Random crap.
This lamp was over half off on Yahoo Shopping Japan, with free shipping. I couldn’t resist. It arrived last night. It now sits on top of my CD rack, next to my Diamond Select TWOK Enterprise, under my fabulous Nadia poster. This is on my side of the bedroom.
Before:
After:
It was bound to happen eventually. The Sega World in my small town is finally being rebranded as Gigo. The iconic Sonic sign is in the process of being replaced and you can already see the Gigo sign above the door. Granted, nothing is changing except the name, but still, Sega has divested their arcade management division. You can read about this here:
I asked the manager if they were going to toss out the Sega flags, and he said no. He said that several others asked about the flags already, but he said that they will remain as decorations. The staff’s uniforms still say “Sega” on their backs. This rug is still in the front doorway.
I’d love to have a brand new rug like this in my home. I’m sure the female spouse unit would protest, though.
For my OS, I’m running Mint Mate 20. I still prefer the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio. Switch to Linux! It’s truly a liberating experience.
I took this picture at Try Amusement Tower game center in Akihabara in around 2004 or 2005. This poster warns that only women are allowed in the women’s restroom.
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.
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.