Souvenirs After the Trip (Pictures)
It came to me after I got back from Japan, that there was some things I wanted, and never managed to pick up. Whether it was due to fear of not having enough space in my bags, or because I couldn’t find what I was looking for. Therefore, I decided to buy the things I wanted online, after the fact. These are the things I wanted, and a little bit of why I didn’t get them myself.
Meet the mudskippers. These tie directly to one of the things that prodded me to finally pull the trigger and take the trip to Japan. I speak of course of the singing and dancing zombies I have spoken about in the past. Sadly, I think I may have mentioned in a previous post, that the shop selling these guys had no one there, so I couldn’t buy them. Fortunately, I found some on eBay, and managed to pick them up. Oddly, this would lead to multiple other purchases from the same seller… I appreciate a seller that is reliable.
Little representations of the singing dancing zombies…. With Shuna, Shion, Harley, Selena, Barbara, and Pamela for scale. But, considering Shuna and Shion are off scale, that doesn’t really work very well does it? Ok, I’ll admit, this was just where they ended up on my desk at the time of the picture. They have since moved about…. 6 inches to the right and at a different angle. I swear I will tell the story of how these zombies pushed me to take the trip one day. That might be on the audio side of things though. I need to figure out how to say it, and that has been difficult. Also, yes I know there are two that repeat, and that bugs me… I would have preferred to have them all in zombie form, but this is what the eBay auction had to offer.
I wanted to pick up something Komi related while in Japan, but nothing ever caught my eye. Then I saw this online, and said I have found my Komi. I think I got this from the Crunchyroll store, at least I’m pretty sure that is where I bought it. I believe I mentioned Komi in a post where I talked about my social anxiety. Suffice to say, she is a paragon of social anxiety. I decided to let her hang out with some of the mudskippers for a bit. Now she lives on top of the torii seen behind her. Representations of social anxiety tend to call to me. I can really relate to that anxiety.
These two Omamori are really replacements for another omamori that has disappeared. Mixed in with my pictures from Senso-Ji you might remember a red omamori that was for protection from evil. Well, it went missing when I got back home. So I don’t know exactly where it has disappeared to. But since it has disappeared, I bought these two from Kyoto. There is an entire site that sells nothing but omamori, and I may or may not have made several purchases from there. I have these two on my wall standing on top of my SkyTree chopsticks. At the moment, it looks like the evil they are trying to protect me from is beer from Dayton… and at least one of the breweries that I visited to get that plate was pretty evil… so it feels like a proper placement. This is also right at the entrance to my room, so one could see it is asking for protection from evil entering the room. They allow me in, so I don’t know how effective they are, but I like them.
Lurking a little to the left of the right of the omamori is this miniature kitsune mask. I was looking all over the Yutoku Inari shrine for a ceramic kitsune mask, to go with the ceramic oni mask I had purchased at Fushimi Inari. But, all I found was plastic. And I did not want plastic! Then again, I also wanted something a little bigger than this to balance out the oni mask. But, when purchasing things online, one takes what one can get and the material feels ceramic-y, so I’m happy.
I don’t know if I emphasized enough how ruched I felt in Kyoto. There was so much I wanted to see. Between my indecision of what to see and my GPS telling me to go in circles, I did not get to even half of what I wanted to do. I did make it to the Fushimi Inari shrine, but I felt like I couldn’t go to the top of the mountain. And then on the way back, down the mountain, I missed the omamori. I managed to get my oni mask, which made me happy, but I wanted more! So, this is a omamori for wealth, I believe. I can’t remember quite where I bought it, but it is from Fushimi Inari.
Did you think I was done with Fushimi Inari? Because you were wrong! I purchased this one on eBay from a nice couple near Kyoto. The purchase came with a hand-written letter, a business card, and a photo. It was honestly one of the most personal touches I have ever received with a purchase from eBay. Had a nice little back and forth email conversation with them, since I wanted them to know how much it meant to me to get that personal touch. This is again this is an omamori for wealth. … Protection from evil and wealth tended to be my go-to choices for omamori. Because who doesn’t want wealth and protection from evil?
Back to the social anxiety! Here we have two CDs of kessoku band from Bocchi the Rock. Between Bocchi and Komi, I have social anxiety heavily represented on my desk. Now, I know some people may scoff at the idea of physical media for music and whatnot, but I love physical things. Honestly if it wouldn’t kill me financially, I would have all the photos from my trip printed and plastered all over my walls. The first CD was bought after I realized my error with the second CD. The second CD was bought from the same person I got the mudskippers from. Since I wanted to support the seller more, I picked this up without noticing it was just a single. But, never fear! I have enough room in my collection for more Bocchi. So I picked up the first CD from a different seller… and got that sweet key chain with it. The key chain now lives on my microphone. I should probably post images of the things that came with some of these purchases at some point. The random Japanese Pokemon cards, and a paper crane were some very interesting things to find in those boxes.
Those singing dancing zombies have multiple albums out. Interestingly, they have had two seasons, there has been a movie announced (although I have heard no news about that in a while) and they have had a live concert with the voice actresses, and a “live” concert with computer animated versions of the characters. This disc includes songs from both seasons, as well as songs that were added in the “live” concert. Granted the “live” concert is kind of nightmare fuel, but it added some songs to the mix, and I won’t complain about that. These girls have nothing at all to do with my social anxiety, and everything to do with pushing me over the edge to make the trip to Japan… In a way, they can be seen as a huge reason for this blog existing… This album was purchased from the mudskipper lady. I had a lot of fun talking with her via eBay messaging. So I kept buying more stuff from her. Seriously, if you impress me as a seller, it is likely I will buy from you again.
More singing dancing zombies! MORE! Not even sure exactly what these little trinkets are. The eBay listing called them capsule rubber mascot straps. I mean, I know what those words mean individually, but meh. Y’all ar kinda lucky I don’t post my picture frame with Zombie Land Saga stuff in it. Suffice to say, it is a little excessive, and I feel no shame. I love this show. Don’t know why. I mean it is kinda stupid, but yeah… I’ve watched the entire series multiple times. And I will watch it multiple more times. And their music will be a constant part of my playlist on my phone. And I will continue to harass the makers of the show, asking them where the movie is! Give me the movie, or a third season… or something. I need more! I think I will go watch season one again after I am done with this post…
So, mudskipper lady told me that if I wanted anything from Japan, to feel free to ask her… She probably came to regret that. Enter maneki neko or “beckoning cat”. So according to mudskipper lady, the maneki neko have different meanings depending on color and which paw is raised. Now… I know this will come as a huge surprise, but according to her, the black neko is meant to ward off evil. Shocking, I know. And take a guess what she said the right paw being raised meant. If you guessed “wealth” you get a gold star! She procured this little guy for me, and one other item. Eventually this cat will make his way over to the entrance to my room, but for now he will keep my printer company. Amusingly enough, he is sitting behind my maneki neko shot glass. All the maneki nekos on the shot glass have their left paw raised, though.
Another omamori! This also comes courtesy of mudskipper lady! So while plotting my trip through Japan, It had initially included a stop in Fukuoka. Sadly time required cuts, and Fukuoka ended up on the cutting room floor. Thus I had to cut out my visit to Dazaifu Tenmangu. But mudskipper lady lives in Fukuoka, so… BAM! I got my omamori! This is a bullfinch, which shockingly is not for wealth or warding off evil. This one is for happiness. Which is kinda amusing, because it gives off some serious Sam the Eagle vibes, and that is like the opposite of happy. But I’m happy. Frankly, I kinda wish I had skipped Kuratsu, and hit Fukuoka instead, but Kuratsu was closer to Kashima, and I was not gonna miss Kashima. I think that is also the end of my Post-trip souvenirs. I mean, I think I still have two orders out, and one is a little different than everything else so it will likely get it’s own post.
