K-ON Coffee!!

I do know a fan of Japan isn't necessarily a fan of anime. But when you get in a bookstore in Japan, you'd notice there are so many piles of anime magazines and manga. I grew up watching anime, but there are so many series these days that even I get confused.

There is a convenience store in Japan that is called "LAWSON", and it was selling K-ON related merchandises until the last Monday. You can click this, and see it's advertising K-ON. And I got this coffee just to show you.  

I was embarrassed when I showed this to a clerk to buy. Even though K-ON is as successful as Lucky Star or Haruhi, I doubt it's known to many Japanese people. You can download K-ON voice ringtones by visiting the URL on the cup, but the site requires certain procedure that would be too complicating to understand for non-native speakers.


Sorry if you don't know much about Japanese anime. The taste of the coffee was way below my standards....>.<

Anime goods available -part 5-

As I showed you last week, I go to Akihabara from time to time, but usually I have to rely on Wondergoo to buy manga, or something related to anime. There are 3 or 4 Wondergoos in my neighborhood, but each of them sometimes sells different goods. And this one in Moriya city, which is about a dozen kilometers away from where I live, is as big as the one in the center of my city. 

As I showed in this posting, the Haruhi movie was released in February and the anime shops across the nation are out to sell merchandise related to the movie.

I don't remember exactly, but a Japanese dish called "Oden" is said to have appeared in the movie. And this is "Ryoko Asakura's Oden". On the upper left you can see a sample of Oden. I don't know if it's good, but I think a Haruhi fan wouldn't care about its taste as long as it is related to the movie.

As you know, a series of manga sometimes has dozens of volumes, so manga shops sell them bundled together. And if you want to sell mangas, a secondhand bookstore would buy them at a higher price if you sell all the volumes as a set.

Anime fans should know that the second season of K-ON! starts this month. Those who live in the Kanto region would see the anime on the 6th. And what you see in the center are books that have drawings of the K-ON! characters. The white Hiragana says, "Welcome back!!". 

Any manga soon gets obsolete. And some of these mangas cost as little as a dime. But if you're a fan of old mangas, these should be bargains for you.

An anime called "Working!!" is going to be broadcast also this month. This is basically a comedy, and the story is about teens working for a family restaurant. I'm planning to see the first episode to see if it's interesting. 

I think I can get any information on any anime on the Internet, but when I drop by a Wondergoo, I find some anime info I didn't know. I think this is one of the advantages in living in this anime country. 

Anime goods available -part 1-

The entrance of a Wonder Goo. It opens at 10am and runs until midnight.

Figurines "Tsuruya-san" and "Mikuru" from "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya"

Cushion covers. They show that K-ON! is still really popular in Japan.

A Yui T-shirt. Isn't she cute?

Cases that carry a pass. Which one is your favorite?

In the posting "anime and manga" on August 3rd, I reported a little bit on a local shop that sells anime goods, but when I looked back I thought it lacked details. So I decided to go in the shop again to take a closer look at what is sold.

The shop is called "Wonder Goo" and it has several outlets in my prefecture. It not only sells anime goods, but also ordinary magazines, novels, video games, and even cosmetics for ladies. But I think they sell mainly entertainment-related goods which are hot among young people.

I think not all the young Japanese people are into anime and manga, so I wonder what ordinary people would think of those anime goods that are sold in this shop. However it represents one aspect of Japan, namely the otaku culture, which I enjoy tremendously.

Yokan

Yokans are usually sold in a package.

The inside of Yokan.

It's true that the Japanese people like to have western sweets such as chocolate, cake, candy and so on. But the elderly prefer Japanese sweets to them and as the green tea goes well with Japanese sweets, people sometimes pick one as a snack.

This Japanese dessert called "Yokan" is my favorite, and this is made from boiled Azuki beans, vegetable gelatin, sugar, and salt. Yokan is soft, but not so elastic as jelly and can be easily cut by a knife or fork.

We can see the 4 main characters of K-ON! enjoy having Yokans in the episode 3 at 6:57.