Vintage Japanese Lenticular Cards

I'm a big fan of old ephemera from Japan: paper items, menko cards, records, etc. One very fun type is lenticular cards, which were popular back in the day. Here's a video I shot of a number of vintage Japanese lenticulars, including a couple of really unique items.

Star Wars Pachinko Machine in Tokyo

Pachinko parlors are one of the most ubiquitous features of the Tokyo (and many other cities in Japan) landscape. The range of pachinko, slot, and pachislot (combination of the two) machines is impressive, as is the work that goes into the design, graphics, and game play.

Here's a video of a Star Wars pachinko machine:

Pocky II - Can you feel the Lovecky tonight?

Recently I wrote about Pocky's line of specially titled snacks. They've just released a new one, with a couple of twists. This time, they've renamed their strawberry-flavored Pocky to Lovecky, which is straightforward enough, and it does sound better than Aicky. ("Ai" (愛) is Japanese for "love.")

The back of the packaging has a heart-shaped space for you to write a message to a special someone. Reminds me of the little Valentine's cards kids used to give each other. Remember those? The super hero ones were cool.

Another twist, showing just how far Glico is going with this promotion, is they've made the cookie part of the snack heart-shaped. Lovecky was released after Valentine's Day, but it could be that they're aiming for White Day, which is on March 14. It's a Japanese holiday when men give gifts to women.

My all-time favorite Valentine's snack? Old school conversation hearts - not the new weird flavors and concoctions that Necco has come up with, but the original Sweethearts that came in little boxes which also had a heart shaped "To/From" space on the back. (The original Lovecky?)

Fortunately, you can get the good stuff on Amazon, usually from no name bulk candy makers. Some Tasti D-Lite franchises in the US have them too. So good...Much lovecky for the conversation hearts...

JR Ultraman Winter Stamp Rally in Tokyo

Tsuburaya Productions and JR (Japan Rail) have teamed up for another Ultraman stamp rally. In a way it's heart warming to see kids and adults lining up at train stations to stamp their booklets. Common wisdom in some circles may be that traditional arts and physical objects are passe in today's digital world, but such excitement over something as simple as a mono-color impression is proof positive that the "analog is dead" crowd has gotten ahead of itself.

Asagaya Station

So, let's look at this promotion. It starts with a free booklet handed out at Tokyo JR stations.

Stamp Booklet

Beautiful graphics all around for this promotion, including the stamp booklet, posters, and displays.

 More after the jump:

What's in a name? Glico Pockifies the snack world.

Glico is a legendary Japanese snack company, famous for hits like Pretz, Cheeza, and of course, Pocky. For folks who aren't familiar with them, Pocky are boxes of long, thin pretzels individually covered with chocolate, strawberry, or other coatings. According to Glico's website, the idea was basically to cover a Pretz with a layer of chocolate. Simple enough, and it was a smash hit.

"Salad" Pretz

Glico has a knack for coming up with unusual product names. This is, after all, the company that sells a line of snack biscuits called Collon, including variants like (and I'm not making this up) Creamy Collon. Yummy.

Pocky macha + chocolate flavor

"Pocky" is a weird enough name, but recently Glico has topped it with a campaign of new titles for its beloved snack line. The names take all or part of an English or Japanese word and add "cky" (or "cy") to Pockify it.

At first glance, some of them don't make a lot of sense, but there are subtitles explaining what Glico is getting at. Some names are straightforward. Others offer insights into Japanese culture. Let's have a look:

Simple and old timey. Thanky for being a friend!

 More after the jump:

Ultraman x Family Mart Winter Festa

Tsubaraya and convenience store chain Family Mart have partnered up on another Ultraman promotion.

Who's your Dada?

Stores across Tokyo (and I'm assuming the rest of Japan) are decked out with Ultraman displays, banners, posters, and other cool stuff. And of course there are exclusive goods, stickers, cards, and more.

Scenes from a store:

 More after the jump:

Vintage Japanese Batman Goods

In the mid 1960s, Japan went through a Batman "boom" thanks to the Adam West TV show. There were tons of toys, cards, and other goods made, and a nice variety have survived the last half century. Here's a video I shot today of a beautiful collection of vintage Batman goods from Japan, Taiwan, and the USA:

Mirrorman Exhibition at Super Festival 70

Super Festival 70's tokusatsu focus was Mirrorman, one of the early TV shows that inspired a massive variety of shows in the 1970s.

Yamanaya Mirrorman

The Mirrorman theme was apparent throughout the show, and there were a number of licensed exclusives from companies like Yamanaya.

Mr. Nobuyuki Ishida

There was also a talk show and signing session featuring the hero himself, Mr. Nobuyuki Ishida, who portrayed Kyotaro Kagami (the journalist who transformed into Mirrorman) in the 1971-1972 TV show.

On display, there was also a two-showcase extravaganza of vintage Mirrorman goods. Here's a look:

 More after the jump:

Super Festival 70 / / スーパーフェスティバル 70

The 70th installment of the venerable Super Festival took place in Tokyo yesterday. Once again, there were a large number of toy makers on hand. Some had their own original toys, while others had toys based on licensed properties. There was a good variety of Mirrorman toys on sale and display, coinciding with the appearance at the show of Mr. Nobuyuki Ishida, who portrayed the hero in the 1971-1972 tokusatsu. In an upcoming post, I'll show you the special Mirrorman goods exhibition that was displayed at SF 70.

Here are images of more than 50 toy makers who had booths.


Acro

 About 200 pics after the jump:

McDonald's Japan Nintendo / Super Mario Toys

New set of Super Mario toys by McDonald's in Japan.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Theater Goods in Japan

Whenever there's a big movie release in Japan (and even for some smaller releases), a slew of goods are sold at shops inside the theaters. Even before the release of the new Star Wars film, large parts of these shops were dedicated to old and new Star Wars goods. Here's a video I shot of a theater in Shinjuku, Tokyo:

Syntrend Toy, Video Game, and Hobby Mall in Taipei, Taiwan

Very recently, a new mall, called Syntrend, opened in Taipei. It's right next to Taiwan's most famous computer mall - Guang Hua Market.

Syntrend Mall

The 6th floor of Syntrend Mall is dedicated to toys, video games, model building, and other hobbies. There's a nice variety, including US, Japanese, and other goods.

First up, some location details:

Chinese Address:  台北市中正區市民大道三段2號
English Address: No. 2, Civic Blvd, Section 3, Zhong Zheng District, Taipei
Map: Click here for a Google Map

Here are a bunch of pics of what you might see when shopping there:

 More after the jump:

AMAZING Collection of Asahi Sonorama Ace Puppy Book + Record sets from the 1970s

Recently, a fantastic collection of vintage book + record sets went on sale in Tokyo. These are from the 1970s, and they belong to a series put out by Asahi called the Sonorama Ace Puppy series. I think it's the best series from the decade, given its incredible variety and overall quality.

Sonorama Ace Puppy covers the big guns (Ultraman, Mazinger Z, Godzilla) as well as fairly obscure shows like Diamond Eye (tokusatsu), Jim Button (anime), and Gaijin 20 Looks (some type of TV drama with a masked Westerner dressed like a magician).

I filmed the collection here:

Star Wars x Lotte Bikkuriman Special Edition set with prizes!

Lotte has just released its third wave of Star Wars Bikkuriman stickers. This is labeled the "Special Edition" series. Original trilogy purists can rest easy. There's no Jabba in the hanger deck, CG alien singers, or Greedo shooting first. The set is basically a medley of the six movies that have come out, with a number of interesting monochrome and gold designs added in.

Like the previous Star Wars Bikkuriman sets, there are two packaging variants:

 Closeups:

 More after the jump:

Star Wars in Japan - The Freebies Awaken!

We are in full force Star Wars beast mode right now, and the boom is in full stride. In Japan, one of the traditions of these booms is freebies. This goes back to the first film:

On the left-hand side of the Japanese issue of Star Wars #1, you can see an ad for Morinaga caramel. It's an old company that is still going strong. Back in the day (in 1978), they released a big series of candy premium toys. You'd get one in each box of Star Wars branded caramels.

Back to the present, let's look at some modern giveaways and store promotions for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Furuta

Furuta is another company that has been stashing toys in sweets for a long time.

For these, the toy is literally inside a chocolate egg.

Well, it's inside this inner egg.

 More after the jump: