Just before Golden Week in April, I had the pleasure of visiting Osaka for the first time in 10 years. My mom-in-law, who we call Kan-chan, had driven down to Fuji ton Thursday the 24th. When I got off work the next day, we boarded the shinkansen for Osaka! The Nozomi Shinkansen, which is a limited express, never stops at Shin-Fuji Station because it is a lesser station. It usually skips Shizuoka Station too. When scheduling out excursion, We were faced with either stopping at Shizuoka Station in order to board the Nozomi, or just take the Kodama, which stops at every station. So, we decided to just take it easy and take the Kodama Shinkansen all the way to Osaka. Many of the Kodama from Tokyo end at Nagoya, but I could schedule one that went all the way to Osaka. Ulan-chan is not yet in elementary school, so we do not have to buy a ticket for her as long as she does not occupy her own seat. She sat between Mayu and Kan-chan for the three hour train ride to Osaka. When we arrived, we found the Toyoko Inn where I had made reservations and checked in. We retired for the night and prepared for the big day ahead.
On Saturday the 27th, or main objective was to visit the Kaiyuukan Aquarium. However, it is very crowded there on weekends, and our plan was to get there right around dinner time. So that morning, we certainly had time to kill! After eating the free breakfast at Toyoko Inn (not very exciting, but you can't complain if it's a complimentary service), we took the train to the Hankyu Umeda area to walk around. Like I mentioned, we hadn't been there in 10 years, but my memory of the place was better than Mayu's because I had gone on so many otaku shopping expeditions to Osaka back when I lived in Himeji. Still, much of this area was confusing to me even back then because accessing many places took me underground. We couldn't find the Snoop Town store where it used to be, so we stopped by the kouban (police box) to ask for directions. Japanese police offeicers really have a far easier job than their American counterparts. Thus, they are usually available for giving directions. He looked up Snoopy Town and told us that it is now located in the Hankyu Sanbangai, accessible from the underground shopping area. So, we descended the nearest staircase into the maze of underground shopping plazas to look for signs leading to Hankyu Sanbangai.
Snoopy Town was the first store we encountered. They did not have the one thing I really wanted to find there: Snoopy scissors. However while that was disappointing, I still managed to buy lots of other Peanuts-related stuff. There was a neat Snoopy Gachapon machine out in front, but I hesitated.
This was a pleasant surprise... at least for Ulan-chan! It's a Precure store.
Around the corner was the rather large Kiddy Land store! We spent a lot of time there.
The great thing about Sean the Sheep is that it does not depend on language to carry the comedy. No translation is necessary. Only the theme song was translated into Japanese.
Left: Hello Kitty KISS gachapon! Right: Check out this weirdo!
Nanoblocks are pretty great! If you've never seen them before, they are like micro Lego bricks.
Right: Shingeki no Kyoujin (Attack on Titan) is a hugely popular anime not only in Japan, but among the rest of the world's anime fandom too.
Left: a display for Attack on Titan candy. Right: jigsaw puzzles! I bought the Yamato 2199 one of the girls.
Left: Sailor Moon is making a comeback this year with a new anime show. Right: Yamato goods are very popular now, thanks to the recent Yamato 2199 series.
More Yamato 2199 awesomeness. Except for the stuff on the right. I'm not even sure why I took this picture. It's just a bunch of bewbs.
Right: This is that Battleship Musume stuff or whatever it's called. I can hardly get excited over such pandering.
Lots of Star Wars merchandising. I really have mixed feelings about these new movies, especially with what JJ Abrams did to Star Trek: Into Darkness and rehashing The Wrath of Khan all over again. I was rolling my eyes so much while watching that dumb movie.
Lots and lots of Dragon Quest stuff, too!
Right: Village Vanguard stores are also a great source of neat nerd crap, too. They are a book store that sells character goods, collectibles, snacks, and all sorts of stuff.
These were all on display at Village Vanguard.
Right: Remember the old '80s sitcom, Alf? I found it hilarious at the time, but now... I'd rather not find out how badly it has aged. I was surprised to see this in a store in Japan. Did they have Alf here in Japan?
Left: Lots of interesting T-shirts on sale in Village Vanguard. Right: Creamy Mami has made a bit of a comeback in recent years, too. I've never seen it. I am always fond of Akemi Takada's artwork though.
At any given Village Vanguard in Japan, you can count on being able to find the classic Akira manga for sale.
Here are some of the weird books you can expect to find at a typical Village Vanguard.
Creepy-ass Blythe dolls. They don't give me happy feelings at all.
So here are several interesting gachapon machines I found in the mall. I bought one of the WWII tanks.
Prepare to shield your eyes from the horror that is the next chapter of Greg's Life!
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