Kagoshima People in Photos

I encountered two instances of Kagoshima people I recognize being in fairly high profile situations, and I thought it was remarkable enough to justify writing about. First is the above photo. That was taken in the stadium after Japan lost its third match for the World Soccer Cup in Russia (the photo ran on the Japan Times newspaper website). The guy on the right helping clean up is Janken-man (Rock-paper-scissors man), a famous character in Kagoshima who goes to different events and challenges people to jan-ken-pon. Winners receive a special Janken cellphone strap. I've seen him at a lot of events here, and he's been part of the live stage shows as well. And now he's brought his shtick to Russia.



Second is the woman that paints kitsune (fox) masks and sells them at various crafts fairs. Turns out she's advertising openings for her kitsune dance team for Ohara Matsuri (Nov. 3) this year. The ad poster essentially asks the reader to come join her for kitsune dance practice, at $15 per person. This is the first time I've ever seen memberships for sale for Ohara (usually, the dance teams consist of employees that all work for specific companies.). I wonder what the legality of this is.

In Kagoshima, you can be famous for anything, if you're patient enough.

Tanabata Planes, July 7

Happy Tanabata - airplane cutouts at a hotel lobby near the airport.

Tara Design Open Campus Sign

New manga-style artwork advertising classes for a design school.

Hungry

There's a burger shop at the south edge of Tenmonkan called "Hungry." I made fun of their name when they opened last year. I'd been thinking about trying their burgers for a while, but every time I was in the area, they were either closed, or I wasn't feeling like spending the money. Finally, I decided that I'd give them a chance for lunch one day. It's a small place, able to seat maybe 10-15 people, with a strong San Francisco vibe. The sound system played a radio station out of Hawai'i. I got the lunch set, which consisted of a hamburger patty (called a hamburg steak) with one choice of topping (I picked roasted garlic), a cup of onion soup, and a small plate of rice. The cheese was an extra 100 yen, and the total, with tax came to $10 USD. The patty was kind of small and flavorless and I couldn't taste the cheese at all. The soup and veggies were ok, but nothing special. Overall, yeah, overpriced. But, if I ever get homesick for English radio programming, I know where to go.



This sign was on the wall above the bar counter. Words to live by.

Yamakataya Ad - Styler

Yeah, back to the weird cosmetics ads. "Eyebrow Styler." You too can look like a pinned-up dress pattern.

Cow brand soap

I saw this poster along street car street. It reads, "Thanks to you, the red can has been around for 90 years.) It's a hand soap, and I think the maker is "Kao". "Kao" means "face," and it is pronounced like "cow," so the spelling is a pun. But, I'm not sure how well having milk flowing from the cow's udder would translate advertising-wise in America...

Namasute Poster

Namasute is a bar and live house in Tenmonkan. They used manga to promote their line-up one night.