Frisk Fresh

Hello! Here are some mints! I know, this should be a Cutest Characters update and it’s coming! Honest! But in the meantime, here is something else that’s cute, a teeny mini Frisk phone strap! Do you know what the shop assistant said when I got this in 7/11? She said “Kawaii!!” Of course she did! ‘Cause it is! It’s so small. I sure do love tiny miniature versions of things :)

Kawaii!!

For an idea of actual size.

Aaand, just because I like different versions of the same thing.

So small!

Ah! It opens! You could fit like, four mints inside!

What’s this..?

Cute!

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Cutest Characters: Bagpuss

Time for the second edition of Cutest Characters. I’ll be doing these updates on Wednesdays instead of Fridays. (Yes, I know it says posted June 9th but I started writing before midnight! Aaaah!)

I’m writing about another cat character! Bagpuss, oh Bagpuss.

Bagpuss in Akiba

Bagpuss is a character from an old childrens TV show first shown in 1974 and created by Peter Firmin and the very wonderful and sadly deceased Oliver Postgate. So this was a show that was quite old by the time I was born but it must have still been shown on TV I think as I do remember watching it (along with other Smallfilms shows like the Clangers, Noggin the Nog and Ivor the Engine).

The premise is that Bagpuss belongs to a little girl called Emily, who owns a strange shop full of lost, broken things waiting to be reclaimed by their owners. Why am I telling you this when I can show you!

“Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss

Old fat furry Catpuss

Wake up and look at this thing that I bring

Wake up, be bright, be golden and light

Bagpuss, oh hear what I sing.”

The episodes always begin with a new object being brought to the shop and the regular inhabitants trying to figure out what it is. The mice usually try to fix it, Professor Yaffle figures out what it is and then one of the characters gets inspired and tells a story which is told through a little animation. It’s all quite dreamy and very nice to watch when you’re trying to get to sleep.

Bagpuss in Shibuya

Although Bagpuss is definitely a part of my childhood my current obsession with him really began two Christmases ago when I received a little Bagpuss toy from my Mum. There are a lot of Bagpuss toys out there and some of them are, well, hideous. This one is different. He’s small and fluffy but not soft and has the most mournful expression on his face. I was more excited about this present than, well, just about anything else! I was so taken that I started taking lots of photos of him. The more fun the location the better it is because he always looks sad no matter what angle the picture is taken from. I’ve taken pictures of him looking sad in cherry blossom trees, next to sweets and drinks, at Summer Sonic, next to the Glico man etc. etc. Bagpuss remains unimpressed and this is why I love him. I have a tumblr ‘The Exciting Life of Bagpuss’ which I’ve only recently started updating again where I post pictures of Bagpuss looking mournful next to things. I have quite a large backlog of photos to post.

Have a look! And follow me!

http://bagpuss.tumblr.com/

What's happening?

 So to conclude, here’s the little verse from the end of the programme:

“And of course, when Bagpuss goes to sleep,

All his friends go to sleep too.

The mice were ornaments on the mouse organ.

Gabriel and Madeleine were just dolls.

Professor Yaffle was a carved, wooden bookend in the shape of a woodpecker.

Even Bagpuss himself, once he was asleep, was just an old, saggy cloth cat,

Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams,

But Emily loved him.”

And I love him too.

I heart Bagpuss

Bagpuss Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagpuss

Bagpuss Shop: http://www.bagpussshop.co.uk/

Happy Birthday Happy Birthday

What a lovely birthday weekend I’ve had! And in celebration: some rather low quality photos from my ipod, hooray! I have some better photos but they’re on my camera, and it’s late (00.30) and I’m sleepy. People keep pointing out that I am always sleepy. I don’t think I am! Maybe I just say it all the time. Or maybe I don’t get enough sleep. I’m not sure.

Well it was Hina Matsuri the day after my birthday

Munna meets Bagpuss

Pretty gloves

Munna and Mijumaru are playing

Mijumaru in my birthday mug

These were on top of my cake :)

Perhaps you can tell: I got a lot of cute stuff. A lot of Pokemon stuff and a lot of Kitty stuff. Hooray!! I also had  a lovely party which involved cool people, Singstar, Rock Band, beer, pink sparkling wine and cake. Yummy!

Osaka sans Summer Sonic

I have a post on Summer Sonic all written up and ready to go BUT without photos it’s no good and all the photos are on Danny’s computer/on my phone. Heat induced laziness has prevented me from copying them onto my computer! Yeah…heat induced laziness…that’s my excuse! It’s a pretty good one though, kind of. Japan is apparently getting record high temperatures and it’s not gonna calm down til the end of September! Oh help.

Anyway, so here  are some photos from Osaka earlier last month:

It’s very hard to walk past this and NOT take a photo.

Rose Lips Hotel. Disturbing.

“It’s a wide open road”

Lots of building work going on around here.

They look…too happy?

Cool sign

Pretty picture

Um..weird.

People doing the Glico man pose!

Bagpuss, traveling cat.

Me, not doing the Glico pose!

I heart Bagpuss :)

Tokyo Summer Time Part 2

Aaand here are some more photos. The Gundam Cafe really was cool. I am not a huge fan of Gundam, not ’cause I think I’d hate it or anything, I’ve just never watched it. As a cafe/bar concept it’s a pretty good idea! Apart from the bathrooms! OK, they are cool really, and look like the rest of the place, all slick and metallic BUT, above the hand drier there’s a big red shiny button that says “Stop. Emergency” on it. “Oh hey, how fun!”, thought silly Joanna and pressed it. Don’t press it! Especially if you, like me, are afraid of the dark!! The lights start going on and off and a fake alarm sounds. I jumped, went AAAHHH! and unlocked the door… Thankfully there was nobody outside so nobody noticed…

Otherwise…Akiba was hotter than HOT, it was 36 degrees hot. Ouch. We all went to a maid cafe which was totally awesome. Me and Danny had been to ‘Cure Maid’ the day before, it’s a Victorian style maid cafe, very cute, very traditional and very polite. It was lovely but the @homecafe is something else entirely! We picked the sixth floor and as it happens this was a floor with English speaking maids! So cute!!! In fact, I think I’ll photograph the polaroid I had taken and write a proper post about it later. That’s all for now, I need to go and space out a bit before swimming.

Photos!

Hahaha

Summer Softbank dog

Cute

This is a fairground ride. No, really!

Cute little animals

I like this mirror

My friend

The Emperor and Empress!

Kitty chan and Dolphin san

Ooh, cool

Bagpuss: caffeine fiend

It’s nice!

Yes, we went here

So sad!

Freaky custard “pizza” thing

The Exciting Life of Bagpuss

I started a tumblr! It’s all about Bagpuss.

You can find it here: http://bagpuss.tumblr.com/

Follow me on tumblr!

Koselig Kveld

Had a quiet evening yesterday. It was very relaxing but then I accidentally stayed up til about 4am. Oops! That’s not relaxing! Also woke up at 8 and couldn’t get back to sleep again. I watched lots of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and QI and also Edwardian Supersize Me. So productive! It was nice though. Watched lots of music videos too. Nick introduced me to a cool band whose name I’ve gone and forgotten. Ah, Lo-Fi-Fnk. Swedish. Their video for the song ‘Marchin’ In’ is lovely. Lots of underwater creatures. Bagpuss kept me company haha.

Who’s that?

Oh hey, Bagpuss!

Happy :)

Sweetness

Time for more sweets!

Evangelion Latte

Mixed Fruit Kit Kats

Very cute!

Orange chocolate..veeeery sweet

One nice Aero, one nasty Aero

This is the nice one: Hokkaido Milk

For me..?

Bagpuss likes Kit Kats!

There was recently a range of Neon Genesis Evangelion products at Lawson. The Evangelion characters are used to sell EVERYTHING. Especially pachinko!? This time round you could buy Evangelion coffee, crisps, ramen and antibacterial wipes! There was also a leaflet featuring Asuka standing outside Lawson..I picked up a few, I’ll take a photo later! Now it’s Kitty’s turn however. We popped in today but there were no phone straps featuring Kitty in a Lawson uniform! Disappointed! 7/11 had straps with her in one of their uniforms, why Lawson, why?? They didn’t even have the apple cake I’d gone in to buy *sob!*

Other than that, this weekend I have mostly been shopping. I’ll post some photos of the awesome things I’ve bought later!

Making Movies!

So me and Danny are going to make some stop motion stuff because it’s fun and cute! Here is a little experiment:

Bagpuss looking all confused!

Everyday Cuteness

It’s crazy how the tiniest cute thing will cheer me up. No wonder kids over here routinely say things like “I like Rilakuma because he heals me”. It may sound a little dramatic but that’s sort of what cute things do. Maybe they’re just a distraction made up by giant corporations like Sanrio to make people buy more stuff but..I’d rather not see them that way. I’d rather see them as things that spread joy even in unlikely places (like…on all packaging, on road safety signs etc.). So on that note here are some cute things:

Panda cakes (Apita)

So cute and also delicious

Bagpuss climbing a tree

Bagpuss contemplating cherry blossom

Bonjour Rilakuma!

Anpanman chokopan!

Bagpuss playing DS LL!

Tuxedo Sam!

Yes..I put Bagpuss in my handbag and carried him to a park and put him in a tree. Danny convinced me it would be a good idea..and it was!