He is One Doraemon Pancake Taller

Sometimes we get stupid things from vending machines. Sometimes we do something else (like a theme park mirror maze) and somehow end up with a prize at the end that has nothing to do with anything. But hey, who doesn't like presents? Anyway, here are some of the ridiculous things we've accumulated for no good reason.

A cat bracelet. Possibly meant for an actual cat, since it fits around my finger and doesn't come anywhere close to fitting around my wrist.


Lilo and Stitch-related keychains.
I'm not sure what Stitch (and friend) have do to with Crocs. I'm fairly certain they don't wear shoes at all.


This is one of my favorite things. The polar bear on the left is, I'm guessing, Grocery Bear. The polar bear on the right is clearly wearing a bear suit. Yes. A bear in a bear suit. It makes no sense and I love it for that. The little brochure shows you all the kinds of bears you could have gotten if you wanted to keep feeding yen to the machine.


This is another favorite thing and our newest unit of measurement. This is Doraemon, who is a pretty popular character. Evidently an earless robot cat from the future, but has the staying power of Sesame Street (first episode of the TV show was in the late 60s). This pancake is made of foam rubber and the only thing we've been able to gather about it is that it is 10cm in diameter. Therefore, we refer to as many things as possible in units of Doraemon Pancakes.

For example, we discovered through clever use of pancake and mirror that the Mew is exactly one Doraemon Pancake taller than me. Therefore, when I buy heeled shoes, the heel should be less than one Doraemon Pancake in height.


This episode's New and Bizarre Beverage: Fanta Zero Cider. I couldn't tell you what it tastes like other than "Fanta." Take from that whatever you like.


I have no idea what store provided this plastic bag, but it cracks me up. Click the image to embiggen.


We went to Yokohama this past weekend to pick up the cheongsam I ordered the weekend before.



In the tradition of Sad Panda Food, the Mew got some Lumpy Pig Food. There's a chunk of pork in the middle of this soft bread. Below is a photo of the billboard above Sad Panda Food Stand. Behind SPFStand is probably a store, but I wasn't there for anything other than breaded goodness, so I wasn't really paying attention.

After picking up the dress, we took a trip to the observation level of the Yokohama Landmark Tower. It is on the 69th floor, reached by the fastest elevator in Japan. It takes about 40 seconds go to from the fifth floor to the sixty-ninth. It isn't a glass elevator, but there are digital readouts that show both what floor you're passing by and how fast the elevator is going. Top speed is 750 meters per minute.

Remember how tall that giant Ferris Wheel is? And the Yokohama Tower with the scary window in the floor?

The Landmark Tower is so high it makes said Wheel look like a toy.

It's just amazing how much you can see from that height.

Can you find Yokohama Tower in this picture?

I couldn't find it in the viewfinder. (Click to see the larger version)

We looked down upon some helipads. And those wee buildings across the street? Ten stories tall.



Of course we picked up dessert on the way back to the room last night. His choice (both are filled with either custard or vanilla pudding):

My choice:
It came boxed up with a small fork and a cold pack to keep it chilled on the way home.
Cake, whipped cream, fruit (cherry, kiwi, peach), and custard. Holy crap.


One more random favorite thing:
It's a solar-powered Maneki Neko (luck cat). It's one of the cutest things ever invented and I love it even more because it has no rhythm.




Update on the finding-a-place-to-live situation: we found one! The landlord accepted our application and we have a meeting on Friday with the housing office on base to complete the official paperwork. Move-in date is June 1. Yay, place to live!

It's a good-sized house with a reasonable commute to work and pretty darn close to Tokyo. The real estate agent that showed us the place is about four feet tall (we felt like such huge clumsy creatures in comparison) and a fast enough walker that I almost had trouble keeping up. She's wonderful. She speaks excellent English and was very gracious in explaining things and helping us fill out the application (no English on the form) and offering to help with communication between us and the landlord if needed.