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Merry Christmas from Sonny Liew

I received this adorable little Christmas Card from Sonny Liew, creator of Malinky Robot, this morning. What better time to remind you to all rush out and pick up a copy of this book for someone on your Christmas list?

For the uninitiated, It’s a bit like TekkonKinkreet without the ultra-violence, or the FLIGHT anthologies before there were FLIGHT anthologies. Gorgeous sprawling cityscapes and small stories about big things, the detritus of childhood writ large, it’s fun stuff.

Malinky Robot: Collected Stories & Other Bits
Created by Sonny Liew
Full Colour, 128 Pages, $16.95
Published by Image Comics

I’ll try and run all of the comics-related Christmas Cards I get this year up here on the blog… it’s the least I can do during this very low ebb of content.

– Chris

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Japan 2010: A Tokyu Hands Christmas

Just as a little follow-up to yesterday’s post, here’s a look at the Christmas Joy to be found inside the doors at the Takeshimaya Times Square TOKYU HANDS store. I actually got told by a kindly old security guard that I had to stop taking photos (in English!) no less, so this post is a little short. Gomen Nasai.

Takeshimaya Times Square is just behind the FrancFranc store, and being in the Christmas/shopping spirit, we thought we’d go check it out.

It’s a massive department store complex… Massive. Hard to explain without seeing it.

Have a Giftful Christmas, courtesy of Tokyu Hands! Possibly the most out-and-out consumerist, capitalist sentiment I have ever heard expressed about the holiday.

I did love the designs of these banners though, red and blue. Gorgeous.

Scenes of snow and ice, christmas around the world, affixed to the walls.

Edit: Whoops! I forgot I had one photo left, of little Santas! Here it is:

Unfortunately that’s all the Giftful Christmas I have for you this year, but hopefully it got you a little Merry.

Travelogues resume in the new year!

– Chris

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Japan 2010: A Very FrancFranc Christmas

It’s no secret that I go shopping in Japan, almost all of my travelogues have been retail oriented. But one of my favourite stores is a little boutique home goods/decor place called FrancFranc, located just outside the Shinjuku JR New South Entrance, the same pedestrian walkway and shopping promenade that housed Tokyo’s first, busiest Krispy Kreme Donuts. Its upscale, a mix of Euro and Japanese sensibilities, a chain of great shops found across Japan and throughout Asia, and I would basically decorate my entire home with this stuff if I lived in Japan.

…and they love Christmas. Seriously, we walked by this place on (I think) the first of November, and it was already splashed out with every manner of Christmas goods. For a Christmasophile like myself, it was like heaven. I wanted to buy everything, but sadly my luggage was reserved almost entirely for otaku-related-goods.

So I took pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. With that lovely Olympus PEN EL-1 Digital Camera. Incidentally I tried to get this up online before Christmas, but computer troubles tripped me up. Enjoy this late breaking Christmas spirit. 🙂

Can you believe that these are CHRISTMAS CARDS? They come flat in the envelope, and then you pop them out and decorate them and they’re amazing. I did pick up a couple of these actually, since they packed flat. If anyone knows if/where to get these in Toronto, I’m all over them.

Nicest. Disposable. Silverware. Ever.

Mini Abstract Christmas Trees, Mini Decorations, and everything sparkles.

Click the “Keep Reading” for all the rest of the sparkle….

Continue reading “Japan 2010: A Very FrancFranc Christmas”

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It is Officially Christmas: Exhibit 1

Now, I know the above doesn’t mean much to my American friends, and even if you’ve got highschool french it basically means “Milk of Hens”, which doesn’t mean much to anyone. But it means the world to me. Because you see, Lait de Poule is…

Yes that’s right, it’s Egg Nog! That holiday beverage of choice for folks that like to hide the rum on their breath, Egg Nog! It’s a drink that’s usually made of raw eggs, cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pure joy! It’s only less strange to us than the Morinaga Pancake Drink because it’s ‘traditional’! And it is only available a few months a year–the Christmas season. And if it’s available now…

…and it even expires before December, then it MUST be CHRISTMAS. So raise a mug of egg nog and toast to the beginning of the greatest season of the year.

Preferably an awesome Barbapapa mug!

– Chris