Happy Fun Japan Party Time Store

These are some miscellaneous things Ryan and I saw when we were walking through the shopping arcade in downtown Kure.

We all know that no party is complete without a Hitler costume!  In case you can't decipher it, the writing on the blue strip at the top reads "Enjoy your life," which apparently would be impossible to do without a Nazi get-up.  Japan once again fulfills needs I didn't know anybody had.

You know how a lot of Halloween costumes in America are just normal, mundane outfits made ludicrously sexy?  That isn't the case here.  This is what Japanese school girls' gym uniforms look like to begin with.  No additional sexing-up required.  You'd think the fact that the Japanese public school system puts little girls in uniforms skimpy enough to double as fetish outfits would give someone pause.

The always-popular cute subservient maid costume.  Heck, you don't even need to go to a special costume shop to pick one of these up.  I've seen them at my local mall.

A horse head.  Wear it with any of the above for instant hilarity.

A tiny United States mailbox that plays a mounful-sounding rendition of "Mr. Postman" when you jiggle the lid.  And when I say "mournful-sounding," I mean the batteries are running low and it sounds like the singer just took a huge dose of thorazine.

"We want you for the bath time crew!" - creepy uncanny-valley child with disturbingly white teeth

You need to be careful what you do when you go out in super-public.

This store wants you to be its kids.  "Wow Wow" indeed.

Kure: The Place for Dads

It is a truth universally acknowledged that all dads are obsessed with World War II.  It's like, a law or something.

The moment a man hears his newborn child's cry, his first thought is: "My God, I'm a father.  This is the happiest day of my life!"  This thought is immediately followed by another, equally distinct realization: "I gotta start watching Band of Brothers!"

If your dad isn't injecting History Channel programs on D-Day and German war technology directly into his eyeballs by the time you're twelve, be forewarned: he may not be your dad.  He may be an impostor, possibly from another dimension -- one in which the laws of the universe are distorted to such a degree that gravity no longer functions and dads no longer spend entire weekends watching specials on the Battle of the Bulge and some bunker Hitler might have stayed in for like, a day back in 1944.

Where was I going with this?

Oh yeah, Kure!  Everyone's dad would seriously love Kure.  It's got oodles of WWII-era battleships and submarines, museums dedicated to naval technology and kamikaze torpedoes, and really big fishing rigs every which way you look.  Ryan and I ended up spending a day in Kure when the Oyster Festival we were trying to attend turned out to be scheduled for the following weekend.

Here's some pics!

We somehow ended up on this quaint, nautical-themed train on the way to Kure.  It was kind of inexplicable, but we weren't complaining.  It was cute!

Battleships in the port in Kure.  Too bad you couldn't walk up to them for a closer look.

God only knows what this monstrosity was for.  It can't have been up to any good.

A robot.  Okay, so this doesn't have anything to do with WWII.  We just happened to stop at the Leiji Matsumoto museum at one point.  Leiji Matsumoto was the guy who wrote Galaxy Express 999.  And that means something to exactly zero of you reading this blog.

A gigantic submarine!

An actual mine pulled out of the actual Persian Gulf by actual minesweepers.  I hope it was disarmed?  But the sign was in Japanese, so who knows.

An anti-mine device after coming in direct contact with its quarry.  Zoinks!

Three cheers for Glorious Nippon.

The cutest mine sweeping device in the seven seas.

...Except for this one, of course.  It's a wittle seal!  *SQUEAL*

The sleeping quarters inside the submarine.  A cursory examination by yours truly revealed that they were even less comfortable than they look.  The hellish red lighting is a nice touch.

The control room of the submarine.  They also let you look through the periscope.  SUGOI~!

Plum Blossom Viewing

If you know one thing about Japan, you know this country has a lot of robots, some of which can do silly fan dances. But if you know two things about Japan, you know this country has a lot of robots and a mysterious Spring pastime known as Cherry Blossom viewing.

The annual blooming of the cherry blossoms is still a month and a half away, give or take. However, plum blossoms are just attaining their full glory in gardens across Western Japan. So I decided to wonder down to the famous Shukkei-en gardens in downtown Hiroshima to do some serious, hardcore viewing.

This is what I saw.

Beautiful!  Darker and starker in hue than cherry blossoms -- they felt very wintry.

It's quite striking to see these delicate blooms on otherwise barren branches.

I love the pale purple of the blossoms against the deep, impenetrable green of the bamboo thicket behind them.  Apparently, that portly white dude liked it too!

I'm not sure why these flowers were yellow.  I heard a few faint murmurings about "Japanese apricots" -- maybe that's what these were?

Some white flowers.  More Japanese apricots?  Boy, my horticultural knowledge is worthless.

The loneliest plum blossom.  In general, because of the lack of foliage, the flowers had a lonesome feel to them.

Those who came for the viewing could take a load off and enjoy some sort of Japanese alcoholic beverage, provided they could tolerate all the foreigners who walked by and took pictures of them downing their drinks.  I decided to give the booze a try after the man in the suit assured me that it was "very sweet" and "for children."

Bottoms up!

It may look like curdled milk, but it was actually quite delicious.  Very sweet, just like the dude in the suit had said.

Setsubun!

Hey everyone!  Did you know that February 3rd was a Japanese holiday?  Well WE did!  It was Setsubun, a holiday that involves throwing beans at people wearing demon masks.

Handy dandy Setsubun kits, available yesterday at your local convenience store.

During our celebration of Setsubun, we made an informational video about its traditions.  Check it out!