I apologize for the quality of the photos. My hobby room has really awful lighting, especially during winter time, when there's no sunlight coming from the window either, which makes a huge difference. I didn't always have the patience to wait for a better day to take photos, so many of them have really ugly lightning, not to mention some of them are blurry too. Sorry about the mess.
my carry-on baggage looked like this.
First off, we have a few gifts. I got these for some friends. Some real cute Super Mario cookies I got from the pop-up shop at Tokyo Station. A set of Gudetama pens I found in a Don Quijote. Sonic and the small Godzilla were both from the second hand shop Hobby Off.
The plastic bags from the pop-up Mario, Pokemon Center DX, and Jump shop in Tokyo station. I'm not really intending to keep these, but I'm really liking these designs!
The soundtrack for the 1990s Moomin TV series I bought from the Moomin café in theTokyo Dome area. I recognize all the songs except for one, which is a real mystery. I can't seem to place in any of the episodes I've ever seen, so now I'm wondering if it has been cut out from the Finnish dub for some reason. I love listening to this while driving to work!
My freebie plate from the Moomin café. I can't get over it how cute Snufkin looks! I wonder, do they give these out every year?
Four sofubi (?) figures and the Snufkin charm I bought from the Moomin café. The edge hanging Moomintroll was from a Gachapon machine I found in the Radio Kaikan building. Snufkin on the bridge is from one of the shops in Nakano Broadway. Sniff and the Groke are from Hobby Off.
I really love these figures! Snufkin and Mymble are from Yamashiroya toy shop and I found Joxter in a shop in the Akiba Culture Zone.
Half of these were from Yamashiroya and the rest from Don Quijote. I was too excited when I saw these and didn't notice that on the box it says that they were erasers. I wanted the Groke and it was easy to find because it was the largest of the "figures", therefore I only had to look for the heaviest box. I thought it was quite random, how with every Re-Ment box you bought you also found a piece of fruit flavoured gum inside.
These terrariums are so cute! I really wanted Stinky Or Snufkin or Snorkmaiden. Moomin was the one I wanted the least and of course, that's the one I got, twice! After the double I was happy to get Moominmamma, even if it wasn't one of them I really was hoping for.
I was really happy to find Yakuza 3, to see all the cut content they took out from the western release of the game. While I was at it, right next to Y3 was the Kenzan spin-off game, which didn't get a western release at all. I probably won't understand much of the story, but still looking forward to play this game. I also found the other spin-off game Ishin, not sure if it's a direct sequel or what. The left and middle one were from the Mandarake in Akihabara and the rightmost from Hobby Off closer to Nakano.
This Sanosuke Harada brush pen was a last minute purchase at the airport simply because it was the only Hakuouki merchandise I saw for the whole trip. On the right we have the Gudetama spoon I bought at Daiso, cost only 100 yen!
When I first saw this "sea salt ice cream" I got really excited because I thought it would be something edible, but I was mistaken. It's a bath bomb I think, or at least it smelled very soapy when I put the block in a bowl of water to dissolve to reveal a tiny Keyblade inside. Its been years since I played Kingdom Hearts and I can't remember the name of this particular keyblade that I got.
Found these small figures of Nala and Scar at Hobby Off, everything else is from Gachapon machines.
Even more Gachapons. Getting that Hedgehog in the top hat was so frustrating, because I had such bad luck. That yellow backpack was the first Gachapon I bought.
Mihawk bust from the undelicious chocolate egg from the candy store. A bunch of Dragon Quest slimes bought from both Hobby Off and some Nakano Broadway stores. Kayako and Zilla are also from Nakano and the transparent Godzilla from Hobby Off. The pixel Mario keychain was a freebie when I bought the Yoshi cookies.
Okami figures, they are so beautifully sculpted! I only wish they'd been normal figures, instead of "noodle stoppers" (whatever those even are). Oki and Amaterasu look really awkward unless they are balancing on a ledge.
Dragon Ball stickers from Yamashiroya toy store and the Okami was from a Village Vanguard store in Shibuya.
Small Dragon Ball art prints. Found Freeza in Nakano and Piccolo in the first Hobby Off we went to and it was actually the first thing I picked up in there, before I started to find lots of other stuff to buy.
The art print I won in the lottery at Jump Shop in Tokyo Station. Still unopened.
Bought these Goku shaped water bottles and the Senzu "beans" (actually cashew nut) from Tokyo Station Fuji TV shop.
Dragon Ball game cards from Hobby Off. I actually browsed through all the DB cards they had for sale in the shop and picked out my favorites. I guess these must be very common cards because they were so cheap.
Dragon Ball design tape from Jump Shop in Tokyo Station. All the characters looks so damn cute!
DB charm. I really wanted Freeza's hover chair, so I went again with the strategy of trying to pick the heaviest box. And it was a success! Although, I guess I could have ended up with the Dragon Ball or Vegeta's pod too. But for once I was lucky!
The only DB figures I bought brand new from a Gachapon machines in Akihabara's Gachapon Kaikan. I could see there were only two capsules left in the machine from where I got the blue haired Vegito. I couldn't quite make out who the other figure was, but I'm happy with what I got.
Very creepy, but beautifully sculpted Cell's head keychain and angel Goku were bought from Volks, the glass cabinet store.
The Freeza keychain is from Yamashiroya, the rest from all over the place, i.e. Nakano Broadway or Hobby off. I saw the red car-version of the Piccolo & Goku figure and the price was double that what I paid for my yellow car. I'm thinking that some figures must be by design rarer than others.
Even more DB keychains/charms
More DB goodies. Got a complete Ginyu Force! Sauzer was from Volks, everything else from Nakano Broeadway or Hobby Off.
My holy grail of Freeza figures. Ever since I knew it existed, I knew I had to get it someday. I love every disgusting detail about it. I was so lucky to find it at Akiba Mandarake. The box was in poor condition, but it was unopened, so the figure is in mint condition. It's so much more "beautiful" in real life! XD
Moving on to my Doujinshi haul! This is the pile of all the comics I bought. Everything was bought from Mandarake shop, albeit from different locations (Akihabara, Shibuya, Nakano). When selecting which of the fan comics to buy , it really came down to the price and the look of the cover. I mostly picked the ones where I liked the artwork or if my favorite characters was present and if the price was reasonable. I can't deny that some of them were also bought out of sheer curiosity... And no, I still can't read Japanese, I just "read" the pictures.
DB doujins. My favorite cover is the top right with Dende. Content wise, the one with the Ginyu Force was the most fun, but Family Ties had my favorite art style.
I liked both of these, they were fun to "read" and both had good art. If I had to pick one over the other, I guess I'd pick Cell, because it has a really nice cover with a slight holographic effect that unfortunately doesn't show in my crappy picture. And because I'm a sucker for villains acting goofy.
Death Note! I bought the pink and red covered comics mainly plainly for their goofy covers and because they were super cheap. The left one, I could easily have been fooled that this was an official Death Note illustration by Takeshi Obata. That L on the cover is so good!
Star Wars! *sigh* Of all the SW doujinshi I saw, I'd say at least 90% of them was Obi-Wan x Anakin pairing, and the rest 10% was anything else. Some of the comics were priced really high, so I picked some of the cheaper ones and "neutral" looking (there were not many of them).
The "Unchain the Fate" was a slight disappointment, because it's not a really a comic, but a short story/ fan-novel, or whatever I'm supposed to call it. Luckily though, it wasn't all text there were a few illustrations as well! I couldn't figure out a reliable way to tell the difference between a comic book and fan-fiction booklet like this one. Sure, most of them had plain, boring looking (all text) covers, but then you had the ones like this one, with fully illustrated cover which fooled me.
I really liked the simplistic style of the Kylo x Hux covers, and they were dirt cheap as well! In the middle, that Lando on the cover convinced me to buy this comic. I thought that Chewie is hugging Luke there, but that is Han! No idea why he's blond tough. The few Clone Wars (or the ones with Ahsoka on the cover) comics I could find were really expensive, so I picked up this one, which was more reasonably priced and it looked safe.
oh my gawd
Would anybody believe me, if I told you that I did not notice those pretty noticeable R.18 marks in the corners? Well, I didn't! After browsing through so many comics with Obi x Anakin on the cover, I was happy to finally find some other characters. Hey, look! It's Maul! My favorite Star Wars character! In the arms of Qui-Gon Jinn...... So maybe I did or didn't see that R.18 there, but the covers alone, got me morbidly curious over where this was going. I mean... Qui-Gon and Maul is such a random pairing. I don't agree, but I understand where the Obi x Anakin pairing comes from. But Qui-Gon and Maul. When, where? and how? And why?! (
Speaking of Darth Maul... This figure was a last minute purchase at the airport's "Akihabara" store, I didn't really expect to find it there, but there it was. The last one they had left. It was about 2000ish yen cheaper than what I've seen in several other stores, so I went for it. And with that, it became the most expensive thing I bought from Japan.
I found this one in one of the stores in Akiba Culture Zone along with few other DMs.
More Star wars! Lightsaber chopsticks are from Tokyu Hands. Weird keyring I found at Nakano Broadway, I don't think it's a bootleg even if it looks like it. The only thing I bought from Tokyo Disneyland was this Darth Maul pin. The mini pinball machine and the ones beside it are from Gachapon machines. Found the Pez dispensers at a Hobby off. Super happy with this find, those are exactly the ones I've been missing from my collection! The Pepsi caps and the other three remaining are from all over the place, Mandarake stores both in Akihabara and Nakano Broadway and a few from Akiba Culture Zone.
From the top, the left and middle one were found in Culture Zone. The head is a magnet, but I have no idea what that half of Maul is supposed to be, it's so awkward looking like it's missing something. The golden one on the right is a bootleg. I mean it has to be, just look at it! It looks so horrible, it's f*cking hilarious! I had to have it! Bought the Pokeballs at Life supermarket, where they were on sale. I was so happy I got Eevee, and that Meowth is pretty nice too. You get one piece of hard candy with each ball, the candy wasn't that good, the taste was so artificial I couldn't even tell what it was supposed to taste like.
The freebie stickers and the drink decorations I saved from Pokemon café.
All the things I bought from Pokemon Store DX I'm still regretting I didn't buy more plushies! They are so freaking cute! Disappointed though, that they didn't have Espeon and Flareon figures in stock.
Honestly, I didn't care which one I got. If it's Eeveelutions, it's all good!
From the tea set, I was really hoping to get Dewgong or Ivysaur, but I got Eevee so I guess I can't complain. At least I didn't get Pikachu! Out of the perfume bottles, again, that Alolan Vulpix was my goal or Butterfree would have been good too. But nope, I got Leafeon! I guess I can't really complain about that either!
***
Holy hell, this took me long to finish. Now my Tokyo Trip- story is officially over. I really struggled through to get this all wrapped up. I'm so ready to move on to other topics, or to whatever random stuff I used to write about before.
Although, we did go to Tokyo for a second time.... But I'm not ready to start writing about that, not yet anyway. If I ever do get started writing about that, it's going to be a far more abridged version. Otherwise, I'll probably spend another year writing about that, which I don't want to do. If nothing else, I'll just make a picture post about that trip.
What's next? I dunno, I really want to finally make a new banner and background for the blog. Yeah, I think I've said this before... but this time I'm going to do it! I'll probably then post up some random fan art that has been piling up. Maybe I'll finally finish that Ginga custom that has been waiting all primed and ready on my desk for a few years now. Those are the first things to come to my mind for starters. Let's see where it goes from there...
Bonus: Our cat Erkki rocking his new Sailor Moon collar we got from a Gachapon machine.
