Long Long Ago, 20th Century

  • April 30, 2026

That’s the closing theme to the 1987 tokasatsu series Kamen Rider Black. It’s a masterpiece among masterpieces.

The land covered in green
The flowers that bloom in the four seasons
The white sandy dunes
The lovely rosy seashells

People still had warmth in their hearts
The sea was still cobalt blue color

Good old times
Long long ago, 20th Century

I’ll write about the show in detail in a future post, but for now I’ll simply say it’s very dark and this closing theme suits it perfectly. But if a song reminiscing about the 20th Century was ironic when it was released – in the 20th Century – then it’s evolved into the sublime now.

The blessings of nature
Brought people and the cities together
Trees grow luxuriously along the road
Alongside towering skyscrapers

Men still longed for freedom
Back when women were still gentle

Nostalgic times
Long long ago, 20th Century

A couple of years after this song was released the Showa era ended in Japan, and then the economic bubble burst leading to the ‘lost decades’. For many Japanese the ‘good old days’ ended almost overnight and I wonder how many in those days listened to this song with new ears.

For those of us born during the 20th Century, this elegiac song stirs our memories of a time that once was and will never be again. It may have been composed for a children’s TV series, but the message here was for adults and only sweetens as we move further and further away in time.

Long, long ago the 20th Century indeed.

(Here’s the full version of the song if you’d like to hear it.)

Snake Mountain

  • April 23, 2026

This was one of my birthday gifts:

It’s a MegaBloks model of Snake Mountain from the old Masters Of The Universe toy series. This is a recently released companion piece to Castle Grayskull which I built five years ago.

As with Grayskull the presentation of the box is wonderful. The fortress is made in two halves, each of which were packed into two separate boxes and over 60 different bags of pieces.

This took me a long time to make! I started it not long after my birthday, and worked on it a few sessions a week, only completing it recently. While the engineering is every bit as impressive as any Lego kit, the ‘grip’ of the pieces is much stronger and putting it all together wasn’t as effortless as Lego typically is. There were even a few instances where I made mistakes and had a devil of a time separating the pieces!

The above shows the completed model, which is about two feet wide and a foot high when opened. It’s also very heavy, and will need a large and secure place to display it (which I plan to be next to Grayskull atop a bookshelf).

It has many play features, including secret doors, trapdoors, a prison, portable snake, portcullis and various other ways for the figures to interact with it.

It came with six figures, and I also got five other new ones that were released around the same time (and yes, Scareglow glows in the dark). As with those that came with Grayskull, I love these tiny recreations of the original MoTU figures, and think they add a lot of charm to the model.

That’s the model closed up with the figures added. This is how it will be displayed, since you can bet I never want to struggle with taking it apart!

It was a fun build, looks great, and was a fraction of what it would have cost had Lego made it. If you like the design of the old Masters toys, this is an easy recommendation.

Willy Wonking Friday!

  • April 17, 2026

These were the final two candy making kits we recently opened. Let’s begin with the one on the left:

Now this was unexpected! The tray contains dehydrated mochi (sticky rice cakes), roasted soybean powder and thick chocolate sauce (these last two were in packets I forgot to photograph).

The mochi pellets needed to be rehydrated, which simple meant pouring a bit of water on top. It happened quickly and they approximately doubled in size:

A quick dip in the chocolate and powder and it’s finished:

They were good! In fact this was the first item (this week) where we ate it all! Two thumbs up.

The last item was a cheesecake kit, which was the most complicated of the week (although, as with all of these, still very easy). This is by Kracie, a name known to us because of the quality of some of their other products.

One packet was dissolved to make a thick cream, then a second was added which, when stirred in, turned the cream into a fluffy pudding.

The blueberry sauce was made by dissolving a third packet, and then a topping of biscuit crumbles went on top of the ‘cake’.

This was excellent. It had the correct texture and tasted delicious, and once again we ate it all. Another impressive product from Kracie!

Candy making kits are a big deal in Japan and it seems every time we’re there we find new ones to try. I’m sure you’ll see another series like this one day.