Kawasaki Penis Festival

I wasn't going to miss it this year. No way!

On this special day, the first Sunday in April is the Kanamara Matsuri in Kawasaki Daishi.

It's better known (at least to foreigners) as the "Penis Festival". Everywhere you look, it's there in not so subtle detail.

Carved out of radishes.

It was eaten as candy. She looks like she's really enjoying this.

It was getting really crowded once they sent that big pink phallus on it's merry way down the street at midday. Strangely it seems guys were taking most of the photos today. Penis envy?

There were also a few wooden penises (penii?) around that almost no one could resist for that perfect photo op.

This truly was for all ages. Grannies were climbing on board. Even parents were putting their little kids on for a ride. Great to see those fricken surgical masks on too. The whole family!

I couldn't wait to get on that wooden phallus myself. We're going this way!

A couple of randoms posing for this one. It didn't take much persuasion either. Thanks guys!

There's not a whole lot of information about getting there and times. If you're thinking of going, the easiest way is catching the Keikyu line to Kawasaki, where you change trains to the Keikyu-Daishi Line and get off at the Kawasaki Daishi station (3rd stop). You'd want to get there by the midday procession down the street.

Would I go again next year? Not telling..

Taking Candy From Strange

When I was young I remember being told never to accept candy from strangers.

Seems like Japanese kids are much more generous, and actually give me the candy!

Sweet.

It was snowing today quite a bit. Probably the most that we've had all winter actually. But in my opinion it's half-assed snow. By the time it hits the ground, it instantly evaporates to a cold patch of water. If it lands on me, it looks like a 7-eleven slushie without the raspberry cordial. Right now it's about 3 degrees.

I woke up early today at 1030am. HA.

I thought it'd be a good idea to go to Ochanomizu and Akihabara for a quick perusal before Kawasaki "kamikaze".

I'm still on a guitar kick, but less so since I bought my latest trick.

What was beckoning me to come here today was news of this secondhand Jem 77B RMR in Akiba. It's the same model as the one from America. I HAD to see what I missed out on.

A quick babelfish translation of the internet post states "A little there is a crack in the contour part, but it is the beauty item".

From what I saw in the pictures and in person there was more than a little cracking in this mirror. If it translates to bad luck there's at least 28 years of misfortune in years to come. More so if someone actually pays their asking price of 198,000 yen.

In the shop it didn't look as bad as I thought it would. It adds a touch of character, and you wouldn't be so afraid to scratch it. It's already a pre-scratched relic!

I had a try of this Burny Les Paul copy while I was there.

My favourite guitar of all time is my 1990 Les Paul. I heard that Burny's (made by Fernandes) had a good reputation for LPs.

I saw that this had the sustainer AND a Floyd Rose whammy, so I wanted to see if this was as good as it sounds. The tone was quite nice, but I'm starting to get over the novelty of the sustainer. Still, it's a cool party trick. The whammy bar wasn't tight or recessed, so it didn't feel as good as I hoped in that regard.

The gf wanted to go to Uniqlo for a sale, so she tagged along with me to Kawasaki. Looks like the shopping spree lasted 6 hours for her solely in Lazona.

Nuts!

We went to Shi-an Gyoza, a Chinese Restaurant in Lazona after work. It was pretty tasty, although not quite as good as the one in Yurakucho. If you go to just one in Tokyo, make it that one.

On the way out I saw these classic signs and couldn't resist taking these photos. A security guard looked puzzled about what I was doing. I'm a very dangerous man in Tokyo!!

A New Hard Off

"You can take the man out of a Hard Off, but you can't take the Hard Off out of the man.."

..or something like that.

I had planned to get up earlier than usual to make my first trip to the Hard Off in Kawasaki.

I looked out the window as I sleepily got up and saw that it'd been raining, and still looked overcast. Still, I made half an effort to leave earlier, just in case.

I had a good hour and a bit before I had to start work, so I hot-stepped my way along the shortest way I could work out possible, with judicious use of Google Earth and street view help from the night before.

From the distance I gave myself a 30 minute time window before I'd have to turn around and get back to work. Luckily it was a little over twenty minutes on arrival. Along the way, I was not let down by strange shops names..

I think they must have a good breeze going through this shop.

This one says "Yokohama Lining". It's a motorbike shop, so I'm guessing it's a misheard/pronounced "riding" ?

I really like the layout of this "Off" store.

On entry I could see their Hobby Off section with a nice selection of Hentai dolls, and other hobby-type things. Although I was close to adding to my collection, with my short thinking time and good-sense I relented (for now).

Going up the escalator you will notice a distinctive Hard Off electronics section to the left, and a B-Style "Off House" area with homewares, sporting goods and clothing.

Even though I didn't see any Game & Watch LCDs (there are other old style retro consoles and games), there's quite a bit of stuff that was worth seeing.

This one is definitely in my top 5 of recycle shops so far.

Ghibli Playing Cards

While I've been a really good boy and stayed away from playing the UFO catchers (I still went, but I didn't play most of the time), I had a job to do.

The gf wanted to buy a pack of Ponyo playing cards for her friend's daughter. Looking around the shops it's quite hard to find them. So the only answer was for me to "win" them at the catchers.

For those that don't know, Ponyo is the latest animation for Studio Ghibli. Those that have seen it say it's not that great. More a children's tale than some of the others.

This took about 500 yen to sink. Cards are quite difficult to get quickly. They position the packs too far away from the chute. With some persuasion I got the staff to give me a fighting chance.

For me, my favourite Studio Ghibli is My Neighbour Totoro. If you see only one of these animations, let it be this one. Trust me, it's the best by far. For kids and adults it can't be beat.

Later after work I thought it'd be a good idea to go for the Totoro cards as well. Unfortunately this was harder than the Ponyo cards. If my maths is right, it cost me 1,200 yen. Not quite a bargain.

One nasty side effect of Ponyo publicity is hearing the theme song sung constantly on Japanese TV by 8 year old brat, Nozomi.

I'll take the Totoro song any day. Alternatively I'm open to "Don't Know Why Y Didn't Come".

Elmo makes this great.

Captain Stag

I've mentioned the Don Quijote stores before in this blog a few times, but I just found out not all Donki's are created equal.

You may remember a short while ago I tried in vain to find a tent for an aborted camping trip during my summer vacation. The good news today is that I found one, for an unbelievable price.

It helps to ask around for these things and I was told that there was a bigger Donki in Mizonokuchi.

It just so happens that I went to a going-away party for one of the Japanese staff in Kawasaki tonight, and the quickest way there was through here!

So.. I got a, get this.. "Captain Stag" three man tent for 1980 yen!

Yes that's right, CAPTAIN STAG! The price was too good to believe. I asked one of the sales people standing around for a price check. I thought the price was 3980 yen. She said it wasn't it, but I thought she made a mistake. Nope, right price. Sweeeet..

But that's not all folks. Oh no. I also got a sleeping bag for 999 yen too. Less than 1000 yen and yes, "Captain Stag" brand no less.

From now on another of my "superhero", split personalities will be from this moment hence forth, Captain Stag!

How was the party? Pretty good I have to say. We went to Tapas, a Spanish-style izakaya. The jugs of beer flowed like a river.

Somewhere between there and another bar we ended up where they always do. KARAOKE.

There was a lot of bad singing, most notably from me. My particular low point was The Pixies, "Debaser". After 12,000 yen, we paid for it till the early hours of the morning.

Kawasaki

Today I was in Kawasaki.

This place is nice and would be a good place to live I think. All the mod cons and a UFO catcher arcade.

I wanted to pay my rent today, so with furikomi kado in hand I walked into the busy UFJ bank and lined up with the other Japanese before the 3pm closing time.

I thought the money transfer card would make it easier, but I still had to know which button was "bank transfer" and what to do after that so I asked for help once more.

This is the last time that I am paying rent here so I'll cross the next bridge when I get to it.

The day went well. I like this school. The staff are nice, and I had a lot of their lollies. I only had two lessons. One that I even volunteered for another teacher.

Also I pretended to be a kid for a kids class as there was only one student, making it difficult for him to play the games alone. It was quite fun.

We were to draw fruit on the whiteboard. Sometimes I would draw a triangle and a circle. The next time I drew a loaf of bread for an apple. That kind of thing.

After work I rushed to catch the next possible train and got home by 10:30pm. I made a risotto curry and veges. Another nice meal, extra strong with two blocks of curry and topped off with Parmesan cheese. Sounds good doesn't it? Mmm..

Jesse wasn't home and didn't arrive until 7am in the morning from partying hard all night. He had two hours sleep before going to work.

It was nice that I had the house all to myself for a while.