weird English title.

James Bond is usually called “Zero Zero Seven” over here. For example the Japanese title of “You Only Live Twice” was “007 Dies Twice”. The only bad thing about seeing this flyer was that it confirmed the movie isn’t coming out in Japan until January 2009. That hurts!

SIDE NOTE: This actually my 200th post! Also my 200th consecutive day of posting. A pat on the back for myself.

Super Warm

As an early Christmas gift, my wonderful mother in-law bought me this super awesome furry electric blanket to keep me warm during the winter months. It’s so warm, soft and nice.

In Japan there is no central heating and the wall are thin and not insulated, so it can get pretty cold inside the house. Well not any more for me, I put this on our sofa, and now I can lay down in toasty warmth. It’s really quite nice. Here’s an illustration of some other things I can and will be doing.

I like how the second drawing is exactly the same as the first one, except flipped with a sofa added.

New Beer

I thought I would profile some of the new beer that they have in Japan. It’s seems that there is new types to try every month. Companies are in a constant beer “arms race” to top each other. First is Kirin Zero.

It’s a low calorie, zero carb beer. These kinds of beer have become popular lately, since everyone seems to be diet conscious over here. Next we have Kirin Smooth and Asahi Ginger Draft.

Kirin Smooth as the name states, is supposed to be smoother than normal beer. The can say “Smooth makes you feel comfortable”.  Asahi Ginger Draft has a bit of ginger taste added to it. It’s pretty refreshing tasting. They should have brought it out in summer though instead of winter. Here are a couple Kirin seasonal beers.

There are usually different ones for each season. They are available for a limited time and quantity, never to be made again. Some are really good, so it’s sad when they’re gone. Finally, here is a Dark Bitter by Suntory.

I wanted to show this to prove that not all Japanese beers are ale and pilsner. It’s kind of similar to Guiness, but not as thick. Constantly having new types of beer is good since foreign beer is hard to find and often very expensive. Plus more is always a good thing.

Vintage 8 Man

Check out this awesome packaging. It’s to promote Shonen Magazine’s 50th anniversary publishing comics. They have a whole bunch of re-branded snacks at 7/11 right now with all kinds of nostalgic characters on them.

You can see they show the mash-up on the back of the bag.

It’s combining one of the magazines old covers, and also the vintage packaging for the noodle snack. Very cool!

Space Invaders

Recently it was the 30th anniversary of the arcade game Space Invaders. To celebrate this a lot of merchandise was realeased. I found this at the local Village Vanguard.

It’s one of those mystery collectibles that are popular over here. You never know what you will get when you buy them. What was inside was this.

Two Space Invader magnets. I’m glad that I got the iconic crab invader in white. I was also surprised to a magnet of the monster from the cabinet artwork. Below you can see the whole line up.

It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s been 30 years since the debut of Space Invaders. I remember playing it on Atari when I was a child. I guess that makes me old!

This Isn’t Soy Sauce

I got this at the 7/11 around the corner from my house.

It looks like a bottle of soy sauce, but it’s actually orange juice!?! Looking closer you can see the liquid is actually a dark brown color.

One wonders what they used to make it that color. I don’t want to think about it. Thankfully they put a helpful warning on it for all of the stupid foreigners in Japan.

Thanks. The little oranges and the fact it says orange on the label didn’t tip me off. Also soy sauce isn’t refrigerated in the juice section.

Return of Kewpie

I haven’t done one of these posts in a while, and frankly the Kewpies were tormenting to me to do another. So without further ado, the Kewpies return (sorry Jeff). I couldn’t resist this when I saw it.

Yes, Godzilla mixed with Kewpie! How can someone deny the appeal of something so fantastic. Here’s a nice close up for all of the haters.

I love it!! This will definitely not be the last you see of Kewpie. That’s for sure.