Merii Kurisumasu!

December 25th, 2023

It’s Christmas Day! Here in Japan, it’s (mostly) just another day. People got up and went to work as normal, shops were open, and all services were active just like any other Monday.

But for us it’s a special day, so to celebrate we went to the movies. And since this was to be the first time we’d see a film in a cinema since before Covid, it couldn’t be just any film. So we carefully selected and with great enthusiasm headed over to the Toho cinema complex in Shibuya to see Kamen Rider the Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy * Gotcha Great Operation!

Kamen Rider the Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy * Gotcha Great Operation is a film featuring a crossover of two riders from recent series as they struggle against the evil of ‘Geats Killer’. As a bonus Kamen Rider the Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy * Gotcha Great Operation also includes the debut of Kamen Rider Majade, and I daresay all five people in the cinema were on the edges of our seats when that occurred!

Kamen Rider the Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy * Gotcha Great Operation was of course insane, full of overused cgi and explosions and unbelievable athletics and cuts. It didn’t even matter we couldn’t understand a word of it because the story had nothing to do with logic or reason anyway. But it was also very enjoyable, and a fun way to spend Christmas morning. I’d score Kamen Rider the Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy * Gotcha Great Operation 10 Chemys out of 10!

Afterwards we had Christmas lunch at Kura sushi (anyone that visits Japan and doesn’t go to Kura is a fool). Ten plates we downed, and we still didn’t win a toy from the gacha (you get a chance every five plates). Maybe next time?

A traditional Christmas meal here is KFC, and once dinner rolled around (we spent the afternoon shopping) I wandered in to see if it would be my dinner too. Alas they were only selling boxes, so I passed and had a pork tonkatsu instead 🙂

Christmas is actually most obvious here in the convenience stores, which are flogging fried chicken like mad poultrymen and filling their coolers with all sorts of Christmas cakes, which strangely enough are usually strawberry.

Last night we availed ourselves of two such cakes which were inexpensive, rich and quite delicious. Why isn’t stuff like this easily available in the USA?

So a fine and memorable Christmas today was, but the true Christmas miracle actually occurred yesterday. After we bought our wrestling tickets we were walking around at Tokyo Dome when we saw a sign promising an impending appearance. We were just in time! I scuttled to the front of a crowd, sat down amidst a gaggle of children, and only moments later this happened:

It was a Christmas appearance from Ultraman, Ultraman Taro, Ultraman Mebius and Father Of Ultra! I was absolutely giddy with excitement.

It was a bit awe-inspiring to see an actual Ultraman in-person so close! The suits were amazing, and the actors reproduced the mannerisms perfectly. We couldn’t understand the narrated story (these ultras don’t speak) but given they are wearing Santa capes it was obviously Christmas related! There were some laughs and thrills and then the lights on the tree behind them came on and to my astonishment the crowd was invited to walk past all four of them to say hello! Naturally the kids chose to but most adults stepped aside. Not me!

I ‘met’ Ultraman and three of his kin. I even fist-bumped them and looked into their eyes. Thats one of the best Christmas gifts I’ve ever received and a memory that will stick with me for ever 🙂

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Stardom

December 24th, 2023

Today we explored the local (Asakusa) area early in the day, and for the first time I was able to try catching fish with a paper net:

This is a traditional carnival/fair attraction in Japan and you can either do it for fun (as I did) or pay extra to keep whichever fish you catch. It’s much harder than I expected due to difficulty in judging the position of the fish and I caught none, but it’s going to make a good lecture example when I do ‘apparent depth’ again 🙂

We also found a seller of sugared fruit and these strawberrys were delicious! Think toffee/candy apple coating on fresh fruit and you can imagine what these were like.

In the evening we went back to Tokyo Dome to see the lights and attend Stardom, a women’s wrestling franchise. The tickets were almost impossible to buy online (since we’re not locals) but luckily we got some at the door just before the event. Our seats were great:

The show was a lot of fun, with about two dozen wrestlers facing off across 6 matches.

In addition to being good athletes the girls were often funny as well (although we of course couldn’t understand them) and overall great performers. We had a great time at the 2.5 hour show and I’m very glad we were able to attend.

There was also one other thing which we lucked into attending while we were at Tokyo Dome today but it was Christmas-themed, which means I will of course need to wait until tomorrow’s post…

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Pandamonium

December 23rd, 2023

We visited Ueno zoo today, to see these guys:

That’s Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, the twin pandas born at the zoo in 2021. They were indeed cute as they sat and ate bamboo in the sun but what I found even more fascinating was the crowds there to see them.

For starters we arrived about a half hour before the park opened – not too unusual for us since we’re early risers – only to find a lengthy line ahead of us. It was quickly apparent that this was no random zoo line, and judging by the vast array of Panda-themed clothes, jewelery and accessory items, this bunch was here to see Pandas as well!

Secondly the line was very carefully managed to allow each guest exactly 2 minutes of panda viewing after which they were herded away by a man with a big stick (and yes I mean that literally). Naturally everyone followed the rules and it all went smoothly, and we only had to wait 30 minutes to see the beasts.

Thirdly the cameras were insane. These days we rarely see anyone with actual cameras since we all use our phones and that’s because all the cameras are at Ueno zoo with Panda groupies. The line was mostly middle-aged women and it seemed at least half had large digital SLRs with 30cm telephoto lenses and attachments to hold phones and other devices. It was madness.

For their part the pandas took the attention in their stride and kept munching their bamboo, and as you can see I was able to get fine photos with just my phone! After a time we too grew bored and moved on to the rest of the zoo, which was fun if a little simplistic and dated.

After lunch we went to Tokyo Dome City with a specific plan that sadly did not come to fruition. However we didn’t give up and we’ll try again tomorrow, so watch this space!

Two interesting ‘only in Japan’ purchases to round your day:

That is a strange little custard-filled mochi that was packed with a foil sticker from the series Hololive. Kristin ate this, and said it was ‘pretty good’.

And this was a bath bomb that melted away to reveal an UMA inside (I got a jackalope). Japan has a fascination with UMAs and OOPs and all things supernatural but that’s a blog post – nay a weekly blog series – unto itself 🙂

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In Japan

December 22nd, 2023

We’re back in Japan! It’s a long ‘no plans’ trip but you can bet we’ll fill it with all sorts of fun. We arrived yesterday evening and today was the ‘get over jetlag’ day. Here’s the view from our 11th floor hotel room in Asakusa:

We had sushi for dinner last night:

And Italian for lunch today:

And – even though we had planned to wait until later – we bought loads of stuff today as well 🙂

Sorry for the short first post. As I said, the jetlag hasn’t yet passed. Stay tuned for much more these next two weeks!

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That Pintoo Advent Calendar

December 19th, 2023

Because it was so astonishingly good, here’s a followup as to what was in the Pintoo advent calendar I blogged about a while back.

You already saw the first day (a ‘postcard’ puzzle). There was also four tiny puzzles with a ‘swole Santa’ theme like the example above.

There were two slightly larger puzzles that came with frames. The art on these was reminiscent of the game Cuphead. They are bright and colorful and were easy to assemble.

Look at this luggage tag! Because these are plastic puzzles and go together well I think there’s even a chance this could survive a trip without breaking apart.

There were two spherical Christmas decoration puzzlea. These are about 2 inches in diameter and were a bit tricky to assemble due to the small size.

There were four magnet puzzles that utilized a clever frame to add the magnet to the back of the puzzle. I liked these a lot!

Perhaps most impressive was this piece of wall art. It was assembled in a t-shape and then the edges were folded 90 degrees and connected together to make a 3D framed piece that now hangs on our wall (it’s about 15 cm per side). I’d love for them to make larger puzzles using this clever frame technology!

This 360 piece puzzle was distributed between 6 of the boxes and assembled in parts. It has ‘secret’ elements only visible when it is held up to the light. This was a bit tricky to assemble due to the dark colours.

And last but certainly not least was another (larger) spherical puzzle that came with a lit base! This would make for a nice centerpiece for a Christmas table.

So all in all, a phenomenal advent calendar that I got for an insanely low price ($20!) and that I hope they do again in 2024.

Also I know it’s only December 19 and some of you are possibly thinking I’m a rogue for having opened all the days already but we’re heading to Japan tomorrow and I wanted to finish the calendar before we leave 🙂

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