Gegege Day Trips and Vacuum-Packed Awesome

Another busy week for Thomas >< Friday was a holiday, so Naoko and I went on a day trip to a nearby town that just so happens to be the birthplace of a famous manga artist. He made the series Gegege no Kitarou, which is kind of somewhat similar to The Adams Family, only Japanese style. I had never heard of it before coming to Matsue.

The second train we took. That eyeball is one of the characters from the manga. They're very proud of this series...

There were little shops everywhere selling everything Gegege-related you could think of. I took some pictures in the first one we found. These are sweets shaped like some of the characters.

Seriously. Everything you can think of. In case you can't tell, that's Gegege toilet paper.

And a towel.

These are three of the main characters. From left to right, Kitarou, Nezumi Otoko, and Medama-oyaji.

More figurines of the characters.

Gegege beer!

There were A LOT of sweets shops, and every time we stopped at one, we were given free samples. I didn't see other people getting samples, so I guess it was because I'm a foreigner... sometimes it's a good thing? >< Anyways, Kitarou was filled with chocolate and Medama-oyaji was filled with bean paste. They were good, but really dry.

Matsue Castle!

There was a little map in the Gegege museum we went to that showed the different creatures for each prefecture. The creature for Shimane was a giant freaking spider. Figures. I hate spiders so much. Don't know if this was the same spider, but it was a nice picture regardless.

This is, I imagine, how Medama-oyaji was born. The creator of this series was definitely interesting. Also, he drew everything with only one arm (I think he lost his in WW II).

Creepy head!

After the museum, Naoko found a temple and showed me how to properly purify my hands before entering.

Another awesome dragon!

Oh god these things were creepy. There was an arch leading into the temple grounds, and these things were inside either side. I got caught off-guard when I looked inside and pretty much expected it to jump out and kill me.

The other creepy doll.

Naoko and I agreed that these were some pretty damn cool lions.

Dragon carving that is awesome.

A salaryman from Gegege Kintarou. We also saw a guy walking around in a salaryman outfit talking to people. So awesome.

We found a gift shop. This, of course, meant we were required to take awesome pictures.

And a few awful ones.

Naoko wouldn't take a picture with the fan, so I had to step in for her. I felt so elegant :D

Yeah, I like dragons. Whatever.

Even the taxis in Sakai Minato (the town's name) were Gegege'd up. I forgot to take a picture, but the lamp posts were also topped with glowing eyeballs.

That eyeball rotates around in the water and is outside a small shrine O.o

An awesome fountain in a park.

It's hard to see, but that's definitely a peeing Kitarou.

Naoko made me some delicious and adorable sweets for Valentine's Day! As a side note, I freaking love the Japanese version of Valentine's Day. The girl is the one that has to do stuff. Of course, the guys have White Day where they have to reciprocate, but still... 

I'm not going to buy it because it's got anchovies, but those right there? Yeah, those are double decker pizzas. As in, one pizza stacked on top of the other. So amazing.

Yesterday was another karaoke trip! We have been planning it for a while, so I was very excited. Just like last time, no real pictures from the event, but here, have some shots from 5150 afterwards!

You're not allowed to make a normal face at 5150 :D

Okay, I guess this was before 5150, but whatever. Yuko gave me her hat to wear. It was comfortable and made me feel sleepy.

Nothing really to report beyond that, to be honest. As busy as this week was for me, there's not much to say about it. Here, have some random stuff!

1.)

I found 78 yen Doritos! They're "Mexican Taco" flavored. They weren't bad, but they pretty much taste exactly like one should expect 78 yen Doritos to taste... so yeah.

2.)

I did a bit of shopping, and, since everything has a mascot over here, I now have an awesome bag with an adorable pokemon-looking thing on it. No idea what it has to do with books.

 3.)

My mom sent me delicious food because she's awesome! Home-made cookies and cinnamon rolls from a bakery I used to go to when I was little (apparently they still remember me? O.o) Don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I'm ridiculously thankful for all of you who have sent me care packages. I never really appreciated how much packages mean before I came over here. It kinda makes me feel like shit for not sending more of them to James when he was out on deployment...