Robot Claw

I’m in my seat waiting for takeoff. I’ve had a great time and made many more Japan memories that will last me forever. Watch your mailboxes too: I sent many postcards.

I spent the last on my Yen buying unusual Kit Kat’s at the airport (that I won’t eat!) and I’m ready to relax on this long trip.

It’s been a lot of work daily blogging throughout: I hope you’ve enjoyed it. In time I’ll do follow ups on a few things I learned or bought on this trip (both from here or Oz), but given work starts tomorrow I think I’ll take a while off before the next post 🙂

Now… what movies are available to watch…?

I’ll cut to the chase: Today I went to Theatre G-Rosso and saw (with ~500 other people) a live action Power Rangers stage show. It was so good were I an emotional man I may have shed a tear.

It’s all in Japanese but the story was easy to follow: bad dude uses a germ weapon to turn the rangers evil! Eventually through their heroic spirit and the support of the audience they return to normal and vanquish the bad guys.

The 45 minute show was filled with acrobatics and special effects (wire work, smoke effects, digital projections) and was genuinely thrilling. Kids even cried when Red Ranger died (by fighting his evil double) but then when he was resurrected from the dead by an older Red Ranger the adults had their chance to weep with joy.

It was bloody fantastic! I loved every second. I could have watched it all day. It was every bit as good as the last time I saw a show like this 10.5 years ago (!) and is easily one of the highlights of this trip.

When I got out of the show the rain had turned to very light snow and it was extremely cold. I trained across town to a big shopping center to stay warm. This was an adventure in its own right, since the mall (Sunshine City) had a live idol performance going on (a boy group called Nine; there were legions of young ladies there to see them) and some sort of Pokémon event that drew truly gargantuan crowds.

I walked and browsed and shopped and then hit a wall of exhaustion. It was time for a recharge, and these guys helped:

That’s a selection of the cats I saw in the cat habitat called Nekobunkamura in Ikebukuro. KLS and I had been here aeons back and since I’ve been missing Zoffy and needed a sit away from crowds I figured this was a good choice. And it worked! The cats mostly ignored people and did their own thing which was fine; I sat and recharged. Eventually I (and almost everyone else!) left due to some weird old ladies who were acting possessive with regards to specific cats, but the cat energy I’d managed to absorb kept me going the rest of the day 🙂

There’s not much else to say about today. I didn’t take many photos due to rain and I spent much of the evening packing. But it was a good albeit very busy day.

I’ll end with some more unusual gashapon selections. Miniature chainsaws?!? UMA lights??!! Weird snakes, can rings, bling teeth and iphone fans. It’s all so unusual and yet I bought two of these. Can you guess which ones?

Tomorrow is my final full day and will likely be the last blog post from this mega trip. If you have any more questions that need answering, be sure to ask them!

I’m doing laundry and waiting 90 minutes for the dryer to finish so now is a good time to answer some of the questions I’ve not been asked so far on this trip. Apologies in advance for making up paraphrasing your question, and for referring to you by initials.

KLS asked: Seen many gaijin?

In a word, no. I didn’t see any foreigners at Universal Osaka, or in Osaka in general. I never heard any language other than Japanese spoken in trains or shops either. This is mostly true for Tokyo so far, although yesterday at Nakano I did see some German losers getting overly excited by Dragonball cels.

JK followed up: But what about Akihabara post office?

Oh yes I forgot! It’s true that the place is inundated with otaku mailing loot home, and yesterday I witnessed a crowd of Koreans packaging up One Piece figurines for postage. It’s also true that the post office seemed exclusively staffed by pretty young women. I did not however see any of the alleged limited anime stamps you can apparently buy there.

KAB asked: What are you eating?

Garbage mostly. My diet is at least 30% Kit Kats. Breakfast is often McDonald’s. Gourmet (ie. cheap) spaghetti is often chosen. I’m in the culinary capital of Earth and I’m eating trash. But even the trash here is delicious 🙂

SMC followed up: What about those rice balls you told me about?

There’s one above, a ‘salted rice ball’. Just rice with very light salt. It’s shown with convenience store chicken pieces (like popcorn chicken). I went on an absolute bender and ate Osaka almost empty of rice balls: up to four a day. Then my body revolted so I stopped. But the allure is hard to resist and I may eat them again today. They’re too good! Incidentally rice ball snacks are very common in oodles of varieties:

But I always just get the plain type!

ZS asks: Hi dad; is it true what I heard that you’re back on the sauce? Meow!

Don’t worry little girl, it’s only for this trip!

SFL asks: Any shopping regrets so far?

I try not to ever regret anything, but if it were easy to get back I’d probably return to a few Osaka shops and maybe buy things I put back a few days ago. Such as this:

Or – if I was feeling particularly insane – these two Wizardry games:

But there are several days yet, and who knows what else I may find?

AW asks: But isn’t it true you can’t even play some of the Japanese FC and SFC games since they don’t work on US consoles?

(No comment)

AW persisted: So what you’re saying is you’ve bought some games you can’t even play unless you buy a Japanese console?

(Wry smile)

BS interjects: You’ve actually bought a Japanese console?!?

The answer as of right now is an emphatic “no”. But to quote a wise man: “there are several days yet, and who knows what else I may find?”

JBF asks: How many trains have you caught?

Good question! Let me think… ok as an estimate, I’d say about 22 so far. Maybe 30-35 before the trip is done? It’s easy to catch 4 a day in Tokyo.

MMS asks: Seen any squirrels?

A timely question, since last night I learned of the existence of a free-roaming squirrel park called ‘Machida Squirrel Park’ that has a gigantic enclosure where you can hand-feed squirrels. It looks amazing but isn’t easy to get to at all (3 trains and a 50 minute walk each way). Next time I visit with KLS though we’ll have to make the trek. I haven’t seen any squirrels yet myself, but plan a walk through the nearby park and will keep an eye out.

JAF asks: Any weird photos you’ve taken that defy explanation?