Ok, long explanation thing again. Back on Oct. 1st, I wrote about finding the Wonda can coffee cans with the Lupin III artwork. At the time, I complained about how the coffee wasn't that good, and that there are only 2 awards from the Wonda website - a drawing for 100 Line points for 1 point, and a drawing for one of 25 lithos for 25 points. At 128 yen per six ounce can, I said that it wasn't worth paying any further attention to this. On Saturday, I needed something to wake up on my way to the English school, and I ended up talking myself into getting a second Lupin III can coffee. As I was going through the cans the one Lawson's near the school had, I discovered #11, which featured a really nice drawing of Fujiko. The more I thought about this, the easier it was to talk myself into trying to find all 11 cans in the series, and maybe go for that chance at the lithograph artwork after all. I grabbed four different cans from that Lawson's, and went into the school (where I took pictures of the cans for the blog). That evening, when I was at the Road of Light and Sound, I killed some time when the music got boring to go up to Streetcar Street and see what the two Lawson's there had. I picked up all but #4 and #9, and discovered that Wonda also has the Morning Shot red can series participating (yes, this is shown on the Wonda website, but the first Lawson's didn't carry Morning Shot, and the second Lawson's didn't carry either the gold or red brands). I bought #1, #2, #4 and #11 of the Morning Shots, then went back to the Road of Light and Sound. That night, after I got back home, I entered the points numbers from the cans into the website, which got me up to 12 points total.
Sunday, after listening to Bon DX at the Curry Fest, my plan was to go back to the Streetcar Street Lawson's, and buy the numbers I was missing in a more systematic way. That meant going through Tenmonkan.
I could hear someone shouting over the PA system, and there were display panels in the arcade walkway. When I got to the intersection, I realized that I was looking at Satoshin, the children's book illustrator who's most beloved character is a turd (also, author of "Maa, ii ka?" ("It's Alright")). He and a colleague were narrating one of Satoshin's books, displayed on the projector screen as a Powerpoint file. Both the children and their parents loved it.
Also in the area were attractions by construction companies, glass manufacturers, and whatever other group that thought they could attract children and teens into working for them. Minami Kyushu Shimbun (South Kyushu Newspaper) had a display of old photos, too (in the background).
This part of the event was put on by some children's participation association.
(Satoshin)
The Kagoshima Construction Company Children's Association group had the digger and scissors lift available for kids to ride.
The people running the brick, wood and glass tables had a harder time attracting visitors.
After leaving Tenmonkan, I got to Streetcar Street. I checked the closest Lawson's, and they didn't have any Wonda at all. Across the street, the second Lawson's didn't have any gold cans I didn't already have, but they did have a beautiful parody of Monkey Punch (red can #10), and some other red cans I hadn't gotten the day before.
The thing about Japan is, in Tokyo, you can have 4 konbini on opposite corners of an intersection. In Kagoshima, there are 8 Lawson's I know of in a 1 mile radius, and at least one or two more I have to verify. I headed up to Amu Plaza, and after 6 blocks, I found one Lawson's just off the main street by a block. That one had both the gold and red brands. Even better, they had the cans I was missing for the gold brand (#4 and #9), PLUS they had #12 (up to now, I'd thought there were only 11 designs in each series). I also completed most of the red brand at the same time, except for red #12. When I got to the massive intersection in front of the main train station, I hit the Lawson's on Streetcar Street just before the intersection, the one around the corner in front of the main post office, the one across from the train station in the Solaria Hotel lobby, and the one another block down Streetcar Street the other side of the big intersection. They all had at least a few cans of the red, gold, or both brands, but no one had red #12. Then, I got to Amu Plaza.
JR Travel Event
Actually, I knew something was going to happen here because I'd had to go to Bic Camera on Friday, and I'd seen that the tables and stage were already up. But, I didn't know the details.
Pocket train.
Bigger bounce room train.
The tables had children's activities, and travel brochures advertising sightseeing spots easily reachable by bullet train. In fact, one table was for Akiyoshidai, the quasi-National park on the main island in Yamaguchi prefecture. I'd been in the big caves there several times when I worked closer to Hiroshima in the 90's. I'd love to go back, but the caves are a long way away from the nearest train station. It'd be an expensive trip.
Most of the stage activities were performances by the local dance studios, and PR for those sightseeing spots. At 1:30 PM, they had the Anpanman show for young children. It was the same storyline that I'd seen at Aeon Mall in June, so I took a photo for the blog, and went into the station to drink coffee at Seattle's Best and read manga (Mud Men). I'll take photos of the Wonda cans and post them to the blog later when they're ready. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye out for red #12, but I won't kill myself trying to find it. The deadline for the campaign is November 11, and I have 23 out of the 25 points I need for the litho drawing. Plus, I have close to 16 cans of can coffee to wade through now. Fortunately, I've discovered they taste somewhat better if I drink them right out of the refrigerator, rather than from a konbini cooler case.
(Lawson's and the Ship Collection girls.)
I spent the rest of Sunday processing the 350 photos, and 16 minutes of video I'd shot over the weekend. I'm at a 20% "keep rate" now (of the 335 photos that were related to the Road of Light and Sound, and the Bon DX concert and other events, a little under 70 were worth keeping. The rest I deleted.)
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