Human Academy Manga Program Poster

Human Academy is kind of a technical school located a few blocks from me. They teach manga drawing, illustration, design, fashion and nail art. The ad says that registration for new classes starts Nov. 1.

Skunks

The days leading up to Halloween didn't look all that promising. The Kaldi coffee and import shop in Amu Plaza had almost no Halloween candy at all. Donkey and the grocery stores had fairly decent selections, but it was all just normal Japanese stuff with bad pictures of ghosts and jack o'lanterns on the bags. There weren't many Halloween displays in front of the stores, and no ads for local events. But, on Sunday I had to go outside for shopping, and as I was getting closer to the main train station, I ran across these two school girls in skunk suits at a park bench, giggling and rehearsing a script over their smartphones. After this, I had to go to the department store across from Amu (Aeon), then down Streetcar street to Tenmonkan. There were quite a few groups of school girls, university girls and office women walking towards me to go to Amu for some reason. There was nothing happening in the plaza in front of the train station (in fact, Amu already has its big fake Christmas tree set up in the plaza), so I don't know where they were heading to. Either somewhere in Amu, or some bar. LOTS of "injured nurses," and "injured policewomen" costumes. Injured nurses have always been popular, but the injured police trend is new.

Don't Mention It

This space in Tenmonkan used to be occupied by a big fancy beauty salon. Then that moved out, and the space stood empty for close to 1 year. Recently, it was remodeled and divided up into smaller spaces. The women's clothing shop at the lower right used to be next door. The flowers to the left are for the "congratulations on the new opening" ceremony. But, can you see the anomaly?





That's not a kick I'd want to talk about...

Trick or Cut

Sign in front of a barber shop in Tenmonkan.
Some people really don't understand the concept of Halloween...
Right, Freddy?

Technical Menu

Everything in Japan is about "menus," except for their menus in restaurants, where they rely on dish prices written on the walls, or plastic food in display cases out front of the shop.

I bring my car here every month, because maintenance is free.

60L Ad

I ran an ad for 60L design maybe close to one year ago. They do online illustrations, web design and other stuff. I like the concept here.

La Quinua Dia de Muertos

La Quinua is a South American-style restaurant near Tenmonkan. Their Halloween parties are to die for.