you know, I just sort of realised I never quite finished talking about my Japan trip. Things kind of got caught up and was forgotten. It’s not like I deliberately did that, but in truth, so much has happened since my Japan trip.

Walking around the shops the last few days, I often thought of Japan… Mostly because I miss a particular drink from Japan, or food, or convenience of the konbini.. It’s really weird. It just sort of suddenly pop up in my head. People would sometimes wonder why – Australia has no lack of good food or Japanese cuisine. The truth is, though, all food in Japan tastes different from those in Australia. The tastes are, generally, much lighter. So, when I got hunting for a compatible yoghurt drink, for example, I often muse over how thick and heavy the drink tastes

One of the few things I really want to do, at some point in my life before I get too old (!!!!) is to eventually get around to Japan during the New Year’s celebrations. Nothing to do with the actual celebration, I just LOVE fukubukuros and a reason to buy them (of course, I could just buy heaps and then pan them off to my sister!).

Fukubukuros, also known as happy bags or lucky bags, are basically bags worth of products sold off at a massively discounted price. Retailers in Japan, at the end of the year, tries to clear all the stock by bundling all the items up in a bag. Usually, you have no idea what you are getting besides a rough gauge of what might be there (clothing stores = clothes; electronic stores = gadgets). In recent times though, this has changed some what. Some retailers reveal what’s mostly likely in the bag (sometimes, they still differ due to stock levels).

My very first fukubukuro was from Strapya a few years ago. It was a classic fukubukuro in that it was in a red paper bag that says “lucky bag” in japanese on the front (these days, depending on what store you can go to, sometimes the bag itself is part of the fukubukuro’s gifts). However, there’s only so much netsuke one can use in one’s lifetime, particularly since I have already shopped like mad in Japan for netsuke things before. Furthermore, there were few useful items in the strapya fukubukuro for me so sadly, it is possibly one of those fukubukuros you buy once every few years.

Aranzi Aronzo was a brand I discovered quite by accident. During one of my pilgrimage up to Sydney’s Kinokuniya, I discovered that they were having this exhibition of Aranzi Aronzo products. There were a couple of craft books that I bought from there, as well as a couple of containers and what not. Aranzi Aronzo’s products are filled with cute, whimsical yet simplistic characters. This year, I finally bought one of their uber fukubukuros.

When I got the parcel today, I was both excited and disappointed. They have listed the items inside the parcel on their site, and some people have already blogged about the clock being included in the fukubukuro, amongst many other things. I am sort of in need of a clock. However, not only did I not get the clock, the list that was included in the parcel revealed that not all of the items came with the parcel

HOWEVER!

Whatever came with the fukubukuro… was absolutely wonderful! I would so use all of them, except for the picnic mat! Here’s a picture of some of the things I have got

I am also very very thankful that they took notice of my note to them. Most of my friends know me by the nickname of Panda, rather than Anivyl. Thusly, I requested if I could have the Panda bag out of the “possibilities” – and they gave me the panda bag! yay! thanks Aranzi Aronzo

There were a few other things that I didn’t take a picture of or isn’t clear in the pictures – notepads, stamps, an apron, 2 onsen towels and the picnic mat itself. The missing item, that I wasn’t expecting but loved the idea now, is the usagi chopping board. This was a fairly expensive fukubukuro, but if I had bought each item individually, they would have costed me more. Also, I love them, so they are worth it

Current Mood:  amused

When I planned this trip last year, there were a lot of considerations in mind. Using my Nike+ pedometer, I figured I could walk up to about 4km (to somewhere, then another 4km back) without much of an issue. Anything more than that has felt like a chore and could potentially dampen the enjoyment of a place.

Therefore, a lot of the planning was also done on the map.

In retrospect now, it wouldn’t have mattered too much. All the places we have been to in Japan were very walking friendly. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s not like they cushioned the ground or anything to make it very comfy – having comfy shoes helped of course. I think, if you put into comparison my walk to work, Japan’s environment is very distractingly awesome.

Randomly, there’s little shrines everywhere. Some had specific gods, like the tiny ones hidden in the backyards of some shops in Asakusa, there were some dedicated to various animals, particularly cats and dogs

some had description that I could try and read, whilst others were just… there. Each and all of them had places to cleanse yourself. Interestingly, some had a “donation box”, and there’s a little box of omikuji and/or Omamori that you can take.

No matter what time of the day I walk past these shrines, those omamoris were never tipped, thrown – boxes were never stolen (some were nailed on to a post, others were literally just a wooden box sitting there o.o). I can’t tell you if these were ever stolen from, but judging from when I walked past there, I had say not during the time I was there. It’s pretty cool when you see a society could trust their members to not run off like that, or couldn’t care if they do (because it’s upon their souls if they do). It’s kind of a weird, but warming, kind of feeling to “feel trusted”.

In many places in Japan, there’s very awesome Ads all over the place. Of course, Akihabara also had the cutest/coolest wall ads. Within Tokyo (don’t know about elsewhere), there are 2 ads running on the trains that constantly amuse me.

One is the ad by Alsok with a woman whom, it turns out, was a bodybuilding champion. The amusing parts were always the fact that they had her up in a corner of the wall laser-beaming the entire room with her eyes LOL!

Alsok Youtube Ad

The other was the McDonald’s Big America Ad, which is constantly promoting the vegas burger (the promotion of that time) with 2 guys wearing glasses and dancing to their burgers LOL!

But you know, it’s one of those things where it’s “only in Japan” – it works and actually looks good. No one queries the maturity or silliness of the Ads – they just are.

In the 6 months prior to the trip, I attempted to brush up my basic Japanese, history and cultural knowledge of Japan. This might seem silly but we were visiting some museums with the possibilities of us seeing but not understanding everything. I am pretty glad I did because up until just before we left, I have never heard of Tales of Genji or Tales of Heike. Those form the literature classics of Japan, just like Romance of the Three Kingdoms for China. There were also historical aspects to those stories.

It might not seem much, and I still did mistakes such as accidentally calling my friend while I was on the train to see whether he wants to catch up over dinner. Nevertheless, it helped me understood many things and also enjoyed a different depth of appreciation when I walked through different places.

In Asakusa, in a row of shops just before Senso-ji, some of the shutters were painted with the drawings out of Tales of Genji. In this scene above, the woman was putting her robes back on. I can’t find the other picture now, but there’s another one where the couple were still in the midst of copulating.

Buildings in Japan also had very cute shapes. Some where made to shape like a glass, others like a torch. Some were pretty cool and some look like UFOs. This above is apparently a golden beer froth.

I am more inclined to think that that is a sperm.

There’s an obligatory need to show the Engrish!

Inevitably, we finally did end up in a place completely unexpected, yet expected. This turns out to be the start of the local “gentlemen’s clubs” area. ahem.

This turned out longer than I expected – will discuss more in the next post