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Let’s Talk About Stamps

Sunday, June 9th, 2024

This post is dedicated to Sue, who (I think) wanted me to send her an eki stamp, and this gave me the idea to blog about rubber stamps!

eki stamps are rubber stamps available at virtually every train or transport station in Japan. Travelers can put these stamps into a stamp book as a record of their journeys, and they are very commonly collected. The first few times we’ve visited Japan we’ve done just this, but in recent trips I usually just put them on a postcard if I have one handy.

The above photo shows the two stamps available at Kinugawa station, and the imprint of the Tobu (as opposed to Metro) Asakusa station stamp.

Eki stamps are so popular in Japan that many other attractions including shopping centers and amusement parks have them as well. Both Tobu World Square and Edo Wonderland had them, but I didn’t have a postcard on me to collect the imprint.

Sometimes time-limited stamps exist to promote tourism or attract customers. An example of this is currently underway in Kinugawa: there are six demon statues around town, and next to each is a little wooden ‘house’ containing a stamp. The idea is to have fun finding all demons and collecting the six stamps. I found four in my wanderings, and put the stamps on postcards.

Another example are six bookstores around Tokyo currently having rubber stamps for the manga Frieren available free to use, and the sign next to them humorously says each time you use one you unlock a fast travel to that bookstore. These stamps are very cute, and I got one in January and another today. I wonder where the other four are?

Another common use of stamps is for a type of bingo or treasure hunt, and there’s one going on right now in Akihabara. Nine stamps related to the series Quintessential Quintuplets are available at various shops in Akihabara, and if you stamp them on the (free) bingo card you can get prizes. This is of course a way to get customers into shops, and it’s clever since 5 stamps are free but the other 4 require you to buy something. So everyone can get at least one free prize (a sticker) but if you spend money in the shops you can end up getting much more.

If you read yesterday’s blog post you will also remember the maze also used rubber stamps as a record of completion, which is the same basic idea.

Of course all these rubber stamps can be used to stamp anything you like, and reports say a handsome and wise young Australian was seen today putting one of the Quintuplet bingo stamps onto a postcard…

And then there’s this incredible rubber stamp at the reception in my hotel. It’s a three-colour design created by successive application of three different stamps. A plastic guide is provided to make sure the three align, and I’m sure you’ll agree it looks great! While using the stamp is free, it’s actually an advertisement, and you can order your own (in multiple designs with whatever text you like) for only $200!

You may have guessed with all the talk of mad postcard stamp applications, but some of you will be getting a card with a stamp on it. I’ll let you wonder which one, but so far it’s not the hotel one since it’s specific to this hotel rather than a place and I’m not sure you’d be interested. But it’s so cool if you want it, just text me or leave a comment (and don’t delay for obvious reasons).

Posted in Art, Crafts, Trip | 2 Comments »

I Made Sushi!

Sunday, April 7th, 2024

I purchased the above model kit in Japan for about $6. It’s as much a puzzle as a plastic model since it doesn’t contain any instructions and acknowledges its own difficulty. Here’s what’s inside:

Three parts for the shrimp, and two runners containing 364 identical pieces of rice:

The rice grains are translucent and very convincing. Here they are off the runners:

The challenge is to make a piece of shrimp nigiri. With no instructions you’re free to assemble the rice as you see fit, which obviously requires plastic cement.

This was indeed a challenge. My glue is very fluid so I used a paintbrush to apply it and applied the rice grains individually with tweezers. It was difficult to get them to adhere and form a blob naturally, and the fumes from the glue quickly became overpowering.

I did this for an hour, applying exactly 177 grains before deciding I was done. It was an accursed procedure, akin to making a monochrome jigsaw puzzle. The translucency of the rice made it difficult to see individual grains once applied, and my eyes were in agony when I stopped. Here’s what I had created:

And here it is turned correct-side-up:

An imperfect shrimp sushi perhaps, but undeniably recognizable.

What do you think? Did I pass this challenge?

Posted in Crafts, Food, Models, Puzzles | 4 Comments »

Eggstravaganza 2

Sunday, March 31st, 2024

Happy Easter! Yesterday JK and DK visited and we coloured eggs like we’ve done before. Here’s the results…

Just dunking them in the dye (once again made by dissolving dye tablets in a vinegar and water mix) isn’t too exciting, so we first used a marker to create some more interesting designs.

I’m sure I don’t have to identify the above, but Ronald WcDonald, Gudetama and Ultraman all look wonderful on boiled eggs eggs!

A transparent crayon keeps the dye from colouring the egg, which is how the parts are kept white. It’s an imperfect method as you can see in this pic of the finished eggs:

Let’s just assume Ronald has some sort of wasting disease and both Doraemon spent the morning rolling in dirt! I’d say all things considered the ‘basket’ of eggs looks wonderful and probably much more interesting than in many other homes today!

We also tried another unusual method of colouring (again from a kit), which involved making a weird foam (KLS did this, using the included powder mixed with water and a hand mixer), then putting the dye on top and swishing the egg around. It didn’t work anywhere near it claimed to, was horribly messy, and I’m sure there were homes in America today where children created an ungodly mess using this kit!

In case you’re wondering, the K’s will eat the eggs 🙂

Posted in Art, Blog, Crafts, Food | 1 Comment »

Star Destroyer

Sunday, March 10th, 2024

Yesterday I made this Star Destroyer:

It’s a cardboard model kit, and only cost $20. The reviews were good and I was looking forward to seeing what it looked like assembled.

First impressions are excellent. A 30 page manual, 16 ‘runners’ with over 200 pieces printed on thick card that punched out easily. It even comes with glue that the manual says is only required if the connections were loose.

The print detail was excellent, and the pieces are clearly marked making assembly – at least initially – fairly easy. I could have done without punching out the hundreds of tiny slots though!

It’s a massive model, and very sturdy. Assembly up until the point in the above pic wasn’t too difficult, but after this things changed a lot. Putting the main hull pieces onto the superstructure was an exercise in frustration, since it was extremely difficult getting the tabs lined up.

The hinged pieces I think could have been better designed as well. Far too often the print separated from the backing revealing the cardboard as seen above. I probably could have fixed these easily with a bit of glue, but I didn’t care enough.

The spherical parts were almost impossible to correctly assemble. The design of these overall was dubious, and they were very loose even when I attempted to glue them. In the end I just left them as you see above.

The whole kit took me about 4 hours, and here’s the finished model:

At first glance it looks great, and as I said with a bit of extra work it could have been near perfect. I think this is a kit that shouldn’t be rushed (which I did), and would look very nice if every part was assembled with great care. That said it’s almost too big: where would one display this?!

I found it fit very nicely – after some rigorous disassembly – in the recycling bin 🙂

Overall I’ll give this a thumbs up despite the epilogue above, since I think the design is fundamentally strong and because I have another by the same company that I have high hopes for…

Posted in Crafts, Models | Comments Closed

LEGO Rivendell

Sunday, December 3rd, 2023

I bought this for my birthday earlier this year, and after many months of letting it age, it was time to build it:

This is Rivendell, the legendary elvish sanctuary in Lord Of The Rings and home of the powerful and ancient Elrond. Rivendell has always been depicted as a fantastic and beautiful place, and the LoTR films followed in the tradition:

When LEGO revealed this set I was simultaneously astonished and in love and appalled. The price was very high and it’s so big… but after several months of denying myself, I bought it 🙂

The box is gargantuan and heavy and there were fifty bags of pieces inside, as well as a sticker sheet (for the paintings, see below) and a hobbit-sized stack of instruction manuals:

The set is built in three large sections, and I did it in twelve sessions of about four bags apiece. It was a fascinating and fun build, and although I didn’t keep close track I would estimate it took me 25-30 hours in total. Some parts (the filigree and roof tiles) were a little frustrating, but it wasn’t exactly a difficult build. Here’s the finished set:

It’s so large photography was difficult! It’s about 80 cm wide, 35 cm deep and 50 cm tall. Here’s a view from the rear:

It can be separated into five different sections for ease-of-transport (and display). The first is the side of the main building, with Bilbo’s accommodations and the tower with statuary:

The middle section contains the elvish library, and the council platform where the Fellowship was first assembled. If you look close you’ll notice the small entry on the right side is at an unusual angle compared to the main building. This and several other slopes in the set were cleverly achieved using 3-4-5 Pythagorean triangles:

The last section contains the blacksmith, a waterfall and a removable pagoda. The instructions say the engineering of the base of the hexagonal pagoda was the most difficult part of designing the set. The small mushrooms you can see on this piece glow in the dark!

As you can probably see the detail is exquisite, with all sorts of furnishings and little touches that fans of the movie will spot. For instance the walls feature several cute ‘LEGO paintings’ such as this one depicting the forging of the rings:

And there’s also the shards of the legendary sword Narsil, no doubt waiting to be reforged at the smith:

The chairs on the platform are made from popsicle and frankfurter parts repurposed! Several of the mini figures have variant parts for sitting down:

Speaking of mini figures, the set has fifteen:

From the top, they are Bilbo, Frodo, Samwise, Pippin, Merry, Gloin, Boromir, Gimli, Aragorn, Gandalf, Arwen, Elrond, Legolas and a male and female elf. The set also includes many extra weapons, so even Arwen could wield a couple of axes were she so inclined!

The set has over 6000 pieces, but a few hundred of them are the roof tiles. These are applied to a single stud at a 45 degree angle, and getting them all aligned was not a trivial task! By far this was the longest and most tedious step, and I daresay I’ll shed a tear for this when/if I ever disassemble Rivendell.

Which brings me to the obvious question: Where the heck will I put this? It’s easily the biggest LEGO set I’ve ever built, and as far as I can tell fits on no surface in our house.

I think I’ll just leave it on the craft table in our library for now, and worry about that question when we return from our upcoming vacation!

Posted in Crafts, Movies, Toys | Comments Closed

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