The Money I'd Have Wasted Had I Grown Up in Japan...

For the past few days, awesome and un-useless things with cartoon characters on them have been forcing me to spend money. If you wouldn't think twice about buying at least one of these items for nostalgic value, you should find other blogs to read.

First up, Super Mario Galaxy 2 Card Gum pack!

A whole 63yen per pack at the supermarket. I threw out the square bathroom-tile-looking gum, but I'm definitely keeping the Obake Mario and Hachi-Mario (hachi in this case is short for hachimitsu, or honey). I don't think I'll be buying enough of these to put together the big photo on the back but it was a satisfying impulse purchase.

Next, Dragon Ball stamps!

IT'S NOT OVER 9000 YEN!

In America, we put important people on stamps. In Japan, we use Dragon Ball. IF THERE IS A SAILOR MOON SET ALSDKJF;LSAKMD ;LSJDF I WILL DIE OR BUY THEM ALL. Set of ten 80yen stamps cost 800yen, SO AWESOME.

Third, super cute Hello Kitty fortune-teller daruma cell phone strap!

The only bad thing about this 200yen ball of unnecessary cute is that I can't read the kanji on the fortunes coming out of the back. I'm used to the variations of  吉, not entire phrases.

And finally, His + Hers Valentine's Day Pikachu merchandise!

The cell phone straps are kind of a given, I think they were 1200yen for the set. They made a girl Pikachu with a heart-shaped tail for this line of merchandise, and if you notice the half-heart for the girl even has a little pink diamond. KAWAIIIIIIII OMG.

However, it was the matching TAILS that... just... gaaaaaaaaaaah.

The back of the package

I died. Then I gave the Pokemon center 1500yen of my own money for a set. Then I died again. Of cute. And before you all die of cute, please note that for whatever reason my camera didn't get the colors as well as it should have. The tails look really washed out but they are much more vibrant in person.

And here's an unrelated parfait!

Mini-post: You look different, Pikachu!

One of these Pokemon isn't like the others, one of these Pokemon is unbelievably lulzy and almost made me spend 1200yen.

Can you tell who doesn't belong???

ANSWER:

IT'S DITTO! A POKEMON I ACTUALLY KNOW FROM MY CHILDHOOD!!!

I almost bought it, but I didn't wanna carry him around. I wonder how many kids in that store understood what was going on with this one...

Wipe Your Butt with Pikachu!

Way back when my vacation was still fresh and new and had potential, I found myself with Tracy wandering around Sakuragicho. Prior to our pit stop at Anna Miller's, she had mentioned the Landmark Tower had some sort of Pokemon event going on and they were giving out toilet paper.

Well now, that just meant we had to go get a few rolls of our own~

The Landmark Tower is home to one of the many Pokemon Centers in Japan. You can go there to buy all kinds of Pokemon merchandise and sometimes there are events where you can download special edition Pokemon to your DS, like Flying Pikachu or something. On this particular day, I think they were holding an event to help promote the new Pokemon movie.

Let's get roll paper!!!

There were five stations set up with different activities. You had to complete each activity, turn in your scorecard, and BAM free toilet paper. We knew we didn't really have to complete all the games to get the toilet paper, but we had time to kill. The games included a Rhythm Heaven type game, a matching card game, a search and match game on a touch screen, a singing game, and a listening game. 

Only worthy of a blue stamp :(

TRACY AND I ARE STILL VERY PROUD OF OURSELVES ON  SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETING THE LISTENING GAME. You had to listen to a portion of the song below and somehow determine which Pokemon were named. I listened like 10 times but I got it OH YEAH.

Song lyrics and Pokemon to wipe your butt with!

Between the games and visiting the Pokemon center, it was a fun way to waste an hour.