Long Time, No Post!

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned.

It's been about three months since my last post. Not due to a lack of material, mind you. I've just been extremely busy and pretty tired when I do have free time!

I'm not really sure what I've been doing after work and on the weekends, though I did complete a few personal projects that could be classified as extreme spring cleaning. And there are plenty of other tasks I want to get done... there's always something more, right?

I've done a bit of sightseeing - Golden Week came and went, and I had a great trip to western Japan. I still need to post about last summer's trip, though. Yep, I'm a year behind again! And I just got back from a pleasant, but short, trip back home. The pantry's stocked with junk food though!

I was planning to write a few posts yesterday, but I ended up taking a "nap" around three in the afternoon which ended up lasting six hours. And around midnight I went back to bed for another six hours of sleep. The photo uploading is mostly complete now, though, and so I am finally back at the typewriter, as it were.
 Back in April, there was a small baseball card show in Asakusa that ended up being very fun. After attending the show, I decided to get some exercise by walking to Akihabara before getting lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. The building above is in Asakusa, and it just looked interesting.

My route was pretty straightforward; I chose the shortest path between two points, and I had no expectations of what I'd find along the way.
 I stumbled upon Bandai's offices. Bandai is the Japanese company that brings toys for pretty much every major anime/cartoon franchise I can think of. Plus, they do video games.
 Anpanman is a very popular kids show about a superhero made from a piece of bread.
 Pacman! Ultraman!
 I don't know who this is. But Tony Gwynn is hiding on his belt.
 As toy makers, they had displays in the window of hundreds of franchised goods they've made. It seems like they're all fairly recent toys; I don't recall any "vintage" toys in the windows.
 Sailor Moon has launched a new series, and a whole ton of toys, accessories, and collectibles have been released for the franchise. There were a lot of them on display.
And just down the street was Nintendo's Tokyo office. Nintendo is actually based in Kyoto, but a short walk from Akihabara brings one to this nondescript building housing who-knows-what!

3 comments:

  1. Nice and interesting pics! I don't always comment, but I do read so it's good to see you back!

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  2. I'll echo Play At The Plate - it's good to see you posting again!

    As I know you already know, Bandai is also the publisher of the Owners League collectible card game baseball cards.

    I wish I'd seen that Ultraman statue. I was amused at a couple random ones I saw there on my trip - there's a camera shop in Takadanobaba near Quad Sports that has one in its front window with a camera around its neck. I plan to visit "Ultraman Street" in Soshigayaokura(?) next time I'm there.

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  3. Never heard of the Ultraman shopping street. I might have to check it out sometime. I don't do much in that part of Tokyo.

    Yeah I didn't mention the trading card connection. I have a ton of Bandai non-sports non-gaming cards, mainly Evangelion, too.

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