Slow Bread

Yes, it may be slow, but do you really have to advertise that in front of everyone?

Biohazard Projector Light

Just in time for Halloween, we have a little pocket keychain LED flashlight, branded for the Biohazard video game franchise. 6 kinds, 200 yen each ($1.90 USD), about 3 inches long.



These things are made of cheap, light-weight plastic, so they will get scratched up if you're not careful, but for 200 yen they're a pretty good deal. The front cylinder is movable so you can get a sharp focus of the light on a wall or ceiling, and the lens is etched with one of the 6 designs (which can either be in red or green).



Mine is the green zombie. At night, if the area is really dark and you're projecting on a white wall, the image can be visible up to 6-10 feet away, and be at least 3-4 feet tall. It is pretty cool, although that may be hard to tell from the photo. I think that most of the designs are good, so I may try getting one more, hopefully it would be Nemesis or Hunter, although Zombie Dog might be spooky enough, too.

Yamakataya Ad - Pretty Innocent

I'm not really sure where to start, in making fun of the text in relation to the amount of make-up hiding the model. Yes, she's pretty. Innocent? Probably not.

Anyway, the main thing I can comment on here is the big gray-green box sitting in front of the display case, blocking the shot. It's dehumidifier, for anyone wanting to cool down and feel a little drier while waiting for their partner to finish shopping inside where it's actually air-conditioned. (I took this photo in the middle of August.)

Sept. 23rd Weekend

This weekend held some promise, but turned out to be mostly a bust. I had to visit the International Center, down by the Reimeikan history museum, on Thursday, and I saw workers putting up the stage and food booths for some kind of event for the coming weekend. I had one English class on Friday, so afterward I swung by the Center again to see if I could find the schedule for the stage show, and identify which event it was. Turns out this is for KTS TV's regular announcements of their new TV season line-up. I've seen this thing enough to know that most of the supporting activities held inside the center, and at the open area near Yamakataya in Tenmonkan, are pretty much all the same from year to year. I've taken photos and video from past events and didn't really feel like taking more shots this time of stuff that doesn't really change. When I arrived at the front lawn to the building, I discovered that the TV crew was blocking out the camera shots for one of the larger group events (each of the staff members on stage had name tags on identifying the personality they were standing in for).

Now, the event only ran from 10:30 AM to 5 PM on Saturday and Sunday, and the live portion mostly consisted of people talking about the upcoming TV shows. There were some song and dance numbers, most of which I actively intended to avoid, including manzai (the Japanese attempt at two-man stand-up comedy), a stage play by the local foamhead mascots, and three musical performances - one by a female karaoke singer, and then two trios. I don't know anything about the first trio, other than that the picture showed a woman and two guys in formal wear. The second trio is a Japanese hip hop group calling themselves Berry Goodman (possibly a joke on "very good, man", but more likely a rip-off of "Benny Goodman"), and I saw them last year. I dislike Japanese hiphop because the songs are stupid, but Goodman has a very strong, very vocal fan base, so they are popular here. I don't like them, though.

Anyway, I didn't have to work until 6 PM on Saturday, but it was raining all day, and most of Sunday. There wasn't much I had any interest in, and I had several projects at home that I wanted to get as much work on over the weekend as I could (one of which is shooting video for a little robot vehicle kit I bought some time ago). Because it's about a 1-mile walk to the Center from the apartment, I didn't want to go there in the rain unless there was a good reason for it (like, having to get to my job). Instead, I stayed home most of the weekend, although I did get up to Amu Plaza and the main train station (which is in the opposite direction from the Center) on Sunday for a few minutes to see if there was anything going on there. They had the Ai-paku event (booths and tables selling upscale ice cream), but that was it. Otherwise an uneventful time. (Although, after the Amu Plaza trip, I got to read a little Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles - which was good, and I reread parts of the Cerebus Jaka's Story and Melmoth books, which are also good.)

Makino Minions Craft Kits

Makino is a fabrics and supplies store in Tenmonkan, and the display case in the front often promotes kit packages for stuff you can make. This time, they've got three of the Minions. The TV is playing scenes from one of the Despicable Me movies.

Final Sale

Chalk board sign in front of a shoe store in Tenmonkan. "If you don't buy these shoes, we'll be in trouble."

Dragon Sign

Sign in front of a restaurant in Tenmonkan. It's a very Monster Hunter-ish dragon.