Four Eyes

I called off the search a while ago looking for original Oakley Frogskins once I finally got one of the limited edition reissues.

Looking through countless recycle shops, they only had more recent models.

I've become addicted to Yahoo Auctions the same way I was with eBay back home. There's just SO much cool stuff to be had, looking from the comfort of my futon!

I happened upon a pair of original, first generation Frogskins for a quite reasonable 5,000 yen on Sunday night. In the last ten minutes I bid on it and, unlike other auctions no smarmy Japanese tried to overbid it, so it was mine all mine.

The next day I went to the ATM to transfer the money. I REALLY hate how the UFJ bank charge, (in this case 262 yen) just to do a bank to bank transfer.

Those THIEVING birds!

The auctioneer didn't have the greatest feedbank, nor the best communication skills either. With his lax attitude, I didn't get my package until today. He sent it COD in a box about five times bigger than the sunglasses, costing me 640 yen to just go across the city.

Unwrapping the bubble wrap I have to say I'm quite happy with the condition of them. For over twenty year old glasses they were in great condition. Not perfect, but almost as good as my new ones!

I stepped outside in the brighter light to compare the two lenses.

I was surprised to find out the old ones aren't as dark as I remembered. The old lens is Bronze Iridium which they don't make anymore. It has a nice warm brown tint, which may have given me the impression of being more dark.

On my new glasses I have a Fire Iridium lens, which has a greenish tint that my eyes don't like as much, but still cuts out plenty of bright light. My preference is still the older pair. The Fire Iridium shows scratches and smudges really easily and has plastic hinges (Like the 2nd generation did), while the other ones have metal rivets instead.

I had to go into Shinjuku today so I tested these new, old glasses and they have the big thumbs up from me.

I had to sort out a form about my Resident Tax that I was confused if I had to fill in or not. HQ wasn't 100% sure, and the ward office person wasn't that clear. Either way I just filled in the parts I thought I had to, to be sure.

Resident Tax is one of those little surprises you get once you stay in Japan over a year. I'm sure you'll be as happy as I was once they send those little payslips.

I bought some purty and colourful Dean Markley guitar picks from Rock Inn today for a measley 53 yen each (Tachikawa's 52 yen, meh..) That's about half the price of the average pick, if anyone cares.

For strings I recommend Ikebe. Just a tad cheaper in these parts.

We got pretty hungry so we had some Okonomiyaki, near the Rock Inn. Yummo!