Gimme gimme gimme

I'm not sure why these contraptions are called "UFO Catchers" but they could named worse so let's just shrug and move on. I blew 500 yen on trying to grab one of those bears before giving up. David gave it whirl and I was ready to kick him in the shins if he actually got one. Luckily his shins survived another day.

These machines are tricky bastards as the bears are placed precariously over the exit slot's edge, as though just a nudge will have it teeter into my hands. No. Not the case, as my lost 500 yen will tell you so.

In many areas of Tokyo and Kyoto, there are arcades devoted to UFO Catcher machines and some people are ridiculously good at it (and must have a lot of times on their hands.) I saw one man with a shopping bag brimming with won goods. The man also looked to be in his mid-30s. But that's a topic for another day.

Dead leaves on the dirty ground

In Kyoto, we caught the changing of the leaves. In parks and shrine areas, it looked as though someone took a giant paintbrush and made sweep arcs against the green trees. So that smears of red and orange stain the leaves. It was a pretty sight, very contrasting.

Walking through the city of Kyoto is a dichotomy of old meets new. I can be strolling down a boulevard where stores like Lacoste or Starbucks line the streets to find a geisha in complete uniform and makeup. I was pretty perplexed and wished I were shameless enough to whip out my camera to snap a picture of her. Instead, I kept walking to the world's best gyoza shop in the world. I have no idea what it's called but that just means if you want to try the place out, you'll need to buy me a plane ticket to show you where it is. My written directions will be useless.

Kyoto reminded me of Los Angeles. I'll be the first to admit that LA is a wasteland, devoid of warmth and nature. But I know that there are pockets where such beauty exists. Beyond these groves of trees were houses cramped next to each other and street hawkers screeching their wares. Just like LA.

Rilakkuma

When I get married, I want a bride and groom version of Rilakkuma on my wedding cake instead of the usual human versions. I found my new obsession at Kiddyland in the hip Shibuya district of Tokyo. It's 7 floor of childhood goodness, ranging from Hello Kitty to Winnie the Pooh and friends to anime geek out merchandise.

Rilakkuma is one of the newest Sanrio characters. And let's be honest, we all had our favorites. (Mine was Kerropi!) But we all grow up and out of our childhood loves. In my case, I roamed towards bears and I sorely wished I had bought the giant three feet tall version. Even if it would have run me a few hundred bucks. Even if I would have needed to buy its own seat on the airplane. I mean, look at this plushie:

It's 59850 yens. In US dollars, that's about 650. 650 for a bear?!?!?! YES.

No underwear in the machines

I seriously tried to find used underwear in a vending machine. Alas, my search was without rewards as I could only find drinks and snacks the machines. Thankfully, Japan lived up to its Godzilla myths by including an image of one on a vending machine. Other machines had images of Tommy Lee Jones. That was a bit too "Lost in Translation" for me.

The best part about the vending machines was that as you added coins, the buttons would light up beneath whichever items you could afford. And one machine even thanked me for my purchase with its cute "Arigato gozaimasu!"

Ramen

This was the first restaurant we ate at in Tokyo. It's a ramen shop in the Ueno/Asakusa district. We walked through a few hundred alleys in search of a place to eat before we found it. Please ignore my windswept hair as it was raining that day. There was a small lobby to the restaurant where you ordered your food from a vending machine. By that I mean, the machine dispensed tickets with your order that gets handed to the waitstaff. Luckily, this one had pictures so I had an idea of what I was getting.

I wish they had such machines in the US. No more doing math to split bills or hoping you have enough money to pay for your food.

Lover Nails Heart Give Smile!

I adore Engrish for its creative as well as reckless use of the English language. Grammar rules be damned! Case in point:

I wish writing Engrish slogans were an actual career instead of someone's honest attempt at the language. Though, I bet my Japanese essays are wonderful examples of a terrible student's use of the Japanese language.

King's Cup

Sometimes, okay, a lot of the times, I bought drinks from vending machines because their bottle designs were fascinating. Or I wanted to squash rumors I've heard about said drink.

Coke was bought for the simple novelty of it's can while Pocari Sweat was purchased based on name alone. What does the latter taste like? Well, the name sure doesn't lie.