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Diary and nerdery! I miss longform blogging, and I wanted a place where I could write about daily life and the things I like all in a neat archive. So here we go! I like Japanese culture in general but also anime so hopefully the taste of my posts won't be too difficult to digest... Sorry if the fangirling hurt the eyes.

[rubinoyubiwa]

Update update

All my posts before have been dedicated to my Amagasaki trip but that was late April-early May! It took me forever to post these lol. To think it's already July..... it's so hot I can't take it. I just want to stay at home and do nothing. The thing is, I'm going back to my home country in August to visit my family, and I was happy to escape the horrible summer here but apparently it's hot in France as well. Oh... Well at least there's no humidity.

Anyways, what have I been up to in May, June and July? Uhhh... (checks camera roll)

I finally visited the Fangamer shop in Tokyo. It was so exciting seeing all the signs! The only thing I bought was the character-shaped taiyakis. They're cute. They taste like nothing. But I can boast the fact I ate Hornet, Ib, Mr Tenna and Toriel. ...And the Omori guy. I never played Omori. We're not acquainted. Sorry. Maybe I should play it... I'm very excited to visit again once Deltarune chapter 5 merchandise drops... I might finally bite and buy some because I really, really enjoyed it. I guess it ended up being my favorite chapter so far...? I'm just, really enamored by Flowery and the overall mono no aware theming of the chapter. I remember at first thinking the Japanese aesthetics were kind of strange, esp the zen garden and the shrine, and at first I just chalked it up to Touhou callbacks but now I get it, I get it. Mr Tobynosuke Fox is a true samurai lolol. (I was also so surprised that Yatabe Touko of Gegege no Nazo fame did Flowery's intro cutscene. Two worlds collide...)

I enjoyed the animate pop up store for Nintama. So much that I made a whole post about it On The Other Blog. And I got Sakubei in a blind box that day, yay!

Zatsui-chan, it's the Sky Tree.

There you can find the Kirby Cafe. It's not my first time going, because my friend is a huge fan and I'm always happy to tag along lol. Because it's permanent, the venue is so beautiful and a lot of care is put into the food, it's sooo cute. A waitress squee'd at my Zatsui plushies lol so they got a little photoshoot.

Somehow, I learned that carrying Nintama merch on your person is a great way to have girls strike up a conversation with you in the wild. I can't count the amount of times someone stopped me to comment on them... so much that my friends now react like "Again??? Is this ninja thing a secret cult??? Why are all the girls into it?????" That's right, us kunoichi are everywhere, hiding in plain sight...... But yeah, it warms my heart every time.

Yugyoji is always beautiful. Walking by the pond is extra enjoyable on those hot sunny days.

The last movie from the Mononoke trilogy came out! I have... complicated feelings about it! When you take the series by itself, it was genuinely a masterpiece ; like the TV series, it tackles the misery of women and portrays their resentment and anger in a poignant way, but I feel the movies managed to be more nuanced than the TV anime ever was. It was great. I regretted not seeing the Medicine Seller from the TV anime at first, and it took me a bit to appreciate Kamiya's Medicine Seller, but in the end I grew fond of him. The one thing that bothers me is the context surrounding the movie, the Sakurai scandal, and the way the movie staff handled it. If you publicly state that you singled him out because the movies are about the suffering of women, then it makes a certain scene in the last movie much more difficult to enjoy in my opinion... Oh well. If I try not to think about this, I reeeeeeeeally loved the trilogy as a whole. Asa and Kame are amazing characters. Ugh.

Then I saw Ninmyu16 in theaters! It was fun! So fun!! I talked about it at length On The Other Blog so I won't repeat myself here lol. I was so sad I missed all my chances at getting a ticket to see it live T_T but I got my revenge because recently I got SS tickets for Nagaya in September!!!!! So excited. But I won't give up on trying to get a myu ticket... Maybe for the rerun...!

And then I saw TADC finale in theaters too. The tokuten was so boring. But I really liked the episode itself ! Unfortunately I didn't plan ahead and I watched it in Japanese dub, which I really don't like and I would have preferred to watch it in English, but well... I fixed that by the time it came out on Youtube a bit later. It was beautiful! I always appreciated the nods to Evangelion throughout the show, but they really went all out in the finale huh.

We saw on the news that you could see bioluminescent algae on the beach in the Shonan area, so we spent the afternoon at the beach with friends waiting for night to fall and see it for ourselves, but... There was nothing lolol. It seems that the algae moved further away because of the wind... What a shame. Still, we took a looooong night walk along the beach all the way to Katase-Enoshima station, and it was really pleasant. Enoshima is really beautiful, I'll never get tired of it.

This is the yummy treats segment. First is green tea from Tanegashima sold by Lupicia. It's really good!... Yeah, I bought it just because it's from Tanegashima and I got excited. It's really good though. Tanegashima is the name of an island south of Japan, and it's where the Portuguese introduced firearms to Japan in the 16th century. It's why matchlocks are also called tanegashima in Japanese! Celebratory teatime with Wakatayuu and Shousei-san. Next is just the Zatto Konnamon miso soup with komatsuna (mustard?) leaves from Amako Soubei Manga Gallery. Pretty tasty for the instant kind! lol. Last is, and I quote the menu from memory, "Medicinal herbs and collagen broth noodles that makes you beautiful and gives you good luck". Ordered it because it reminded me of the Health Committee and their medicinal herbs cafe booth from the Cultural Festival arc lol. It was actually soooo good. I'm so sad I couldn't take a picture with Isaku plushie because I was in Professional Company... ... By the way, this is duck meat. I hardly ever eat duck, because I guess it feels a bit wrong lol (though I admit I do love duck and green onions pot...), but as of late I've been eating a lot of duck... At the supermarket they have this duck pastrami lately that I bought by mistake because I misread the label and didn't realize it was duck, but it turned out so delicious I keep going back for more...... Sorry, ducks......

It was kind of last minute, but I got tickets to watch the Hollow Knight orchestra concert in Yokohama. I have 0 education when it comes to music, so it's hard for me to comment on it beyond saying it was good and it touched me deeply. Hearing music live is totally different from a recording, right? Hollow Knight music is beautiful, but specifically the pieces from Silksong with the bells and the organ left a deep impression on me. Also the Cog Dancers track!!! The Cog Dancers!!! It was amazing...

Raku Spa, a chain of bathhouses, was going to start a collaboration with Gegege no Nazo, a movie I like a lot, so I asked friends if we could go together then. Checking out the website we noticed they currently had a Pokopia collab, and we were all so excited we went then, telling ourselves we'd go again for the Genazo collab. .......And then we forgot and didn't. Oops. To be honest I wasn't really, really interested in the merchandise so it's fine, and beyond that the collabs are usually like, a bath with a themed color, like purple for Ditto and such (it would have been fun to take a red blood bath at the Genazo event though lol) The menu items for Pokopia were really cute though! Especially funny was the Tangrowth montblanc, it REALLY looks like I ate a Tangrowth. Inside was an ohagi, a rice ball filled with red bean paste, so it was pretty heavy and filling, I couldn't finish it... Truth is, I don't have a Switch 2. I really want to play Pokopia... Pokemon are cute...... But Switch 2 is expensive, sniff. Also, my locker number was 321. 3 = za, 2 = two (tsu), 1 = i. Zatsui number.............. Is this fate?

Tagged along with friends to the Apothecary Diaries cafe even though I never read or watched it, oops. I got really curious about it though so I will check it out eventually. (one braincell) And it reminded me of Isaku.

I managed to grab tickets for the Nintama x Sanrio cafe! The first phase had the 5th years items, and I really wanted to go to the first phase because I was going with my vegetarian friends, whom always have trouble with these kind of cafe lol, but I knew Heisuke's menu item would be perfect for them!!!!!!! Tofu truly is great... It's that day I learned I got a ticket for Nagaya too. The fifth years are always here for me... Thank you... Unlike the sixth years who hate me apparently. I'm so happy that of all characters, it's Kan-chan who's paired with Ahirunopekkle, the duck character. That, also, is fate.

Well, I guess it's all for today because I hit the picture limit. Thank you for reading this far! Take care of yourself this summer.

[rubinoyubiwa]

Part 7 of the Amagasaki trip... THE END!

Long time no update!! I've been busy. Doing things. Going places. Playing Deltarune. Flowery, ohhh, Flowery... err. Anyways. Note for future self eventually rereading this: I hope we got a grip and are feeling better. Do your best!! This travel log took me forever lol. But I did want to archive it properly... At least it's the last part!!! Whew!! If you read all of this thank you so much. Let's continue on from last time!!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

My first stop of the day was Shioe Susanoo Shrine, located in the Shioe area. It was a holiday so the opening hours were short and weird so it was a bit tricky to choose a right time to visit... Glad I still made it though. As the name suggests, Susanoo-no-Mikoto is enshrined here, along with Tamayori-hime.

Getting closer to the offering box to put in my usual 5 yen coin in (I literally keep 5 yen coins in a separate pouch just for shrines and temples visit...), I noticed that it's shaped like a biiiig abacus! Sooooo so cool! Monji should collect committee budget money this way.

Inside the main building are various donations, notably: a plaque featuring 1-ha drawn by Amako, another large abacus, a fukuro-yari spear and a Huuuuge ema featuring Monjirou also drawn by Amako herself. Wow! Due to damage, the main building was rebuilt in 2014, and to celebrate the completion several abacus associations from the Kansai region donated the large abacus mounted on the wall, the abacus on the donation box, and the spear. Amako donated the 1-ha plaque and the Monjirou ema. Historically, Amagasaki has been a big commerce hub in the area, with merchandise transiting to Osaka, Kyoto, etc. Then, the abacus was an essential tool to do business, so knowing how to use one was a valuable skill to have. Of course, in modern times it fell out of fashion when calculators and computers became a thing. In 2004, in an effort to revive the use of the abacus, Amagasaki was the first city to experiment with its school curriculum and introduced abacus lessons in elementary schools. It seems it had a positive impact on improving focus and mathematics skills for students! As such, Amagasaki has a special relationship to the abacus ; and of course, Shioe Monjirou does too, so it makes the local shrine of the Shioe area the perfect place to celebrate this tool, doesn't it?

The ema you can buy there feature either Tamayori-hime or an abacus design. Many people left Nintama related illustrations and wishes!

The weather was decent for once, so I took the opportunity to walk through Chikamatsu Park, in the Kukuchi area. The statue represents Chikamatsu Monzaemon, a famous playwright who lived in the area. I was moved to see beautiful ichihatsu iris flowers were in bloom all over the park.

Their deep purple-indigo color reminded me of the fifth years, and I thought it was great timing because Chikamatsu Park also features this:

A very cute manhole cover featuring Kukuchi Heisuke and his beloved tofu. ...The tofu blocks' faces are so so cute... It seems it was installed there in 2021!

The next stop would take me in the Nanamatsu area, but before that I needed lunch lol so I made a quick stop in a cafe called Kissa Cute. It's located in the Tsugiya area, so if we're in Tsugiya, then...

Wow! This small cafe boasts a really impressive collection of Nintama goods on display. Mostly Tsugiya Sannosuke and third years related, too! So so cute. The staff was super friendly and the food was good as well. I was in a hurry but I wish I stayed longer to enjoy more of the atmosphere and the menu lol.

And here we are, Nanamatsu Hachiman shrine. As the name implies, it's dedicated to Hachiman, god of war and deified spirit of legendary emperor Ojin. The local history goes that samurai commander Minamoto no Yorinobu was moved by a child pleading for help back when the region was poor and life difficult for local farmers. He decided to renovate the small local shrine into Nanamatsu Hachiman shrine, where a single pine tree stood. To mark the occasion and to mark these grounds as holy, he had 6 additional pine trees planted, and it's how the area got its current name, Nanamatsu (literally, "seven pine trees"). Of course, because of its name, it's a popular pilgrimage spot for Nintama fans. The shrine sold ema featuring art of Nanamatsu Koheita from 2010, but sales were discontinued. It started again with new art in 2026 though, so now a bunch of little Koheitas are hanging on shrine grounds holding people's wishes... cute. Interestingly when I approached the booth to buy my own ema, the priest there was very cold lol- "Are you here for the ema? If you want one you have to donate and pray first." (honestly, there's no such rule that you have to donate and pray at a shrine, but well...) Threw a coin, bow, bow, clap, clap, bow, and back to the booth. I assumed he was either bothered by otaku coming here for Nintama without regards for the shrine itself? Or didn't want to deal with my foreigner self lol. I felt a bit petty so I started asking a lot of questions about the shrine, and shinto, and somehow he relaxed and ended up a lot more chatty and amicable! He even went to the back of the hall to bring back prayer tools to show me lol. Thank you so much!!!...

And so I got my Koheita ema... cheerfully shouting "Ike don!", and holding a suzu bell staff, whose sound repels evil and attracts happiness (Mr Priest, thank you for the kind explanations and for showing me the real thing lol.). There are actually two designs available, on the other one he's holding a ritual sword and 厄除 yakuyoke (warding off evil, warding off misfortune) is written on it. But well, when I think of Koheita, his loud voice comes to mind, and I guess like the sound of suzu bells, his cheerful IKEDON! repels misfortune and attracts happiness, so to me it's the best fit and I ended up choosing this one!

I went a bit out of order with these posts, because after this I headed to Osaka lol, but I already covered that in another post. So let's flash-forward to my last day in Amagasaki.

I didn't plan to at all, but Chouji recommended it in the video shown at Amagasaki Castle's theater, so I went to the "World Money Box Museum", which is actually an annex to the Amagasaki Shinkin Bank Museum next door. This local bank has a museum dedicated to its personal history, the local history of Amagasaki, and then this annex dedicated to coin banks.

Admission is free, and you get to look at piggy banks from Japan and all over the world from different eras. It features familiar characters of course, and also coin banks of Ama-chan and Shin-chan, mascots of Amagasaki designed by Amako, with two copies on display signed by her.

I was moved to see my beloved Donald Duck next to Amako's sign and art lol. The staff was so nice and excited to talk and showcase the collection. A man excitedly showed me the pieces from France they had haha. Staff will also activate coin banks with mechanisms to show guests. Some of them are pretty impressive karakuri! (I was so moved because one piece of their collection was a Star Wars coin bank with a moving and talking figure ; my father used to have this exact model and it terrified me as a child. Memories...)

I'm an idiot and I didn't take a pic, but it seems the building the museum is in used to be the actual Amagasaki Shinkin Bank, so the part of the collection centered on Japanese pieces is behind a thick, heavy metal door ; did it used to be the bank's vault?

Muromachi money tied to a string. Kozeni kozeni~

Again, the main building focuses on the history of Amagasaki Shinkin Bank as a company and the history of Amagasaki city. Admission is also free and it's definitely worth a look.

On top of coins they have a lot of every day life items like abacus, inrou, pipes... Above official documents, grand swords and armors and scrolls, I find these kind of displays the most interesting personally.

Well, weapons and armors on display are still really, really cool lol.

A military fan and a gandou: a bell with a rotating candle holder and a reflecting mirror inside, it basically works as a flashlight once you light a candle inside. I took a picture because Monjirou uses this exact kind of light in the second Nintama movie, so I got excited seeing it.

And my last expedition in Amagasaki took me to a tofu shop called Kema Tofu Oomoto, pretty far from everything else but well ; I had to, right? (Actually, that day I visited the Amagasaki Shinkin Bank museums in the morning, headed to Takarazuka by bus, and managed to go back to Amagasaki by bus stopping near Kema, the area where the shop is. So I got lucky because I didn't plan that in advance hahaha.)

Well... It's a tofu shop. I know tofu is perceived as a bland food, a replacement for meat, especially in the west, but personally I love it. When you see it as its own thing rather than a meat substitute you open yourself to so many delicious dishes... please give tofu a chance.... (suddenly possessed by the spirit of Heisuke) Anyways- supermarket tofu is good and all, but tofu from a dedicated tofu shop is something else entirely. So if Amagasaki has a famous tofu shop, I want to try it!

Like many others spots, I somehow lucked out and avoided the crowds (When I had left the shop, a bus stopped right in front of me and a flock of girls holding Amanazo pouches and a lot of Nintama goods hanging from their bags came out. The tiny shop got crowded fast...! I got lucky truly...)

Anyways, I had learned that people were more or less embracing the local otaku tourism here ; and I guess, to counterbalance my experience at Nanamatsu Hachiman shrine, here the staff was SO enthusiastic, it was a bit overwhelming for me! But I'm super grateful for their welcome and kindness.

The goods left behind by guests on display are so much lol. I literally didn't know where to look! It's a total treasure trove and museum for Nintama fans.

The shop owners even got art and signs from Amako, featuring Kema Tomesaburou! I was thinking back about the Amagasaki Castle movie where Tomesaburou was trying to pick a fight with Heisuke.... aren't you friends? Tofu friends? lol. So cute. I got some delicious agedashi tofu to eat in the store.

The tag on products also feature Kema lol. The shop owner gave me an extra clean sticker tag to keep as a souvenir, I'm grateful. Sadly I don't think I could have kept refrigerated tofu back home with me, so I got soymilk donuts as a souvenir. Those were great!

Wait- I almost forgot! On my last night in Amagasaki, I finally got to try Amagasaki champon, the local dish! It was showcased in the Amagasaki Castle movie by Koheita and Shinbei, and I wanted to specifically eat the one from the restaurant shown in the movie. They never name it in the movie per se, they just said the name of the dish. But I really wanted to eat the same champon as Koheita, you see. It was important... Some google no jutsu later, I found the restaurant : it was actually very close to my hotel lol. I had went a previous day, but I came too late and it was about to close (it closes pretty early! like 7:30PM iirc?), so I'm glad I managed to come in time on the last day.

Amagasaki champon~~~!! at a small, but delicious restaurant called Tenyuu.

It's a hot noodle dish topped with vegetables, meat and shrimp, all in a thick ankake sauce. It's......... Very filling!!!! And delicious! I did my best to finish my bowl with all my ikedon determination!!

It's the kind of very small restaurant visited by locals, and I suspect their customers are either tired older men going there for dinner after work and, brightly dressed women guided here by Koheita... Because when I entered the restaurant, the lady brought me to the table right next to this.

Reiji's sign!!!!!!!!! Kyaaaaaa!!!!!!! Errr. Sakagaki Reiji's (Koheita) and Mita Issa's (Shinbei) signs, displayed inside the restaurant! And so I happily slurped my noodles while staring at Koheita...... Mission accomplished.

Phew, and that's how I hit the 30 images limit. I ended up covering things out of chronological order, so the pics of the way back home are in this post. Honestly, before coming I was nervous about a lot of things ; did I book enough time to spend in Amagasaki? Or maybe too much? Are things accessible? Is my Japanese good enough to go around? But honestly everything went well, moving around is relatively easy and the city Really wants to promote tourism so you're easily guided to point of interests lol. I had the recurring experience of people being basically "what is a foreigner doing here" in more-or-less sensible ways, but mostly everyone was kind, welcoming and eager to talk about the city, its culture and history. I learned a lot! In the end, I'm glad I didn't attempt Amanazo ; it gave me time to freely explore the city without pressure. ...And it gives me an excuse to come back eventually!! Genuinely so happy I got to go, ugh. I love Nintama!!!

[rubinoyubiwa]

Part 6: Walking around Amagasaki .......

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

How many part is this going to be... I'd make these posts longer if it wasn't for the picture upload limit. Sorry! Anyways, still on the same day I visited Amako Soubei Manga Gallery, Amagasaki Castle and the Museum of History, I finished the day strolling through various outdoors locations.

Nakazaike Park. Another pointing at names in excitement moment.

I really wanted to go to the next destination, but I also felt like a huge weirdo being there so I didn't linger. Nearby, in an unassuming residential area, among many unassuming houses, is a much bigger, imposing house that stands out because of its castle-like roof and walls ; it's Amako Soubei's current office!

Honestly, if I were in her shoes, yeah, I'd also get myself a castle. Truly a queen. She has all my respect and admiration.

Three familiar faces are carved in stone at the entrance. So lovely. Well... again, I didn't want to linger there and be weird lol, so I quickly left.

The next stop was Teramachi, the "temple town" of Amagasaki. When the first Amagasaki Castle was built, during Edo, they needed space so temples had to be relocated. For convenience, all the city's temples and shrines (11 Buddhist temples, 2 Shinto shrines) were gathered in the same walled area, and it's how Teramachi came to be.

When I visited, it was in the middle of holidays so a lot of places were closed, and I couldn't do the stamp rally in Teramachi that features art of the Seven Lucky Gods drawn by Amako Soubei. These Seven Lucky Gods are really famous, so I'm sure you've seen them before. One of them is Daikokuten, god of wealth and prosperity, so I'm sure Kiri-chan favors this one in particular. He also appears in the third Nintama movie above Tenki's desk. (gratuitous Nintama Trivia moment) I guess their most famous representation is all of them gathered on a treasure boat, a picture you see a lot during the New Year! Anyways, they're a happy, merry group, so Amako's round and cute artstyle fits them really well I think.

The weather was bad that day so I kinda gave up on taking pictures, but I regret it. The temple that stood out the most to me was Kanroji Temple, because it featured many representations of phoenixes, notably a golden one on the roof which I took a terrible picture off lol. Because of the name Kanroji, a few people drew the character Kanroji Mitsuri from Kimetsu no Yaiba on ema. It was cute to see her here.

Another big onigawara, and a cute komainu guarding the roof.

After that, I walked to the nearby Kanda-nakadori shopping street, because it features that same art of the Seven Lucky Gods on a glass dome on the ceiling. The area has a lot of shopping street arcades with a retro feel, maaaany Showa-vibes shops to visit, so even without buying anything it's a treat for the eyes. But on my way there, the front of a cafe caught my attention?!

Rikichi-san! Doi-sensei! Kumigashira! How cute! It's a coffee shop called coffee roaster Hyakumanryo. On top of many beautiful cakes and biscuits, they sell adorable Maybe-Nintama themed cookies lol (NHK ninja, please look the other way!). I chatted a bit with the clerk and got some biscuits and canelés to go.

The designs are so cute, aren't they? I'm especially a big fan of the Black Eagle Squad cookies: Oshitsu's mask and a coelacanth... so cute. And delicious. But so cute it feels like a shame to eat them!

In Amagasaki, you truly can't ever escape ninja. And I found the dome finally!!　

At this point it was early evening but I had walked a lot today since morning, and my head was full with information it kinda felt like my head was about to burst. I also....... Neglected to eat anything all day....... (I had many cookies in my bag I was still refusing to eat lol) so I was already out of juice. I figured since I was on an empty stomach the time was perfect to have a certain famous bowl of noodles, and no, I don't mean Amagasaki chanpon, but one that was kind of a long walk away from my current location so I finally caved in and took a bus instead of walking there lol ; getting me to the Ohama-cho area of the city, home of a certain udon restaurant.

Fuusha...kazeguruma... no sato? I dont know how to read the store name. I am so so sorry. But it's Windmill Village in English!, or more simply known as, "Ohama udon."

It's a famous place for Nintama fans, of course because the combination of an udon restaurant located in Ohama brings Ohama Kanemon to mind. When I visited, it was just a bit before Golden Week officially started (My work circumstances made it so that my holidays started earlier than most people), and it was still a weekday, so I was the only person there. The shop is so small, just a counter with a few seats in front of the owner managing the shop and cooking by herself, so it made me soooooooooo nervous. I didn't mention it before, but during my trip whenever I talked to someone I often got the same reaction of "What are you doing here?", because they don't get a lot of foreign tourists, especially tourists who aren't asian (I mean, technically I live in Japan, but...), and everyone's surprise doubles when they learn I'm here because of Nintama. I kinda sticks out like a sore thumb and feel self conscious about it lol ; so I felt nervous spending a meal face-to-face with one single person. Unlike many others brightly colored shops covered in Nintama-related decorations, this one was much more humbly decorated - the feeling was very cosy though, it's the kind of small noodle shop I expect to be frequented by locals rather than an otaku-pilgrimage site. I felt this way about other places in Amagasaki too, because I managed to visit outside of peak tourist season, I had this thought of "I have a hard time imagining this place full of excited girls otaku" lol. It's a curse and a blessing: I could enjoy places without crowds, but it made me stick out more and I had nowhere to hide! Just me and my ninja plushies against the world... So yeah, all that to say at first I was too shy to bring out the oshikatsu gear and I figured I'd be fine enjoying my udon quietly because I was starving lol. I didn't want to bother the lady with loud otaku stuff after all. But I guess she could smell the nerdery oozing from me because she asked first if I was a nintama fan. And then we chatted and chatted and I felt more at ease...

So Kan-chan got to get out of my bag.

I was so hungry I devoured that thing lol. It was really good! The broth is light in a good way, in that it clings to ingredients but is easy to eat. In early May the weather was still just pleasantly warm so I could enjoy it hot. It was really good! It'd feel weird sharing personal conversations, but I'm glad the shop owner kept me company and I greatly enjoyed listening to her. Also, it was the time at which Nintama aired on TV, so we got to watch a new episode in real time together lol.

After the meal I ordered a drink, and I just thought of getting some tea, but she suggested some Nose cider instead. I was so confused because I didn't know what it was, so I was just... "Nose...?" "Yeah, like Nose Kyusaku's Nose." Thank you ma'am, but that still doesn't help : later on I googled it, and it's cider produced by Nose Shuzou, a local brand from Osaka. Well sorry! i'm so sorry I'm an idiot foreigner and I didn't know!!!!!! And she made it the indigo color of the 5th years' uniform~ Sooooo cute! Last thing: her picture isn't allowed online, but the cat in the store is so cute and friendly...

....This post is a disaster. I barely wrote about temples but I wrote lines and lines about noodles. Oh well.

After that I went back to the hotel and got a well deserved early sleep~ I got to think a lot about the relationship between local businesses and institutions VS otaku tourism. How most people seemed to embrace it more or less (I mean, given the omnipresence of ninja figures and nintama in the city, I assume they count on kunoichi money a lot. I saw more shops putting Nintama merch on their storefront that I didn't take pictures of). I wondered if all the locals felt that enthusiastic about it? How was it during peak tourism season? How do they feel about being crowded by nerds when their place technically isn't officially related to the franchise? In the end so far I only had positive experiences talking to everyone, so I guess I was kind of worrying over nothing. I guess I'm also old and from an era where otaku stuff, even more so for women, was embarrassing and to be hidden ; so I always feel terribly self-conscious about these things until I'm hit with that "huh, things have changed" realization. Wow, oshikatsu is trendy and encouraged by businesses nowadays huh. They're putting the handsome ninja men in castles and museums to attract crowds nowadays, huh.... Times have changed. There's a whole consumerist aspect to oshikatsu I don't like much, but in this context, if it attracts crowds to smaller local places and make them thrive, I guess it's a good thing.

I want to start a new post for a new day, but I haven't hit image limit yet, so here's a real life "Where Fuwa Raizou Goes, Hachiya Saburou Follows" moment. Feast for the eyes, truly.

And more "pointing excitedly at familiar names" moments.

Imafuku Park! Yay! There is absolutely nothing of note here, but I still went, yay!!! Actually, there is a microscopic Imafuku Hachiman shrine there. I prayed to become a reliable person.

Thank you for reading! Next time we're going to temples!

[rubinoyubiwa]

Part 5: More Amagasaki Time

Part of my posts about my Kansai trip!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Last time I talked about the Amako Soubei Manga Gallery, and I posted signs from Doi and Rankirishin's musical actors. I had forgotten to include signs from the sixth years at the same location, so here they are. Watanabe Kazuki's (Monjirou) sign is so cute. Watanabe Kazuki is so cute. A lot of signs are scattered through the city lol it's fun hunting them.

Anyways! It was early in the day when I left the gallery, so I headed for the nearby Amagasaki Castle next.

Close to the castle is this fun postbox topped with a small Shachinoko! It's actually a miniature model of those you can find on the roof of Amagasaki Castle. Shachinoko are half carp, half tiger monsters that supposedly live in the sea ; because they're associated with water, they often decorate the roof of castles in pairs (one male, one female) as a way to protect them from fire.

And there it is! Amagasaki Castle! Or well, its keep. .....I only had bad weather the entire trip, what bad luck. Anyways ; especially when you compare it to the huge Osaka Castle I posted about earlier, it looks really small, doesn't it? This castle has really interesting history. There already was a small Amagasaki Castle in Sengoku ; but the Amagasaki Castle in the shape we know dates from early Edo. Sadly, new legislation of the Meiji era caused most of the castle's buildings, stones etc to be destroyed or repurposed. The land where the castle used to be progressively got used for various city buildings, housing, and such: nowadays, there's a public school where the honmaru (the innermost bailey on castle grounds) used to be. In 2015, Anbo Akira, founder of the regional electronics store Midori Denka, donated funds to the city to rebuild the castle keep. Many others joined in donating, and the new castle keep opened in 2018. Of course, its location is slightly different than the original, since modern buildings were built on the old castle site. But it gives Amagasaki Castle an interesting scenery, lodged in between all sorts of modern buildings. It's made of concrete, and has very interesting architecture ; the original keep had 4 levels, and the exterior of the new building accurately shows that. But inside, there are actually 5 floors.

Heisuke shows you a Shachinoko, and the scenery from the fifth floor of the castle. Screens in front of the windows let you compare the scenery from the early Edo period and today's! (Edo's sky was bluer, sniff)

This is what struck me the most with Amagasaki ; there's a strong wish to uncover local history and make it accessible to all. The building is modern, and doesn't pretend otherwise. It's not just a simple look-alike reconstruction of the original castle, and it uses modern technology to enable visitors to live history. It doesn't shy away from pop culture (ninja, so many ninja...), and uses a lot of props so we can touch, feel historical items, and eventually feel closer to history. I really loved that. It's something you find a lot in Japan I think ; because of various circumstances like earthquakes, fires, air raids etc a lot of majestic ~historical sites~ are actually very modern reconstructions (how many times I saw signs in temples pointing out the whole thing was rebuilt a dozen times throughout its history...). Where I come from, we're lucky to have a lot of old buildings, and it's not rare to walk into a church or something from the Middle Ages for example ; so I think a lot of people would feel "cheated" walking into a castle that was actually built between 2015 and 2018... But as long as people are made to remember the past, then history is preserved, isn't it? I guess that's the whole Ship of Theseus problem lol. Anyways ! It's something that occurred to me after visiting Osaka Castle ; it's much bigger and majestic that Amagasaki's, much more historically relevant too. But its austere exhibits under glass left much less of an impression on me than Amagasaki Castle's exhibits, and in the end I feel like I learned and memorized a lot more there. Does it make sense...? (I'm so sorry for all the Osaka Castle slender in these posts. It's great, okay. I don't deny it. I need to visit again when I'm not physically and mentally exhausted...)

When I talked about not shying away from pop culture, this is what I mean. They... lean a lot on ninja tourism. As they should! It's fun. I'm not gonna pretend Nintama didn't take me here, so give me a ninja drink in the ninja vending machine, sure.

More signs from myu's cast and Ookano Kousuke (Rikichi's voice actor in the anime) and ?!?!?!... I was sooo surprised lol. There's a part of the castle with large mirrors and props like samurai armor and noble kimonos you can put on to take pictures. But they also had... replicas of Ninmyu costumes! I'll be honest, I really, really, really wanted to try them. But I'm traveling alone, and I would have been too shy to ask a staff member to take my picture lol. Ugh... A kind lady at a certain udon shop told me I should go back to the castle and try them on, but in the end I didn't have time to go back, sorry I failed you, and thank you for encouraging me ;_; But well. That means I have to go back at some point, right?

Bigger replicas of the shachinoko. It's cute that they always go in pairs. It reminds me of how Raizou is associated with onigawara, a kind of decorative and protective roof decoration, in the second movie. Are shachinoko Raizou and Saburou in essence?....... <- There is sounin everywhere for those with the eyes to see.

Hinawajuuu!! Matchlocks, matchlocks! I got so excited seeing it and holding it. It's so heavy!!! I thought it made a lot of sense how obsessed with muscle training Torawaka is after holding one lol. The sign explains how matchlocks work, and how they took time to reload so matchlock users were organized in squads taking turns shooting in a line, then giving space for the next line to shoot, etc etc. But you always listen to Shousei-san, so you already knew that, right? The katana was also surprisingly heavy! They also had bows, arrows and spears on display. I'm not sure where to write this lol, but during Sengoku, Amagasaki Castle was occupied by the Hosokawa clan, whose emblem consists of a circle surrounded by eight more circles. When I saw it I was reminded of the crest on Tasogaredoki Jinbei's helmet in the second movie, but his only has 7 circles instead of 9. Looks like the Shichiyou emblem rather than the Kuyou emblem and its 9 circles. Boo....

The interesting story of Yamamoto Bunnosuke Kanemitsu, a captured soldier who came to be called Zannen-san ("Mr Unfortunate" or "Mr Regrettable") after his death : before committing suicide, he said "How unfortunate that I was caught. If you ever feel unfortunate, come visit me and I'll grant your wish", a statement that brought huge crowds to his grave. I Just Thought It Was Interesting.

There are a lot of exhibits I didn't show, so I really recommend going there if you can! It was genuinely a lot of fun. On my way to the exit, as I was looking at old samurai armors, I somehow heard Sorihashi's distinct voice in his role as Isaku coming from further away?! Turns out there's a theater room inside the castle, and it plays two movies alternatively. One tells the history of Amagasaki narrated by the rakugo performer Katsura Yoneda, through a fictional story where Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Edo period playwright (celebrated in Amagasaki in his dedicated Memorial Museum and statue located in Chikamatsu Park) visits the city. The second movie is actually an introduction to various points of interests in Amagasaki presented by the Ninmyu cast! They introduce places, most of them I ended up visiting so I'll talk at length about them later.

There might have been a warning to not take pictures inside the theater. Maybe. Or not. My memory fails me. I am very sorry. Hopefully the audience of this blog remains three people and Amagasaki City doesn't send their ninja to get me.

It was such a nice surprise seeing them lol. I was like "Doi is standing where I was standing an hour ago!!!!". It also felt very exciting to me personally because as you may know, I translated a lot of Nintama for fun, and I often think about how this and that should be translated in English. Nintama is not licensed in English, so there's very little officially translated stuff out there. ...Well, there is the third movie on Amazon Prime, but I'm getting a stomachache just thinking about it, so let's not. Surprisingly, the whole movie inside the castle was subbed in English! It was fun noticing all the translation choices. No one wants to tackle translating moso moso, huh. For the sake of archiving, I'll summarize the movie here. If you don't care or don't want to be spoiled, skip the indented text.

The movie begins in front of Amagasaki's castle keep. Doi tells Rankirishin that since they slept in class, they are now on a special field trip to catch up on what they missed. He begins with a short lecture on Amagasaki's local history, then tells the boys it's time to explore. They run off in different directions without waiting for Doi, who spends the rest of the movie looking for them. Cut to Kirimaru walking by himself, when he stumbles upon Amagasaki's Piggy Bank Museum. The name naturally gets him very excited, so he goes inside and meets Chouji there. He introduces the museum, owned by Amagasaki Shinkin Bank, and showcases some of the many coin banks from the collection, notably one with an intricate karakuri design. Kirimaru asks what Chouji is doing here, and he replies that he's on a secret mission. Cut to Rantarou, meeting Monjirou doing some gingin training in Teramachi, the "temple town" of Amagasaki, where all the temples were relocated during the Edo period when the castle was built. Monjirou introduces the temples inside, and the stamp rally featuring Amako Soubei's art of the Seven Lucky Gods that everyone can take part in. ...Then he makes Rantarou run and squat across Teramachi. Next, Shinbei finds Koheita in a restaurant. IIRC, the restaurant is Not named in the video, but my own google-no-jutsu made me find out it's called Tenyuu, near Amagasaki Hanshin station. Together, they enjoy Amagasaki's local specialty dish, ankake champon: a big bowl of piping hot noodles, vegetables, meat and seafood in a thick starchy sauce. Kiri-chan, still looking for treasure, meets Senzou in Amagasaki's Museum of History. Senzou introduces some of the exhibits, notably octopus traps from the Kofun period preserved in "perfect shape, just like me". To which Kirimaru says "You're comparing yourself to octopus pots...?" haha. Rantarou meets Isaku at Amagasaki Fishing Park, where Isaku is struggling to catch a fish before his line breaks. He shows Rantarou how there's a fishing booth where you can catch seasonal fish and staff will cook it in front of you to eat. They end up fishing together, and Rantarou successfully catches a big fish! But as Isaku tries to put it in a basket, it ends up escaping... what bad luck. Shinbei finds Tomesaburou picking a fight with Heisuke! After getting closer, Shinbei realizes it's not the real Heisuke, but the manhole cover decorated with Heisuke's face that was installed in Chikamatsu park, in the Kukuchi area of the city. Rankirishin finally reunite, and they enjoy dango together. Doi finds them, and as he's about to scold them, the three run into the Kaimei government building, where the Amako Soubei Manga Gallery is located. They all go "Oh my gosh it's pictures of us!" lol so cute. They reunite with the sixth years here, whose secret mission was to find a snack for the headmaster... They settled for the nintama dorayaki (sandwich pancake in the subtitles haha) sold at the gallery's souvenir shop, and as Isaku wants to show it to Rankirishin, he notices he's not holding unto them anymore. …Shinbei took them and is eating them. The end!

What a cute video that was! After watching it, I had more places I wanted to visit so I had to alter my plans a little lol. I knew about some of these places like Teramachi, but if Koheita tells me to go eat some ankake champon then of course I have to go. If Chouji says go to the Piggy Bank Museum I will say Of Course Chouji...

But after some shopping in the castle's souvenir shop, the next stop was the Museum of History, introduced by Senzou in the movie. Interestingly, it opened in 2020 in a building that used to be the municipal high school for girls, so the layout is interesting. ...Amagasaki likes to repurpose schools into museums, it seems.

Some of the classes are left intact so it's fun to walk around.

As I said before, only the castle keep was rebuilt, but Amagasaki Castle used to be larger. You can find a model of what the honmaru used to look like in the museum. It's difficult to see because of the glass, but the keep is located in the top right corner. In short, even though the castle keep, or tenshu, represents the castle, it's not the entirety of the castle. Usually, Japanese castles have the honmaru, the main bailey, or the most well guarded area at the center of castle ground, with the first layer of fortifications and moats. The area within the second layer of fortifications was the ninomaru, then the third the sannomaru, etc. Those area were also called honkuruwa, ninokuruwa, sannokuruwa. Because many names used to be topographical in nature, it's likely Ninokuruwa Isuke got his family name because he had family living in that part of a castle?!

A cool samurai armor, and a Sugoroku game in the back! I like these! I wrote about them on this blog before! (getting excited about the wrong thing) And an onigawara decorative roof tile, sporting the 9 stars emblem used by the Matsudaira and Hosokawa.

The perfectly preserved octopus traps from the Kofun period that Senzou mentioned. A sign says that one of them is decorated with a picture of a deer and invites visitors to find it. Challenge accepted.

Kakukaku shikajika, found it!

The museum is made very accessible to children, I assume it's a popular destination for school field trips lol. As a result, the explanation signs are in fairly easy Japanese and has some fun pop quizzes here and there. Question 1: What was this used for? A. As a tool for making medicine B. As a big spinning top. If you're a member of the Health Committee, you should be able to answer this. Question 2: What was this used for? A. As a box to put in mosquito repelling incense B. As a kotatsu Question 3: What was this used for? A. As a piggy bank B. As a tool for shaving bonito flakes

...All sorts of funny signs like that.

And that's how I hit image limit, so this is where we'll stop for today. Next time I'll talk about more museums (I promise Chouji, we WILL see those coin banks!!!), and hopefully have space for more lol. I wonder how many parts this will take. As usual, thank you for reading this far!

[rubinoyubiwa]

Part 4: Amagasakiiiiii, and Amako Soubei Manga Gallery!!

This post is part of my longer trip in Osaka/Kyoto/Hyougo. I spent most of my time in Amagasaki so it will get dedicated posts but for everything else I did refer to previous posts:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Amagasaki! It's a city north-west of Osaka, and the main purpose of my trip. Because it's where Amako Soubei, the author of Rakudai Ninja Rantarou, the comic that inspired the anime Nintama Rantarou, lives! There's a lot of Nintama-related tourism to enjoy here, and beyond Nintama it's a lovely city which puts great effort promoting its local history and culture. If you're into sports, which I am not, the famous Koushien stadium is close by. I was asked to do a guide for visiting Amagasaki, so at first I thought I should post about it on my dedicated Nintama blog... in the end I decided not to ; I'm no authority on how to spend your trip here, there are a lot of things I didn't see, and in the end those are the memories of my trip that I want to share diary-like. That being said, if you have any question or if I can help in any way, feel free to message me and I'll try my best to answer.

Anyways! Amagasaki. It's a bit confusing at first because it has two stations named Amagasaki located at different places in the city ; one is owned by JR and the other by Hanshin. The inn I stayed at was close to the Hanshin Amagasaki station, but I came from my Shinkansen stop at Shin-Osaka station, so I arrived at JR Amagasaki.

And there was the very famous sign, featuring many familiar names!

That was part of the fun visiting the city ; characters and places in Nintama are named after local toponyms, so wherever I went, I'd see familiar names on signs lol. The additional pro to this is that it makes reading bus stops and such very easy, because I'm usually not good at reading kanji... Also, seeing multiple women stopping in front of the sign to take pictures excitedly while passerbys were just a bit confused was fun as well haha.

Since I was at the JR Station, before making the trip to the other side of the city where Hanshin Amagasaki station is I took a little detour to the Village Vanguard store in Q's Mall. Village Vanguard is a chain of stores you find all across the country selling pop culture goods, and they're known to decorate with cute handwritten, fannish signs. The Amagasaki one goes all out on Nintama, look at those big hand drawn signs!! Good job staff!! ...I didn't buy anything.

Anyways, now I was on my way to the inn ; there's a shuttle bus connecting the two stations, but I was in a good mood so I took the long walk there. If I remember correctly it took about 40 minutes? It would probably take less without luggage lol. The area between the two station is named Kinrakuji-cho! It felt exciting seeing Kinrakuji written on signs.

And here's the inn I stayed at, Takeyaso. I already talked about it in a previous post, but it's an extremely small inn with a retro feel. Peaceful jazz music plays in the background throughout the day, and there's a bar on the first floor. The second floor has a shared kitchen space. The staff can speak English and is very friendly and accommodating, and they're also... used to Nintama fans making the pilgrimage here lol.

Oho! Fans left behind so many cute souvenirs. It was heart-warming to see. There are Hachizaemons on both floors of the inn!

The next day, I headed to the Amako Soubei Manga Gallery. It's located very close to the Hanshin station, inside the Kaimei government building which used to be a school, so the layout of the building is pretty interesting lol.

The hallway welcomes guests with colorful kakemono featuring the nintamas' names. Online, I always saw pictures of the upperclassmen, so I was pleasantly surprised to see underclassmen got flags too. Heisuke and Hachizaemon plushies are posing in front of their respective flag. Dairi next to one another!

Signs from Ninmyu 14's actors for Kirimaru (Fukuda Ryuusei), Rantarou (Makino Minato) and Shinbei (Mita Issa), along with Doi (Ikko) are displayed in the entrance as well! So cute! The boys' drawings are so cute but I'm a fan of Ryuusei spelling out Kiri-chan's signature laugh, "ahe ahe ahe ahe~". Ikko drew angry vein marks and wrote: "Oshieta hazu da~!!"

Kousaka Jinnaizaemon! Kyaaaa!!

The gallery features, of course, original pages and illustrations from Rakuran. Amako uses a lot of thick, flat tints of paint, so it's great seeing her illustrations up close and notice the texture of the paint applied. I love how simple yet expressive her art is, and how it manages to convey both the influence of children gag manga and classical Japanese art ; it's in the way the characters pose, emote, the way their hands are drawn... I guess in general, I deeply respect artists who can convey such a rich heritage in an art style that looks, at first glance, "simple."

The desk on which she drew during Rakuran's publication.

In addition to her comics and illustrations, the gallery features some ninja tools! Go-shiki mai, the five colored rice used to convey secret messages. Shuriken in various shapes (Shihou, roppou, happou shuuuuriken! 🎶), yatate, a case carrying ink and a brush, makibishi, caltrops, and the iconic houroku hiya, earthenware hand grenades!

The building itself is really fun ; it has a hidden (somewhat lol) revolving door, and a hidden character hiding on the ceiling. I got to see a kitty cat, but it seems visitors got to see a certain kusemono on other days...!

Back to the entrance, where the souvenir shop is. Actually, I visited the gallery twice during my trip ; once at the end of April, and again at the beginning of May. The second time, I took a picture of the calendar because I was happy to see this Class Presidents/Accounting Committee illustration lol. Samon and Sakichi's loach dance is an unforgettable sight. The entrance ticket for the gallery is in the shape of a bookmark, and you tie a ribbon on it in the color of your choice between all the nintama's uniform colors ; the first time I went with the sixth years' deep green, and the second time with the fifth years' indigo. I guess that if I come back eventually (I want to... I will!), I'll pick the fourth years' purple haha. There IS an incentive to come back, and a super cute one at that. The clerk showed me a faithful recreation of Doi's attendance book, in which I could register my name. I was also asked to pick a stamp card, and there are a LOT of designs to choose from because there's one for every nintama student lol. I went with one of my favorite first year, Hikoshirou from the i-class, so my stamp card says Imafuku! It seems you can get freebies the more you visit, so I'm all the more motivated to come back... how can I say no to freebies......(Kiri-chan's money face)

Yes, there's a souvenir shop. Yes, I am weak. But it's mostly stuff you can only find at the gallery! So I had to, okay. In particular, I'm a fan of the big P.E Committee towel, and the "Zatto Konnamon's Instant Miso Soup" (because "instant" is sasatto dekiru, sasatto dekirumon, zatto konnamon... get it...) with komatsuna leaves, so it features Komatsuda Yuusaku on the packaging lol. It ended up being really good for instant soup...! (It's like those freeze-dried cubes that dissolves in water, the kind you find at Muji). On my second visit (they were sold out the first time I visited!) I got matcha and azuki beans financiers in a lovely box themed with the sixth years. There's a print mistake on Isaku's hair tie! Fuun da... Well, it's in character so I'm not upset about it lol. The freebies I was given this time was a card and a map of Amagasaki decorated with Rakuran characters and the IRL places they were named after. It ended up being convenient to have!

You can visit Kukuchi, Shioe, Inadera, Kema, Zenpouji, Shimosakabe, Tsugiya and many more. Wawow... I also did visit Sonoda. It was peaceful and the Oomagatoki and Tasogaredoki armies were nowhere to be seen.

Oh right, before I forget. The tourism office near the station is also worth a visit. You can start the city-wide ARG Amanazo from here (this time I didn't because I arrived in the middle of holidays, a lot of places were closed, and I wanted to freely visit places rather than focusing on the game... but I want to try a future edition for my next trip!) and see a few fun Nintama things here too ; notably cute doodles left behind by fans, and signs from Ninmyu actors. Shout out to the person who left the cute picture of Kingo and Ibuki. You have absolutely perfect tastes.

I'll detail my next destination in the next post because I'm getting closer to the image limit. I'll use the pics I have left to show off a very cute sweets shop near Hanshin station that I happened to walk by on my way back from the gallery. Unlike many stores in the city, this one doesn't technically feature any Nintama decoration so I don't think it's a popular spot for fans, but I think it's important to pay attention to all the city has to offer, and there's Nintama everywhere for those with the eyes to see lol. I especially recommend it if you're a true man of the sea...

Chidoriya Souke! It's a chain found in the Kansai region, so it was my first time encountering it. It's named after chidori, the plover bird, who can fly through strong winds and high waves and thus became a symbol of perseverance. It's the emblem of the Hyougo Navy in Nintama, and since this shop offers a lot of sweets in the shape of that chidori I had to stop by haha. I enjoyed deliciously sweet manjuu with a cold hojicha the staff offered, which was very appreciated after my walk... I brought back some chidori-shaped sablés with me! .....It made me feel like I was cheating on the iconic Kamakura pigeon sablés. Forgive me. I am a lover of all birds. Ok, actually, the chidori pattern isn't that rare to encounter. Even the waves-and-chidori pattern. But still, every time I see it somewhere, I get excited and point, "Hyougo suigun!". And that's how I ended up with waves-and-chidori towels and coasters and this and that at home...

That's it for this time! We're going to Amagasaki Castle in the next post! Thank you for reading this far!

[rubinoyubiwa]

Osaka trip part 3: Kyoto Time

Part 1 Part 2

If you go on a trip in the region, usually you'd do Osaka-Kyoto-Nara. Well I didn't plan for that at all because I wanted to see Amagasaki and Takarazuka lol. But I had time left! I thought that I never went before, and it's so close it'd be a shame not to... So without any planning and with Golden Week that had started... I still went to Kyoto. Dreadful!!

They have a tower in Kyoto. I didn't know. Yay. The weather was bad, and I had forgotten my umbrella at the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living... so I got a nice new umbrella/parasol at the station. I love this brand! Maison de fleur! The bamboo handle is so lovely. Anyways...

Again, I didn't plan at all, and I was exhausted lol. I frankly didn't want to walk too much, so I figured a lesser-known garden not too far from the station would be a great pick to start the day with. The weather wasn't the best to enjoy a garden, but at least I felt fabulous with my umbrella. Annnd, the place had a name I like! Shousei-en!! Okay. Technically it's not spelled the same as my beloved Shousei-san, but it's still exciting to say it out loud.

It's very close to the JR Station, and offers spectacular views with its many ponds and tea pavillions (it was designed by a tea ceremony enthusiast). And yet it was near empty of people! But honestly, it's great to be able to avoid the crowds especially during Golden Week...

That stone wall at the entrance is so interesting, it looks so eclectic. I really liked this about this place ; it has some oddities that really set it apart from others gardens I've visited before. It has a large lawn which is not typical at all of Japanese gardens, and there's no particular effort to block the views of modern buildings outside the garden, offering interesting landscapes (random documentary about Japan voice: Between Tradition And Modernity.........). It seems I failed to take a picture, but the Boka-kaku Pavillion also had odd architecture, with its stairways on each side of the building.

Herons! I got excited seeing them. Maaahiiirooo....

My only regret is that, I so wish I could have enjoyed tea sitting in one of those beautiful pavillions facing the pond. The mood was so calm and tranquil like, Yes! This is what Kyoto is like in my head!... Maybe next time I can have a picnic on the large lawn space? Actually I don't know if that's allowed lol since it's not technically a public park. Let me have some good tea!!!!!!!!

It's funny, the day before I was like, "Ughhh Kyoto is so touristy it's going to be sooo crowded, maybe I should go to Uji and get some tea instead" (Uji is famous for matcha), I was genuinely sooo grumpy about going there, but visiting Shousei-en lifted my spirits a little. But now I was determined to get some tea. Oh boy.

Before making my way to Kiyomizu-dera temple, I walked a bit in Gion. All the signs that were like "NO PHOTOGRAPHY OR YOU'LL GET FINED!!!" were a bit scary lol but I understand why they are here. Anyways. Just past the torii gate of Yasaka Shrine is Niken chaya, an old teahouse with interesting history since it is the birthplace of dengaku tofu! I love tofu and I wanted to park my butt and enjoy some tea, so I made a stop.

If I had a nickel every time I talked about dengaku tofu on Tumblr... Anyways, dengaku tofu is roasted tofu with a miso glaze. The dengaku tofu of Nikenchaya follows a recipe that is supposed to be authentic to the original one served back in the Muromachi period! The glaze had a nutty taste, and the tofu was firm outside and creamy inside, genuinely really good stuff. The other pic is matcha and strawberry daifuku. I loved the daifuku too, but the matcha was... just okay. Oh well. I also forgot to take a picture but another specialty of Gion is chigomochi, a kind of mochi rice cake on a skewer, topped with miso and grilled. The name comes from chigo, boys participating in ceremonies during the famous Gion festival, and who were given said mochi for the occasion. Now everyone can enjoy them! I will get a Kousaka plushie for the next time I get to eat some. Matcha was mid, but I'm glad I enjoyed some good treats.

Walking to the very large Kiyomizu-dera temple, up on a hill, there were a TON of shops, and I thought I'd just find some matcha on my way there. Lots, lots of sweetened matcha and latte and such, which I understand is easier on tourists' palate but it's not what I was looking for. Honestly, it's entirely my fault, because I didn't research again where the good businesses were.

But honestly, I don't want to be a party pooper and act like I'm above tourist traps. Look at this. I can't believe ninja are real. I saw a real ninja in Kyoto. Best day ever. Anyways!!! I had a second attempt at matcha! And this one was worst than the first cup I had earlier in the day lol. But the warabimochi was so good! Still, I left the shop frustrated.... Spoilers alert: I did not have any good matcha that day.

And finally, up the hill, is the very famous and beautiful Kiyomizu-dera. Completely crowded in a way that sours the experience, especially when I've grown used to explore lesser known places... but well. At least I can say I went there!

I didn't take a pic but I was so amused by guests who were invited to try and lift a huge shakujou staff that apparently weights a little bit over 90 kilograms. It was fun watching red-faced men putting their pride on the line trying to lift it lol... Gingin!!! After looking it up, it seems that despite being... pretty much a shakujou (the staff of Buddhist monk that is adorned with metal rings, making that pleasant and distinct sound... You've seen it in anime before. Trust me.), this one is called a naginata, or a spear, and allegedly belonged to Benkei?! The famous warrior monk who fought and lost against Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and served him after that. Cool.

I don't know how to word it without sounding haughty but I kinda regret how the crowd made everything worse. I think there are a lot of things I couldn't see, or see well because people were blocking the paths doing their photoshoots lol - obviously everyone has a right to be there and enjoy themselves so I'm not criticizing individuals at all. Just... a shame I had to look things up online when it was just a few steps ahead in front of me but I couldn't get close. Grrr. I guess the day before I was in empty shrines in Amagasaki chatting with priests and asking them directly about stuff so the gap in experience kind of hit me. Not that I expected to make conversations with monks in Kyoto at all but yeah.

After that I was hit with a realization. I did NOT get a souvenir for MYSELF from Kyoto! I needed something!!! I could have brought matcha but at this point I was feeling Betrayed and Distrustful lol and I didn't take the time to look up the actual good shops... So I thought, what else is Kyoto famous for? Fans! Kyoto sensu! Kyoto's folding fans! Interestingly, there are a LOT of fan shops in Kyoto. Makes sense. But then you quickly realize a lot of them are not Kyoto sensu but gotten from the same wholesaler lol. While sitting down to rest my poor legs (I got tendinitis in one foot, ouch), I googled where to find an actual made-in-Kyoto fan, and it took me back near Gion again.

And I got my fan, ta-dah! They come in literally all sizes and price range. I didn't spend too much on mine, but it's made of beautiful washi paper that's actually scented! When you wave it, a pleasant floral perfume comes out. ..........That's kasumi ougi no jutsu!!!!!! Thrilling!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Here comes the huge nerd", you think. You fool. That's just the tip of the iceberg. The shop offered to have a name engraved on one of the bone of the fan. The kind clerk even said she could write my name in roman letters on it, or offered to help writing my name in katakana characters. No, no, I said. I wanted kanji characters. Which ones, she asked. Well... "Ko... matsu... and da." Okay, she said, then left to the back of the shop. She came back a bit later calling me "Komatsuda-sama! Komatsuda-sama!" and I was half amused, half embarrassed. Okay maybe mostly embarrassed.

Authentic (no) Komatsuda-ya fan from Kyoto. BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, on the way back I realized I forgot to have another specialty of the region! Yuba! Or tofu skin? When you heat soy milk, the top coagulates into a thin solid layers, and that is yuba. No time or appetite large enough to stop by a restaurant, so I had a fish cake covered in yuba on my way back to the station. Yay! The second pic is from when I had takoyaki at Shin-Osaka station while waiting for the Shinkansen to go back home. Because it would have been a shame to leave Osaka without having takoyaki once, right?! It was great. The plum chuuhai (plum, japanese sake and soda water) was great too.

Well! For an impromptu trip to Kyoto, I didn't do too bad did I? It was more pleasant than I expected it to be! I want to go again sometimes, outside of Golden Week and with more of a plan next time!

And then it was time to go home. Thank you for treating me well, Osaka!!! .......Aren't those patties too thin?!! Hey??????????? Mcdonalds???????!!!!!

Anyways! Thank you for reading this far! I'll cover everything I did in Amagasaki in the next posts!!!

[rubinoyubiwa]

Osaka Trip Part 2!!!

Read here for part 1.

So. Osaka Museum of Housing and Living. Machiya, merchant shops, bathhouses, etc. And then, common people houses.

That is to say, a real nagaya!! In that kind of house I always think, it must be so tough sleeping on a thin futon itself on wood planks, not even soft tatami...

By the way, the museum does have English translations for their exhibits~ it's always convenient. The common well and restroom mentioned on the paper. Sorry to all the others visitors for being a lone madwoman oshikatsu-ing in front of the toilets. "But don't you think it's a waste to go to the toilets right after a bath....?"

The second floor of the museum had exhibits and smaller model recreations of Osaka city blocks from later era. Less impressive than the first floor, but still fun to look at! They also had a space for temporary exhibits, and this time it was themed about decorative patterns.

Patterns on fabric, screens, dishes, whatever. I took these particular pictures because these chubby horses are really cute, and I like the figure of the phoenix lol. Incidentally there's a temple in Amagasaki that has a lot of phoenix imagery that I took a lot of pictures of too...

I still had time, so I went to Osaka Castle. The sky went dark so fast at that time omg, you can actually see it happen between the two pictures ; first is just outside the outer moat, and by the time I walked to the foot of the keep it got this dark. Sigh... Sadly I had ugly weather the entirety of my trip. Oh well.

Iiiishiiibiiiyaaa no, uuuuchikataaaa 🎶🎶

Well. It's a famous place, isn't it? Somehow the inside was underwhelming... Don't be mistaken, it is a treasure trove, but well... I guess there wasn't much that surprised me. Actually, most of the historical exhibits are written letters between war lords. Extremely cool, but I Can't Read That, so to my ignorant self, I've seen one and I've seen them all... I don't know, at that point I was Exhausted from all I've done before (I didn't details my adventures in Amagasaki yet) and I felt like my brain was going to burst with information, so maybe it's why I came out of this castle feeling that way!

In the end, what left the strongest impression on me are the tigers adorning the outside of the castle keep haha. Another one was displayed inside so we can take a closer look! They're called 伏虎 fukuko, "tiger crouching down", as if about to pounce on their prey. Or as the English translated panel words it, "tigers watching for game"!

After that, I was genuinely so exhausted but somehow dragged myself back to the inn... For every outing that wasn't in Amagasaki per se, I basically didn't plan anything at all, so every night I would do last minutes preparations for the next day lol. At that point I had done almost everything I wanted to do in the city except for a few things that were far from the station/where I stayed, so my next plan of action was to take a bus from Amagasaki to the city of Takarazuka, then come back not too late with a bus that stops at that one place I wanted to visit. Efficiency !!!

Now. Takarazuka. This is going to be the very embarassing emotional moment of the post, but I want future me to reread this blog and remember what I felt then lol. So sorry it's going to be corny!! The thing is, again, it was my first time in the region. I didn't realize just how close Takarazuka was from Amagasaki. I've always wanted to visit Takarazuka, but the way I imagined it if I ever visited the region, it would be Osaka-Kyoto-Nara with friends, and I would feel bad going off track for a self indulgent trip, right? ...Well, somehow my first Kansai trip was a solo trip fueled purely by nerdery. So it was like the stars aligned for me to go. How lucky!!!

Upon arrival, my first thoughts were: Wow, fancy!! It looks like Europe, and somehow it makes so much sense for Takarazuka lol. The city is mostly known for the Takarazuka Revue and its Grand Theater, an all-women troupe performing grandiose musicals and plays inspired by movies, manga, and even video games ; a few years back they even adapted my beloved The Great Ace Attorney, sigh... how I wish I could have seen it!! Once again, I never plan stuff, so I didn't get to see a show. Still, the theater is open to the public with a restaurant (expensive), cafe (expensive), and souvenir shop (expensive). The place is stunningly beautiful, and all the people visiting were also stunningly beautiful women, I genuinely felt so out of place lol.

A statue of my beloved Oscar-sama and André from The Rose of Versailles at the entrance, and Oscar-sama's costume displayed inside the theater. One day.... One day I'll see The Rose of Versailles live...!!

My hometown, where I was born, is located near Disneyland Paris ; it used to be the complete countryside until Disney took over, and now it's a place that sells tourists a certain Fancy Image of France lol. So when I was in Takarazuka, whose theater revue has a similar mindset in terms of aesthetics, I couldn't help but think that it looked like home. The inside of the theater reeeally reminded me of the Disneyland Hotel located at the entrance of Disneyland Paris, with that same "royalty" theme going on.

Anyways, as utsukushii as this place was, and as much as I love the Takarazuka Revue and Berubara, this wasn't even the main purpose of my trip here. An author I love and admire so so much is also from Takarazuka, and happens to have a dedicated museum here.

It's the Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum!!! Just the outside is impressive! A unique building guarded by a stunning status of the Phoenix at the entrance. I'll be honest, I was so, so moved being here and seeing it. It's probably silly, right? But Tezuka and his works mean a lot to me, and I've known about this place for a long time and didn't think I'd ever get the chance to go, so... Actually, I teared up a bit reading the plaque at the foot at the statue.

Takarazuka City's Peace Monument On March 7, 1989, based on the spirit of peace of the Constitution, this city vowed to build an eternally peaceful society and declared itself "A Nuclear-free City of Peace". People all over the world are aspiring to peace, and its only through their effort that it can be achieved. Takarazuka City vows to expand the circle of peace-loving minds, build a society where people can live together, hold hands, and help each other, and keep making efforts towards world peace, step by step ; as such, we erect this Peace Monument here.

forgive my shoddy translation.

I didn't know, and I didn't expect to read this here, so I guess it got to me. Especially in the current political climate and the debates over changing Japan's constitution. I wonder what Tezuka would think of what the fragile glass Earth he wrote about has become if he was still with us...?

The museum does a wonderful job conveying Tezuka's philosophical, political and moral beliefs. The explanation panels guide visitors through Tezuka's many, many works in chronological order, always through the lens of that idea of "peace".

Again, I appreciated how thematically relevant the pages they exhibit are. It's so moving seeing them here... (total loss of vocabulary)

Beautiful statues and beautiful book. Can I bring that Black Jack home, please? No?

The museum doesn't just explore the chronology of Tezuka's work and his life philosophy ; it's also super playful and fun and embraces technology, with robots on screen tracking your movements, plenty of games to play, and a workshop where you can try your hand at animation yourself! There's a reading room with all his manga, and a qr code you can read to access all of that library in digital form on your device inside the museum too.

The animation workshop room has this fun statue of Tezuka working at his desk inside. I got closer to take pictures, when suddenly...

It's an animatronic! Sensei turns around to greet all the aspiring animators working behind him! But true to himself, he returns to his own work soon after... Otsukare-sama!

You know how I said Takarazuka reminded me of Disneyland Paris? Well, this museum has crazy synergy with the nearby Takarazuka Revue Grand Theater, because while the museum panels do not mention Tezuka's relationship to Disney explicitely, the museum architecture is a huge tribute to it. It screams classic Magic Kingdom Disneyland in so many ways, but remains distinctly Tezuka too, you know? The specific focus on Sapphire from Princess Knight echoes well with the heroines of Takarazuka, and also with Disney's classic princesses.

It's wonderful!!!! I love Tezuka!! I was this close to cry so many times visiting this museum. If I have the chance, I'd love to visit again! It's a place you get out from thinking, "I have to make something too! I have to draw!!!" And then I was so exhausted I haven't picked up a pen in weeks. Sorry.

Another Disney-like touch are those super fun handprints outside the museum, Chinese Theatre style.

I am pleased to announce that my hand is roughly the same size as my oshi and most special little boy-that-did-nothing-wrong-ever, Rock Holmes!!!!!!

In this blog post we discover that my entire media diet is, in fact, not entirely ninja. Shocking. Tezuka Osamu and Carl Barks are my most beloved comic artists.

And that's it for today. I gotta hurry out because today is the release day of Mononoke part 3 in theaters, and I'm veeeery excited to watch it haha. See you soon for the next post!!!! Thank you for reading this far!

[rubinoyubiwa]

The Osaka-and-Around Trip Post... Part 1!!!

(There's an image limit of 30 per tumblr post, so I'll cut these into multiple parts...)

Wahhh! That was so much fun. I don't want to go back to work... I was lucky enough to start my Golden Week early, so I went on a trip to the Kinki region. I had never been here, so the famous sights of Osaka, Kyoto and such were all new to me. But truth is, I wasn't here so much for Osaka but really, rather for big nerd reasons... so I booked an inn for the first half of my trip then an hotel for the second half in Amagasaki, whose toponyms inspired the names of many, many Nintama characters and places, and where most of the tourism is ninja related. But not just that! In the end I learned a lot about the local history and had a lot of fun Nintama-nerdery aside, it was a great experience.

I did spend most of my time in Amagasaki, which will get its own dedicated posts later. First I'd like to talk more about the others places I checked out and more of my, overall feelings and such? It's funny I said Amagasaki is the big nintama-tourism spot, but I managed to make my others outings all about nintama too... so sorry I'll talk about it in this post as well. So sorry. I promise this isn't a nintama blog. I promise... One day the obsession will calm down but today is not the day.

Gratte, the cafe attached to Animate stores that print pictures on latte foam, announced that they would sell merchandise from the earlier Nintama valentine's event along with themed lattes and cookies, and sales began the day before I left for Osaka. So instead of going home immediately after work and double check my bags, I ran all the way to Yokohama to get me some beautiful Valentines themed 5th years. The tin box is so pretty, and that particular art of Kan-chan is too much...

Kan-channnnnnnn!!!!!!!!....

By the way, since I was in the city I went to watch the second Mario movie with friends that night. I... liked it more than the first one. It is what it is, but it's hard for me to criticize it because had this come out when I was a child, I would have gone crazy about it... I guess it just came out 25 years too late lol. ...ANYWAYS!

It was actually my first time taking the Shinkansen. All my trips before had been by regular train, car or bus... (oh geez, that Fukushima trip by bus was memorable for sure ~_~) so I was amazed by the comfort lol. When I arrived at Shin-Osaka station, I saw the famous 551 Horai pork buns shop ; it appears in Karaoke/Famiresu iko! so my thoughts went to its main characters immediately lol. I was excited to try, but there was a bit of a line so I figured I'd try again later. Spoilers alert: It was BEFORE the big Golden Week Rush, and I gravely underestimated how popular those meat buns are, and every time I passed by 551 Horai after that there was a line comparable to what you'd see in DisneySea or something. So I didn't get the super exciting Kyousato meat buns. disappointing.......

I still had a bit of time until check-in at the inn, but I didn't want to bother exploring Osaka while carrying my luggage so I went straight to Amagasaki. That sign at the station is pretty famous, isn't it? I've seen it in pictures so many times but I still felt excited seeing the real thing! I'll detail it when I'll make posts dedicated to Amagasaki after this one, but the JR Amagasaki station is actually a bit far away on foot from the inn ; still, it was nice and sunny and I was hyped up so I decided to take the long walk there instead of taking a bus. I don't regret it because I had the fun experience of pointing at all the signs with familiar names in excitement. Can't believe Kinraku-ji is real...... Anyways.

The inn! Takeyaso, conveniently near Deyashiki and Hanshin Amagasaki station. Another familiar name, right? The inn opened in 1947, but the building is even older than that. It had that very retro Showa-feel to it which I'm always fond of, so I had a good time there. It's an extremely small inn, so much that sometimes it feels more like you're sleeping over at someone's house rather than staying at an hotel lol. So if you go prepare for proximity with the staff and others guests haha. But it was really fun to have a long chat until late in the shared kitchen space upstairs! The staff was very friendly and they can speak English, so if you want the experience of an old Japanese house this is the place to go!! The thing with Amagasaki is that all the fun things to see close super early lol, so after I settled in in my room I was like. Well. Here I am freshly arrived and excited. What should I do...

So I went with the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, which was built with an... interesting vision. It's made to evoke a suspended garden, like a modern hanging gardens of Babylon... Well, at least, it offers a great view of Osaka from the observatory at the top, and it has fun facilities and displays. It was great seeing Rimbaud poetry showcased next to excerpts from Miyazawa's Night on the Galactic Railroad. In the souvenir shop they somehow sold otaku and oshikatsu related omamori, and I hesitated buying the good luck charm for winning lotteries and nice seats to go see my oshi ; I decided not to but I should have because I spectacularly failed every lottery for Ninmyu later. Yayy. (<- trying not to be depressed about it)

Underground, they have a bunch of restaurants gathered in a recreated late Taisho-early Showa era style street. It looked great! I love tourist traps! I had the most underwhelming ramen in the world here. That egg is depressing. But I do like those recreated retro streets.

After that, I made the trip back to the inn where I had a nice long bath and this is how the day ended. I spent the entire day after in Amagasaki, which will get its own posts next, so let's flashforward to day THREE!

Again, I LOVE recreated historical places, interactive museums you can Walk in and such, so I had to visit Osaka's Museum of Housing and Living. Before, I had visited fully recreated places like Odaiba's Showa 1chome shopping street, Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai, Shin-Yoko's ramen museum and such ; these places are purely focused on tourism and entertainment so while they are fun they actually have little historical.. pedagogy? going on, but they're still fun. On the opposite end I've been to the Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum and Meiji-mura near Nagoya, which are huge open air museums that relocate actual historical buildings. I guess Osaka's Museum of Housing and Living falls into neither category, since the buildings are modern reconstructions but the place aims to teach history rather than Sell Products, if it makes sense. (it does have a rent-a-kimono attraction within the museum though.) Anyways, the museum recreates a town block in Osaka from the late Edo period, specifically on a day where everyone is preparing for an upcoming festival. The changing color of the artificial sky and the lighting, plus all the ambiant noise all serve to create immersion. The first building you can enter is a bathhouse, where a movie introducing the museum's vision and exhibits is shown. It's narrated by a rakugo performer and it was really fun... I love learning about little details like how lockers worked lol. In one part of town, the merchants decorated their storefront to celebrate (and advertise their products and craft!), and at the end of the street you can see the huge mikoshi that will be carried around when the festival starts. There's a great attention to detail not just in how the machiya merchant houses are built, but also how they are furnished. And you can actually get inside and touch a lot of things!

First pic is the storefront of a hairdresser shop decorated with a hen, rooster and chicks made of hairdressing tools ; the comb-feathers are extremely cute, but LOOK at the small brush chicks! Goodness. So cute. Second pic is the storefront of a kimono shop similarly displaying their fabrics for sale arranged in the shape of a boat. Third pic is the front of a toy shop!

The big ornate mikoshi, to be carried around when the festival starts. And the watchtower, because when the whole town is made of wooden buildings, it's good to keep watch for fires at all times...

The other part of town is much more modest and where poorer people lived.

It's silly, but I think I love learning about the history of the common people rather than that of kings. So visiting an old kitchen is, in a way, more exciting than visiting a castle...

And also I love touching things lol. I was in deep thoughts such as "The Cafeteria Lady from Nintama uses something like this....."

And you know what? This is how I learned there's an image limit per post on tumblr! Oh no! So I'll stop here for now and write part 2 (out of...I Don't know how many parts...) later. See you next time for the continuation of the Housing and Living Museum, Osaka Castle, and more!!!! Yaaaaaaaayyy!!

[rubinoyubiwa]

It's almost golden weeeeeeekkkk

Loooong time no see !! I need to BLOG! I want to BLOG!! And I don't have time to BLOG!!!!!!!!! Frustrating. Last post was over a month ago huh... Not much has been happening as of late to be honest! It's a mostly pleasant routine of going to work and being lazy at home on week ends... Recently I got very sick and the only medicine I had on hand was kampo, herbal medicine, and it reminded me of a fun outing I had a bit before I had created this blog, so I'll talk about it too under the cut. Beware nintama nerdery, somehow.

Getting this out of the way: Many good eats!!!!!!! Probably my favorite thing in the world. Believe it or not I'm actively dieting. I'm trying to....I'm trying!!!!!!!!! But it's difficult. The first picture is when I attended a class/workshop about Turkish cuisine! I am not knowledgeable at all, but I suspect it was heavily adapted to the Japanese palate lol. Still, it was fun and I learned a lot, not just about cuisine but the relationship between Turkey and Japan. Very grateful to the organizers. 2nd and 3rd pics are from yet another Kamakura outing. If you branch out from the very busy and touristy main streets, you find countless small shops and delicious restaurants there. It's always exciting to find new ones... In the cup is an almond tofu coffee latte. I'm a tea person, but a friend got really into making coffee so I'm trying to get into coffee too ; I loooove almond tofu, so it was a good entry level cup for a newbie like me lol. By the way, almond tofu is not made of almonds nor tofu... It's jellified apricot kernel milk. It's delicious!!! Fourth pic is yet another noonkatsu pic. I love my afternoon tea. At the well-named Afternoon Tea salon lol. Strawberry season is over but I enjoyed it greatly. I made Isaku a frilly dress to match with my own outfits!!! Isn't he cute like that? And last is just the day I had white strawberries for the first time. The seller told me it had a milky taste which made me curious ; I do see it though, there's no acidity at all so it has a very sweet, round taste, almost malty! He also told me it's the red pigment that causes acidity ... is that true??!!

Those elevators hurt my eyes. The latest Conan movie takes place in Yokohama, so the local shopping malls went all out on advertising. There are stamp rallies, cut out of characters, huge posters.... As of late you really can't escape Conan. Personally I was a big fan in my Youth but I gave up following the franchise a long time ago ; so when my friends suggested we go watch it (mostly to point at the scenery like We know this place! lol) I was excited but scared I wouldn't be able to follow because I literally do not know all these fancy new characters... In the end, the movie is written in a way that it's easy to follow even for newcomers, reintroducing established characters and such, so I had a good time. The climax scene at the end was really impressive... but from the point of view of someone who had only watched old Conan, I'm always puzzled by how a series that started as a thriller/murder mystery became a kodomomuke action show. All Conan cases don't involve murder of course, and if the goal is to make yearly movies that bring together the whole family to theaters they can't get gruesome I guess. But I don't know... I think it's because a few weeks back I rewatched the Moonlight Sonata case with a friend, both the original and the remake ; it's a case I have fond memories of and I still enjoyed it a lot today. But its mood was soooo completely different from the newest movie I watched, it left me a bit puzzled.

.... ....(one braincell) I came out of the theaters thinking, I'm glad Nintama doesn't release a movie every year like so many other kodomo muke franchises lol.

Sakubei, it's senpai. Kema-senpai, it's Sakubei. And the Stand-in Committee Presidents are here too~~~!! Sooo cute. Just showing off my precious children... Genuinely I'm embarrassed by how much I like nintama, I wish I could shut up about it, but sigh... The heart wants what the heart wants I guess. I entered all lotteries to get a ticket for the 16th musical and flopped for all of them ;_; I try to stay rational and not get depressed about it but well... It's a bit hard haha. Well, there's still the first arrived first served sales but I don't have much hope. And on the second hand market the price for tickets are craaaaaaazy. Loving ninja is just pure suffering. I'm consoling myself knowing that next week is Golden Week, and I'll be spending it in Amagasaki! Hopefully I get my dose of cute ninja there, I'm so, so, thrilled about it. The next blog posts shall be full of squee.

Recently I got sick like a dog all night and was lamenting the fact I didn't have medicine at home ; until I remembered the herbal traditional medicine I had bought some months ago. I wanted to leave it unopened just as a... collection item? but I was kind of desperate for relief and opened it lol. It reminded me I really wanted to blog about the day I bought that medicine, so here we go. Flashback to November!

To the city of Odawara! You know a city has historical relevance when the convenience stores adapt to the buildings lol. The coolest Lawson I've ever seen. I'm close by, so I had already visited its main attraction, Odawara Castle, multiple times, but this time I went with newfound interest...

Zatsui-chan, it's Odawara Castle!

Before it was taken in 1590, the castle belonged to the Houjou clan, which employed the Fuuma clan for guerilla warfare. Yeah, those Fuuma! Fuuma ninja!! I had vague memories of them being mentioned, so I wanted to go back and see what they had to say about Fuuma. Actually, they have a dedicated "ninja museum" on castle grounds ; but I was warned that it was more of an interactive experience for children with little historical information lol. Still... I'm not above throwing plastic shuriken into a styrofoam board so I went to take a look.

Interestingly, the very little factual info there is is all well known facts for seasoned Nintama watchers lol. Things like the six tools of a ninja, the seven disguises, hyorogan rations, etc. There isn't much to learn but a lot to point at like "I've seen this in Nintama!", haha.

Kusarigama! Boushuriken! (Fushikizou voice) Exciiiting!

Another stupid nerdery point: I was excited getting a good look at these rooftiles. Do your best, Heisuke!!!!!

On the top floor of the castle, you get a good view of the nearby mountains in Hakone ; where the Fuuma village is located in Nintama. Yoshirou~ Jinnoshin~ Grandma Lily~!!

I couldn't get close, but I was also so excited to find a status of Marishiten on the top floor of the castle. I talked about her multiple times on my Nintama blog I think ; she's a warrior goddess beloved by the Shingon sect and perceived as fast and intangible like a mirage, so she became a protector for ninja.

The museum in the castle has a lot of interesting daily life items ; the shape of that mortar is familiar, isn't it? What caught my attention is the huge inrou on the left of the picture. An inrou is a small box that hangs from the kimono belt, and during Sengoku it was mostly used to carry medicine around. This one is too huge to be used so it's purely decorative, and it reads "Odawara Uirau". What the heck is Uirau? Some google searching later, and I'm in front of the impressive Uirou main store, still in Odawara!

From the sidewalk it's difficult to take a proper picture of the building, so I suggest you google it ; but it's made in the shape of an impressive 8 stories tall castle! Turns out uirau is the Olde spelling of Uirou, the name of a shop active for over 650 years, since the Muromachi period! I read online that the store had a museum dedicated to the history of the Uirou family, but when I arrived I saw only a large sweets shop and a smaller pharmacy inside. I asked where the entrance of the museum was, and the clerk and I were kind of equally flustered lol. He was still pleasantly surprised but asked me where I had learned about this museum, because they don't really get visits from foreign visitors. Well sir, I happen to be a foreigner with very specific and niche interests, so thank you for having me!!!!!! I expected to be left to my own devices inside the museum, but the clerk actually guided me behind the till and into the back of the store and gave me a personal tour with very thorough explanations of every item in the museum. I am so, so grateful for that!! What an amazing experience. The Uirou family doesn't want all of its collection shared in pictures online, because they'd rather have people visiting in person - so taking pictures inside the museum isn't allowed. The "museum" is actually an old, creaky Meiji-era store house located at the back of the building, and you're asked to remove your shoes before entering. It really adds to that secret, intimate, familial vibe. The museum retraces the history of the family and its business ; after moving from China to Japan during Muromachi, they started as medicine sellers. The city of Odawara is a station stop on the Tokaido, the road linking Edo (now Tokyo) to Kyoto. Travellers would make a stop in Odawara to rest themselves and their horse, stock up on food and medicine etc, before continuing their journey. Naturally, these stations attracted many businesses selling anything tired travellers needed, from inns to food to medicine and all sort of entertainment. Uirou's herbal medicine recipe is good to relieve headaches and stomachaches, and it became popular with travellers, and especially mountain pilgrims, ascetics and such getting sick from, I quote my guide from memory, "eating stuff from the mountain and drinking from rivers" lol. T-Tenki...!!!! To further accomodate tired travellers, Uirou eventually started selling sweets. It's a steamed rice flour sweet confectionery reminiscent of, but different from youkan. It's a similar block shape that you cut into slice and enjoy with tea. Both the original medicine and sweet confectionery are still sold in their store, so if you want a taste of Muromachi this is the place to go haha.

White box is the medicine, and orange box is the sweet confectionery. The medicine come in the shape of small silver beads. Take 10-20 with warm water!

Anyways, the guide went on to show me tools for making medicine from various era, and it was interesting to see how the process and technology evolved. He went on to show references to Uirou in popular culture, notably in Kabuki ; and its presence in local festivals and such. I can't really describe at length every element of the museum because it'd take forever, but I was so so so happy I found this little piece of history so close from the big, famous Odawara castle lol.

Again, I can't recommend enough going off the beaten path and talk to people and ask around!!! It gets you places!!!!

And this brings us back to today, where I spent the night throwing up, and it's Uirou who saved my life. Thank you.

Let's get Doi-sensei some uirou.

[rubinoyubiwa]

Tokyo is still scary

Long time no see! I've been busy! And lazy!

Winter is ending and spring is almost here, so the weather has been mostly pleasant. Days are getting longer too, which is great because the lack of sunlight makes me a bit depressed... They call this country the land of the rising sun, and I guess it's true in that in summer it blinds you if you wake up at 4AM and peek behind the curtains, but here the sun goes down sooooo early, everytime I finish work it's already pitch dark so it's depressing. Well, now it's dusk, so that's a little improvement...

Spring is here, together with all the seasonal sakura-flavored snacks and drinks~!! This latte is so pretty!

...Incidentally, I'm trying to diet and quit my habit of "I deserve an overpriced drink and snack at every minor inconvenience". We have food at home...we have food at home... ...There will be many snack pictures in this post.

I'm not a huge fan of salty/savory snacks, but the brand name cracked me up so I ended up getting these lentil chips. I am weak and Nintama has consumed my soul entirely. Oho~!

Also that castella, it's really special isn't it? To be honest, I didn't really want to eat it but well, I can't let it spoil in my pantry forever. It's from the cake shop Yougashi Shibuya in Kawasaki, which I visited a while back. Their shortcake is so deliciously light and fluffy and service was great. I ended up spending my afternoon there in very unexpected company, so I'll keep a warm memory of that day! Pictures taken inside the store aren't allowed on social media, but if you like Nintama and happens to be in the area, the shop is worth a visit haha.

Kamakuuuura, always busy Kamakura. Packed with tourists Kamakura. But I love Kamakura!!!! I never get tired of it. The usual sightseeing track would be Komachi doori street to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, which is why it's always so crowded... But interestingly, the city is FULL of interesting things to see and do, historical and cultural sites that receive very few visitors, so it's totally worth it to go off the beaten path...

...I say, as I did some typical tourist shopping and headed to Hachimangu lol.

The thing is, Komachi doori has that one dango store that's so good, if I'm in the area I just gotta get one... Also, since I watched Nagaya Monogatari I'm often in the mood for dango, and this four colors matcha-chestnut-edamame-sakura dango is perfect for someone who has trouble making decisions, so... err. Anyways, anyways. So many souvenirs shop along Komachi doori too, and unfortunately I am NOT immune to little trinkets, so My Melo in her cute furisode is coming home with me.

But the goal of that day was to visit the Kamakura Museum of National Treasures (Kamakura Kokuhoukan), which boasts an amazing collection of items dating as far as the Kamakura period. It's located within the grounds of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, which is a must see if you're in the area, but somehow I've never had the occasion to visit the museum itself before. Mistake corrected!!

Again, most of the museum prohibits photography so it's hard to illustrate the post lol ; but on top of many many statues of Buddhas, scrolls and religious items, it had an exhibit just in time for the coming Hinamatsuri displaying many antique dolls and toys. There's something touching thinking about little children in being loved and receiving toys to play with in every era all across the world... "We've always been the same" kind of feeling, you know?

I could cry at this little papier mache horse... okay, okay. I won't say it.

Anddd I got another museum trip, this time in the big city, Shibuya no less... It was scary, so scary. When will construction work end at Shibuya station. Why are there so many people.

Brunch at Gontran Cherrier with friends, because friend drew and designed stuff for them. I'm so proud of her!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's my friend!!! Flammekueche is a dish from the Alsace region in France. It's a dish that's easy to find in supermarkets and saved me many times in the past lol, but I think this is the fanciest one I've ever had... It takes going to the other side of the globe to enjoy French cuisine I guess... Again, every brand ever has launched the Sakura Season marketing, so I couldn't resist a cute pink Donald Duck giving me pleading eyes at Shibuya's very lovely and weirdly retro Disney Store. You know, as of late everyone online calls me Duck, but I think few knows it comes from my deep, deep, deep love of this character. I'm a huge fan of Disney ducks comics, and if you think I'm a little too insane about cartoon ninja you haven't seen the size of my Donald Duck memorabilia collection. Carl Barks' Donald Duck is the best character in all of fiction and I Am Not Kidding.

AAAAanyways. Museum. I heard about this specific exhibit held in Kokugakuin University Museum online and it caught my interest, so I'm very happy I was able to see it before it ended its run.

Again, I'm limited in what I can show because a lot of the exhibit couldn't be photographed. But I'm sooo happy I got to see it! It was genuinely so interesting and well made with a coherent progression throughout the exhibit. I think a lot of people who are into anime are stuck in a perception of Japan that fits their narrow minded ideals, and are persuaded that Japan has no queer history before it got "tainted" by western influence in the 21st century. And a lot of people seem to be oblivious that Japan has any queer history and culture beyond BL too. I want all these people to see this exhibit! I honestly expected it to be mostly about kabuki performers, but it showcased both MtF to FtM individuals and stories with respect and empathy, on top of people who we could probably consider nonbinary nowadays, plus crossdressers and all kind of people who didn't conform to the strict expectations put on the man/woman roles. It took care to mention wakashuudo and the subservient chigo as their own thing too. I think they really succeeded in showing the many aspects in which traditional gender roles have been transgressed throughout history. And of course its link with spirituality and religion :

Of course, it's difficult to assign modern labels to people of the past, but it was so interesting to see how many trans figures shaped religion and folklore. There were many touching pieces and stories within the exhibit, but I found it especially emotional how it ended with a display showing the life of a trans woman in the Showa era through photos and newspaper clips. It was a great way to convey that despite the rigid reforms of the Meiji government, trans people have always existed and will always exist no matter what.

The permanent exhibit is also really interesting and worth a visit, with an impressive archeological collection mostly of shinto ritual items... Photo with a cool, tall Haniwa.

It's actually so worth it to go out into the big city... yay!! There are actually sooo many cool museums around Shibuya! I was jumpscared by this big Taro Okamoto statue on the way to the bakery lol. I love Taro Okamoto!!! I gotta visit this museum too!!!!... Shibuya 2 soon??

Thank you for reading as always!

[rubinoyubiwa]

Yugyoji and snow day

Climbed the 48 steps of the Iroha slope to get to Yugyoji temple, in Fujisawa! The place is big! In addition to the main temple, there are smaller temples and shrines in the precinct, also a garden, a cemetery, and several others points of interest. The place has important historical value, as its the birthplace of the Jishu sect of Buddhism.

Plum blossoms and Japanese quince. Winter is ending! ...Or so I thought. Well, it was an exceptionally warm and sunny day, so it's lucky I went then and not the day after. I want to come back later in spring when there will be more flowers in bloom in the garden though!

The impressive giant Ginkgo tree, considered a natural monument. It's estimated to be about 700 years old! I regret not coming during fall, I wanted to see it with all its golden leaves with my own eyes. Well, that'll be yet another visit I guess...

This is called Bussokuseki, these are carved footprints of the Buddha. He's not physically here, but we're reminded of his presence with his footprints. An occasion to think about the value of non attachment to things...

And more amusing, the nadenade Jizo, or the petting Jizo. His head is so smooth and discolored from all the petting...

There are many more nice sights, like the impressive belfry, ancient tombstones, and all the ornaments and carvings on the buildings... I was also interested in the museum located within temple grounds, but it has a weird schedule and was closed that day. Boo...

It was the right day to visit the temple because right after the weather not only got a lot colder, it also snowed like crazy haha. I did want to go out but figured it'd be better to stay warm at home... ...But I couldn't stop thinking about that one dress on sale at a certain shop in Yokohama, so I ended up braving the snow and despite the big mess that it was with all the delayed trains, made it there eventually. And I got my clothes. I'm too shy to show it here but I'm so so so happy. Yay.

While out in the Big City I figured it was a good time to try gyukatsu, breaded and fried beef, since I heard so many good things about it and that particular restaurant. It's Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu! And it was, indeed, really great. Best day ever.

A Compassionate Buddha, and also the President of the Health Committee.

That's all for now! Thank you for reading. Today is a holiday so I'll dedicate it to doing absolutely nothing at home!!! Oh right, I finally decided myself : i got a nice little pouch in which I'll put savings little by little, and hopefully soon enough I'll treat myself to an Amagasaki trip. Initially I wanted it to be a larger Kansai trip, but I don't have enough time to see all the places I'm interested in, so I figured it's better to enjoy one place in particular rather than rush things. Osaka, Kyoto, Nara etc are must-see places (I've... never been in the region at all lol) but I'll be honest. I'm powered by nerdery and I'm afraid of crowds. So I'll start small with Amagasaki. Exciting~

[rubinoyubiwa]

Good food, Ukiyoe, Sugoroku

Half a month since the last post already!! Whew!! I really want to write about the last time I went to Odawara but haven't found the time to do it yet... so in the meanwhile here's a shorter life update. (me coming back to reread my post just after finishing writing it: It's Not Short)

First of all, best day ever.

I really love, love restaurants with that retro aesthetic serving cute youshoku (western-style Japanese dishes like omurice or Napolitan spaghetti) like this. The desserts were sooo cute and delicious too. I just happened to pass by so I had lunch here by myself but I want to go back with friends for tea time... It's a chain called Rakeru!

Anyways, it was just a trip to the mall for some errands but I saw a poster for Fujisawa Ukiyoe Museum, which I had no idea existed and happened to be a 5 minutes walk from the mall. And since I had nothing else to do... (I realize this is the moment where I dox myself. Well. It's a given since I mostly talk about this region... here we go. I was, actually, a Fuuma ninja all along. I hate slugs though.)

This museum is on the last floor of a building which hosts many facilities related to childcare and education, like preschool, daycare, afternoon classes and such. It also has the Fujisawa City Art Space, which exhibits contemporary art from local artists. ........Which I might check out some other time, because I was focused on dodging the kiddos and to the last floor. I assume due to the location, a lot of children visit the museum? Because the explanation panels were very clear and easy to understand. On top of the clear Japanese texts, pretty much everything is accompanied by an English translation, so it's super tourist friendly!

Like this kind of panel, or the little area that explains and shows with pictures the process of producing ukiyoe prints is really easy to understand and helpful isn't it? I feel it's easy to find ukiyoe prints to look at, but easily accessible resources to read and understand them aren't necessarily given in museum exhibits. Popularization of academic, scientific, artistic etc knowledge is such an interesting topic to me, so I was impressed. You gotta give visitors base knowledge first so they can fully appreciate all you're going to show them!! That's right!

The collection boasts a huge quantity of ukiyoe prints depicting Fujisawa City, Enoshima and others points of interest in the region like Kamakura and Odawara. The island of Enoshima, off the coast of Fujisawa, is a big touristic destination in the area with really old and interesting history. After the long tumult of the Sengoku period, when the relatively peaceful Edo period arrived, people really, really got into traveling. Ukiyoe prints made wonderful tools to promote tourism in place of postcards or instagram photos, so it's not surprising at all that Enoshima is often depicted in ukiyoe. As a side note, when I visited Claude Monet's house in Giverny last year, among his huge collection of Japanese art there are a few depictions of Enoshima and the Sagami area in general, it made me strangely happy haha. ...I should blog about Monet and Giverny eventually. Interestingly, artists who depicted Enoshima didn't necessarily drew from real life or even ever went there themselves ; sometimes it's made to look like the legendary Mt. Horai rather than its actual silhouette. Most probably because the island is home to many legends itself and its caves were an important place of pilgrimage, but also because well... adding mystique probably sells when it comes to tourism, right? Enoshima is also the home of famous kabuki character Benten Kozou (yeah! Him again! I grew affectionate since Nintama and Rakuspa's collab! Ughh!!), named after the goddess Benzaiten enshrined in the island's main temple. ...And finally, Enoshima is the setting of one of my favorite anime series ever, which is about fishing, aliens, and making friends... Tsuritama! You should watch it!!!! You should totally watch it and come give me your impressions!!! .......I beg...... Please watch it.........

Anyways! Most of the museum's collection are actually sugoroku board games, which can be compared to err, the Game of the Goose in Europe? Players throw a dice and advance on the board on their turn. Basically. A little note if Nintama fic writers pass by: the game was a thing in late Muromachi, mostly popular in an iteration called 浄土双六 joudo sugoroku, Pure Land Sugoroku. In this version of the game, players are souls advancing on the board towards enlightenment (or, in case of unlucky dice throws, hell) ; each space you can land on after throwing the dice had Buddhist teachings written on it, so it also worked as an educational tool. A lot of the sugoroku exhibited in the museum are 道中双六 douchuu sugoroku, "travel sugoroku" which are, simply, board games themed around traveling. Fujisawa was a post station along the Tokaido, the historical road connecting Edo and Kyoto. At each station, travelers had to show a permit to continue their trip, then they could rest there and enjoy the local businesses... In douchuu sugoroku, each space on the board represents those post stations. The players begin at the first station, Nihonbashi in Edo, and must reach the end of the board at Sanjou Oohashi in Kyoto. Boards are beautifully illustrated with iconic landscapes or local specialties from each station, again in an effort to satiate people's curiosity over travel. There's a lot of variation too, some being more dramatically beautiful or more playful and comical. Some features popular characters from folklore, literature or theater, from the Seven Lucky Gods to Yaji-san and Kita-san...

This one shows famous locations following the iroha order. Each location corresponds to one syllable of the Iroha, and here e is for Enoshima! (left half of the board) The starting and finishing spaces depict Ishikawa Goemon on the balcony of Nanzenji temple, swearing to Mashiba Hisayoshi that he will avenge his father's death... Sooo cool.

It's interesting how each board depicts the current trends and interests of the times. This one is from 1893, three years after phone lines started being installed between Tokyo and Yokohama, so the game is themed around telephone communication and modernity. Enoshima is depicted on the top left part, just under the kabuki guys.

I know Fujisawa and Enoshima aren't the top priority of tourists coming to Japan, but if you come in the area please visit! A good chunk of the exhibit you can't take pictures of, and these things are always more interesting to see in person anyways...

I ended my visit at sunset, and this was the view from the window. Beautiful sunset, beautiful Mt. Fuji, and a.. beautiful parking lot. You could make this into a modern ukiyoe print for sure. The 37th View Of Mt Fuji!

On a completely different note, I briefly got into wafer hell.

Those wafers were sold in Family Mart stores and each contained a random sticker. I was supposed to be casual about it, but each sticker is numbered (!!!) and have a little bio of the depicted character on the back, so I really really wanted to collect them all... ...But so did everyone else, so after a day or two they became so so hard to find. Sigh. Rikichi will never come home I guess...

But I'm content with the little collection of stickers I got still. Sounin are reunited, all is right in the world. ...I'm just left with a big tin full of wafers that I need to eat...

And finally...

I celebrated my birthday with friends! Yay! ...I'm old. Soooo old.

Thank you for reading!

[rubinoyubiwa]

Asakusa, real and fictional ninja, and overall an horrible day to go to Tokyo

I always dread making the trip to Tokyo and since the Nintama Koubaibu (the pop up store in Tokyo Dome City) opened I've been procrastinating visiting it... but today... finally...... I got the courage to go! ...And a power outage hit the city, affecting the trains and leaving every station in total chaos. Great. But whatever, in Health Committee fashion I persevered and made it to Tokyo Dome City! It was my first time coming here actually, and I happen to really love thrill rides, so that massive rollercoaster caught my attention... I didn't attempt it today but that's one reason to come back, I guess!

The only issue is that apparently, a Blackpink concert is happening tonight, so the place was so CROWDED it was hard to navigate. But I made it! Gahhh!!

The inside of the store is so so cute. Nothing fancy right ; just the cardboard cutouts and cute merch displays typical of pop up stores, but the whole layout was lovely. Background music playing various songs from the franchise definitely adds to the atmosphere...

I... huh?! I was positive I took a pic of Rikichi and Komatsuda together and another of Yamada-sensei and Doi-sensei... What is this.... Rikichi.... I'm sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!........... There he is sitting atop everyone else alongside Doi-sensei to repent:

I'll be very honest. I think the merch for Nintama is... not great. Considering the popularity of the franchise as of late, they've got gold in their hands and are overall terrible at managing it. Most of the merch feels lazy in design (just screenshots printed on acrylic is crazy to me...) and the good merch is stocked in quantities so low it leaves everyone at the mercy of scalpers and overall, frustrated. So I came in here not expecting much, just to take a look around... And ended up buying things anyways. Damnit.

But I needed dishes, okay?! Those were necessary purchases. I'm especially impressed with the quality of the teacup ; the design isn't just printed, it's engraved into the ceramic. Nice! And Sakubei is just too cute. I love how his nose looks in plushie form haha. Makes me excited to see what his howanui will look like.

Those are scented bath powder. I was excited to find them, because when I stumble upon these in other retail stores the 5th year one is always sold out. The packaging reads: "The Fifth Years' Tofu Training no Dan" (Soymilk scent) "The Sixth Years' Extracurricular Lesson no Dan" (Hinoki tree scent) "The Picnic at Uraurayama no Dan" (Osmanthus scent) Looking forward to try them! A soymilk bath sounds like something Kanemon has nightmares about...

I took the opportunity to go to Asakusa too. Not really for Sensou-ji or the Kaminarimon (but well, I couldn't not go...), but something else like a good 20 minutes away on foot.

Kousaka Jinnai shrine! I'll detail its history on my Nintama blog. I was surprised when I first heard about it and thought I'd definitely have to go eventually. It's a reeeeeeally small, humble shrine squeezed between some building and a parking lot, so I don't recommend crossing the country just for this, but I'm glad I went once! (People there thought I got lost...) Its history is super interesting of course, but also, somehow it ended up being my first shrine visit of the year...?! 16 days into 2026 and I hadn't been to any shrine or temple, so it was a good time to check my fortune with an omikuji.

Daikichi! Great luck!!!! Looks like my fortune will be like a garden blooming at the height of spring. Sounds good to me!! Thank you very much, Kousaka Jinnai.

It's funny the closer you get to Sensou-ji the shamelessly touristier it gets. I remember at some point seeing those ninja/samurai experience-interactive museum thingies made me feel "Tch... this is nothing like what actual ninja were like.", but now they make me feel excited... Maybe I'll try too.... I'll wear a headband and throw shuriken too one day....

Sweet potato dango from Nakamise-dori, the shopping street leading to Sensou-ji. Yum!

Across from Nakamise-dori and its cheap souvenirs and polyester-totally-authentic-kimono, there's Denbouin-dori, the street I wanted to visit today. Don't miss it if you visit Sensou-ji. It has old buildings that are worth a look, and among the tourist traps a few businesses selling really cool stuff. Fans, netsuke, combs, kanzashi ; a different price range for sure, but all kind of beautiful items that make precious, authentic souvenirs.

My curse is that literally everything reminds me of Nintama.

^ The front display of Yonoya, which sells all sort of boxwood combs, hair accessories and netsuke. I'm stupid and I should have taken a picture of the whole storefront because it's beautiful...

But really, the most exciting thing about Denbouin-dori is probably the colorful statues perched atop some of the buildings.

Benten Kozou!!! Shirazaa itte kikaseyashou~ You can find all 5 thieves from the Kabuki play Shiranami Gonin Otoko in this street! Some of them you'll have to look up pretty high lol, and their leader, Nippon Daemon, is the only one on ground level.

The gang's all here. My boy Nangou Rikimaru somehow repping my home country, merci le sang.

I'm glad I saw a lot of interesting things today! And I ended the day at home inaugurating my new Fine China with the dish that constitutes half of a nintama's diet.... udon. (excited Shinbei noises)

Tons of green onion and no fish cake because I'm siding with Doi. Leftovers won't be forgiven.

Ughhh!!! those dishes are so cute I'm so glad. Thank you for reading this far!

[rubinoyubiwa]

There are so many things I want to yap about but the only place I have to do that is my Nintama blog which i want to keep more focused on factual/informative stuff if it makes sense rather than being on the more fannish side of things... By that I mean squeeing and oshikatsu and all that stuff.

And if I have a diary of sort I'll get to immortalize others nice outings and findings and memories in general that aren't Nintama related! So everything that doesn't fit on that blog it will be posted here instead! Yaaaaayy!!

As usual, English is my second language so forgive my mistakes!!