This is my most recent addition to my nerd cave. It’s a Starship Enterprise lamp made of etched acrylic. I peeled off the protective plastic wrap from the acrylic pane and plugged it into the base. Light is sent through the acrylic and catches on the acrylic etching. I can choose the color for it to shine, or elect to have it cycle slowly through colors. This lamp is USB-powered, so I have it plugged into the back of my computer monitor. It’s not an officially-licensed item. It only cost just over 2,000 with free shipping from Yahoo Auctions Japan, so I couldn’t resist.
Yesterday in Japan was Unagi Day, July 23rd. Unagi is broiled freshwater eel with sweet kabayaki (BBQ) sauce and if that sounds gross to you, you don’t know what’s good. It doesn’t even really taste like fish, but it’s soft and delicous. It’s said that eating unagi gives you energy for summer or something.
Typically, stores sell it pre-cooked with it marinated in the kabayaki sauce. My father-in-law in Nagano Prefecture knows where to order the unagi fresh and uncooked. He barbecues it in his backyard himself and he mailed some to us and it arrived yesterday morning. My only gripe is that for some reason, despite the proper cooking method shown on TV constantly, he does not apply the kaybayaki sauce to it while cooking. So the stuff he makes is not so soft and definitely does not have that melt-in-your-mouth property to it. He also sent us some hybrid peppers he grows which are a cross between green pepper and hot pepper. I think originally it was accidentally cross-pollinated and since then he’s just raised them like this.
The high yesterday was only 29 degrees, so it was a nice day.
Here is my hobby room, late at night. This is where I keep my retro game collection, my plastic models and hobby bench, and my Linux desktop. You can see my Pac-Man lamps, my Dragon Quest Slime lamp, and on the wall my Pac-Man LED neon lamp. The pixel art is done with iron beads. The posters from left to right are: Puyo Puyo 2 (SFC), Cardcaptor Sakura Tetris (PS1), Bubblegum Crisis, Sakura Taisen (Sat), and Dead or Alive 2 (DC).
I went ahead and ordered the Galaxy Express alcohol I was unable to find locally. I stopped by a large liquor shop in Maebashi called Yamaya that specializes in imports and even they did not have any.
Here we have Captain Harlock’s highball and IPA beer. I don’t even know what IPA stands for, so I looked it up: India Pale Ale. Well, okay.
The other two are the Maetel Weizen and Conductor’s Porter, but this time in beautiful, cobalt blue glass bottles. Neat.
We were in Takasaki last night and we stopped by the Mandai there. A few months ago, Mandai relocated from its large two buildings into a smaller building, sharing the location with Gunma Leisure Land game center. It’s confusing, but Mandai is located on the first and third floors, while Gunma Leisure Land is on the basement and second floors. Mandai has its own area of UFO catchers.
There were xenomorph figures from Alien in one UFO catcher. I gave it one shot and gave up. Those larger, heavier boxes are difficult to grab. I went into the main store area to look at figures and models while Mayu checked out the dagashiya/candy store area.
Amuro Rey figure, apparently from Char’s Counterattack.
A figure of the Serbine. I’m currently working on the Serbine model by Max Factory.
Plenty of Gundam models. Unfortunately, my camera wasn’t focusing properly on some of this stuff.
Next I went to the third floor to check out the video game stuff.
Neo Geo AES and Mega Drive games.
Boxed Super Famicom and Saturn consoles.
Here are the Super Famicom Mini and Mega Drive mini consoles, plus plenty of handhelds: Neo Geo Pocket Color, Game Boy Color, Wonderswan, Game Boy Advance, etc. I bought my first NGPC for only 1000 yen about 21 years ago in a cramped shopping alley under the train tracks in Kobe called Motoko. This shopping alley stretches between Sannomiya Station and Kobe Station and is home to many used clothing, used appliances, junk electronics, antiques, and retro game shops. At least that’s how it was when I lived in Hyogo Prefecture at the time.
Check out the prices on these Saturn games. Crows 18,000, Twinkle Star Sprites 10,000, Hyper Duel 60,000, Castlevania SOTN 16,000 (I think), can’t make out the price on Radiant Silvergun, Rockman 15,000, Doom 10,000 (NOT worth it), and I see a loose HuCard Parasol Stars for PC Engine laying in front of Dodonpachi. I really wish I had the chance to get Hyper Duel back in the day, but now it is incredibly expensive.
I guess not all retrogaming is terribly expensive. Here are Arkanoid, Arkanoid II, and After Burner for the Famicom, cart only, for decent prices.
I decided to check out their anime soundtracks and found several records for sale: Castle of Cagliostro, Urusei Yatsura, Ashita no Joe, Macross, and Gundam. Pretty cheap, too. I guess the hipsters are leaving the retro record market alone.
At Leisure Land, I played some air hockey with Ulan. There are two lonely Sega Astro City cabinets in the back corner with Shanghai games running on them. 100 yen gives you two credits, so I played this one. Shanghai III was next to it, but an older woman there playing on it.
So what did I buy that night? I bought this nice figure of Mai from King of Fighters, loose, for 1700 yen. It was a fun night.
I didn’t even know about this until I was told by my friend in Canada of all places. Currently 31 Ice Cream has a Dragon Quest campaign. (As a side note, when I was a kid we called it “31 Flavors,” but then sometime in the ’90s they changed the name to Baskin Robbins. That never caught here in Japan, and everyone just calls the place “31” here.) My friend Jared sent me an email about this.
Oh look, it has soda-flavored gummy Slimes!
You can buy a limited edition box set and choose up to eight flavors, either regular or small scoops. If you get this box set, it comes with a set of cup coasters.
The store clerk was wearing a handmade Slime badge she made from felt.
So here is the box:
Here are the cup coasters it comes with:
And here is the “Slime Hoimi” ice cream itself.
In America, I never cared for gummy candy. However Japanese gummy candy is pretty great. This ice cream tastes good. Since my daughter’s birthday is coming soon, I bought this to celebrate in advance. Dragon Quest really knocks her out, and she loves the Slimes the best.
Check out these FAWESOME beer cans. Galaxy Express 999! Here in Japan, Helios Brewery makes these Maetel, the Conductor, and Emeraldas beers. Still haven’t found Captain Harlock though. These are different types of beer. Maetel’s weizen is fairly light, with a bit of a sharp taste. Cumductor’s Porter is a black beer, very dark and hoppy, with an almost chocolatey taste. I haven’t tried Emeraldas’s red ale yet. There is both a Captain Harlock beer and a whiskey highball that I cannot find in my small town. I might try to find them at Yamaya in Maebashi. It’s a liquor store chain that has an incredible variety of booze as well as plenty of import foods. We sometimes buy tortillas there. It’s the only place I know where I can find Marsala wine, which I use to make our daughter’s favorite pasta cream sauce.
February 7th marked 10 years since Mom’s death. During these 10 years, I’ve thought of many conversations that I could not have with Mom. Many questions wish I could ask. I think of the knowledge that was lost when Mom died. Mom had been in and out of the hospital so many times that I did not ask to interrupt when Mom was talking to Aunt Kathy. I thought that I would be able to talk to her again after that, but I was unable to the next day. I wish I cold have spoken to her one last time, to maybe even say goodbye. I lost my chance and a day later she had deteriorated so quickly. I lost my chance. I’m sorry. I miss you, Mom.
Today, on February 7th, our precious bug has passed away. The night before last, she had flipped over on her back. In the morning, Mayu found her on her back and helped her over. She had probably struggled for a long time and it exhausted her.
This morning, Mayu fished her out of the box’s substrate and helped her to her food. She saw her tongue weakly lick the banana for one last time. I took this picture this morning, and you can see that her legs are curled up underneath her. I’m happy we had provided Pun-chan a long life, and Mayu took good care of her.
In Japan, cups of jelly are sold for kabuto-mushi (Rhinoceros beetles like Pun-chan) and kuwagata (stag beetles) and they come in different flavors. Once she tasted the brown sugar flavor, Pun-chan refused to eat the other flavors (fruit varieties). In fact if she was given another flavor, she would get upset and flip the jelly cup over overnight. She loved bananas too, and often her little face was covered with a banana mess. Mayu would place a slice of banana into the brown sugar jelly cup. I’m glad that she got to taste her precious banana one last time before she died.
Life became difficult for Pun-chan towards the end. Actually, a few months ago, her two front “hands” had somehow broken off. It’s just the way these beetles are, and it’s why you have to be careful to not try to forcefully pluck them from a tree as their feet may break off. We had provided her wonderful food for her and kept her warm, which gave her an unusually long life. I’m sad she is finally gone, but I’m happy that she is no longer struggling as it’s been like watching a grandmother struggle with life.
We are not allowed pets in our apartment, so Pun-chan has provided us with that role that cannot be taken by a cat or something. There’s an innate part of our hearts that desire to take care of plants and living creatures. I think that is a great part of what it means to be made in the image of God. When I was new to Japan, these large insects freaked me out. But I married a country girl, and Mayu grew up catching cicadas and other insects. She’s taught me to love and care for such insects in our nearly 21 years of marriage.
