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The Tsuchinoko

Wednesday, June 21st, 2017

It’s time for another cryptid post, or in today’s case a ‘UMA’, since that’s what cryptids are called in Japan (it stands for Unidentifed Mystery Animal).

Ladies and gentleman, the Tsuchinoko!

First reported in the 7th century, the tsuchinoko is a snake-like creature about 60 cm in length. Rarely sighted, this creature is said to be native to mainland Japan (Honshu) and is either just an animal or a supernatural creature depending on who you ask.

Tsuchinoko are said to be able to jump, can apparently move very quickly and may even have a poisonous bite. The more unusual attributes of the creature include rolling along with its tail in its mouth, teleportation (in a literal flash of light) and even intelligence! Some say the creature can speak and is very deceptive, often telling lies to obtain its favourite drink: alcohol.

There seems to have been a surge in interest and sightings of these beasts in the last decade or so, elevating it from myth into a full-blown cryptid. Some notable sightings in western Japan lead to well-publicized (but fruitless) searches and in one case even a skeleton (that was a simple snake). In 2008 one district in Japan – possibly as a tourism stunt – offered a $1 million reward for anyone who found one!

As with the flatwoods monster (which I blogged about a few years back), tsuchinoko are quite popular in video games, either appearing by name or as an influence in games including Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, Pokémon and numerous RPGs.

So what is this thing? Do they really exist? What could have inspired it?

Take a look at this photo of a skink, which I present in its original form and with the legs edited out:

Looks a bit like our tsuchinoko doesn’t it? It seems likely therefore that the origin of the beast first drawn and described in the Kojiki in the 7th century was just… a skink!

That said, this hardly explains what an old woman in Okayama saw in 2000. The tsuchinoko, she said, had a human-like face and paralyzed her with its sight!

Maybe there’s two creatures here: the skink relative and an evil demon snake. What do you think?

Posted in Animals, Miscellaneous, Nature, The Unknown | Comments Closed

Japanese Gamebooks

Thursday, June 15th, 2017

At the Mandarake rare bookstore in Nakano mall, I happened to notice the attendant (a stunning Italian lass cosplaying as Sailor Moon) packaging some sort of Japanese RPG rules book for sale. I asked if they had any others – daring to think I may finally, after six trips to Japan, find a gamebook – and she directed me to the glass case outside. There I saw this:

And this:

And more, including some AD&D books and quite a few Japan-specific titles. Almost all in fantastic condition but also sporting fantastic price tags. As a rule of thumb, estimate ¥100 at about $1.

I would have needed over $1000 to buy all the Fighting Fantasy titles alone…

Now it’s hard to leave me speechless these days, but this sight did. I’ve been looking over and over again every time we’ve visited Japan for gamebooks and never ever seen a single one before. My mind was blown; I was overcome. But it was early days in the trip, which means I wasn’t yet at the point I was spending without reason. So I only bought one item – the cheapest one – this:

FF Gamebook 19, Demons Of The Deep. I bought it when it was first released in 1986 but at the time wouldn’t have known (or cared!) that it was also released in Japan.

Here’s an interior shot:

You can see there’s little trace of western influence here, with vertical text and using Japanese numbers! The presentation is beautiful though, with very sharp printing and perfect reproduction of the art.

The book comes with a separate adventure sheet with rules on the back:

And includes a nice section at the end detailing the other available gamebooks:

It’s noticeable smaller (and thinner) than the western editions too. Here it is compared to my UK and US imprints:

I’m enormously happy to finally own a non-English FF book, and something about it being as exotic as in Japanese makes it quite special.

And yet I do regret not buying more. I wasn’t going to spend over $300 for Sky Lord, but why didn’t I buy at least Out Of The Pit? Silly me!

Now I move toward the next challenge: a non-English Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Given it was published in over 20 languages that shouldn’t be too difficult. Should it?

Posted in Books, Gamebooks, Miscellaneous, Otaku | 1 Comment »

The End

Friday, June 9th, 2017

Yesterday was our last full day here. We mostly explored the area around the hotel for some last-minute shopping before going to a wrestling event (NJPW) at Korakuen Hall near Tokyo Dome.

Wrestling was a lot of fun. The matches were entertaining, the wrestlers funny, and the audience quite different from what we’ve seen at shows back home (very polite, almost no minors, lots of single women). Another memorable activity from this trip.

Now it’s time to pack up and head home, and you know what that’s like. I’ll probably do one last post-trip post sometime next week, but until then it’s time to sign off on Japan 2017!

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Odaiba

Thursday, June 8th, 2017

It was a drizzly morning yesterday, so we headed to the mostly-indoor attractions of Odaiba for a lazy day. Rather that just take the train though, we traveled there on this:

It’s one of the Tokyo Cruise Line’s special ferries, named Himiko and designed by legendary manga creator Leiji Matsumoto. We both thought we’d been on this boat once before, but once inside thought again:

It’s pretty wild and ‘futuristic’. A fun way to get to Odaiba. As you can see we shared the trip almost exclusively with a large school group, who spent the time (about 50 minutes) mostly playing Uno of all things!

The four malls at Odaiba were fun, and we bought many (mostly souvenirs). One mall had a retro arcade in it that had (American) pinball machines, which seem very rare here:

Another full day! We’re running on fumes now, but have one last big event planned for tonight…

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Finally, owls!

Wednesday, June 7th, 2017

When you first enter Akiba Fukurou, they sit you down amidst the owls and explain the rules: no loud noises or talking, no flash photography, how to touch the owls and how to let them sit on you. While the small group in attendance (advance reservations are mandatory; it’s always booked full) was paying attention, we were all mostly dazzled by the fact we were sitting in a beautifully clean and decorated smallish two-room space with 30 different owls!

Whilst technically an ‘owl cafe’, this was 100% owls and no cafe. We could touch the owls, photograph them, hold two each and mostly just he charmed by them. They ranged from very big (Yossie sized!) to very small (look in the top far left corner in the first photo) and all had a little plaque displaying their name, age, weight and species.

They were human-raised and perfectly calm and ‘friendly’ (for owls, I suppose), always seemingly more interested in watching what the other owls were doing than the people looking at them!

They have 34 owls in total, from all over the world, but 4 had ‘a day off’! They were all incredibly handsome birds, and the hour we had in there flew past.

That guy – Spring Onion was his name – was 1 kg and the third biggest they had. His half-orange eyes indicate he is not a nocturnal animal. I learned that yesterday

Some of the owls are ‘friends’, and we saw a little one preening a much bigger one. A few made noises too, rarely like the ‘hoo’ we all think of!

Akiba Fukurou was a remarkable place and a highlight of the trip. For such a relatively low cost (¥2000/person, which includes a custom laminated photo) it was absurd value for such a unique experience. If you’re ever near Akihabara, don’t miss it!

The rest of yesterday was Akihabara, which means heaven for an aging geek like myself. I trolled game/anime/card shops like a fiend, dazzling at everything I saw.

This Zelda game-and-watch is one of the few things ‘on my list’ but I’m not paying ¥39800 (about $400) for something I passed up at £50 in Cardiff last year!

This limited famicon-edition Gameboy Micro surprised me not just because I own it already, but because I actually brought it with me on this trip! I suppose I’ll treat it with a tad more respect now I know it’s worth hundreds

Akiba is pretty special. I feel like I could spend days here and never get bored. Alas, there’s never enough time…

Posted in Animals, Miscellaneous, Trip | 1 Comment »