Robot Claw

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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The Nugget Buddy

December 18th, 2023

I got a nugget buddy!

That’s the box it came in. You can get two different meals: Big Mac and Nuggets. I didn’t actually eat the food (JK and DH did) but I bought it since the nugget buddy was for me!