Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Toy Hunting Abroad: A Travel Report From Vietnam and Japan
0 Playsin 1 day
Erik traveled half way around the world. In this episode join the boys as they dive into Erik's journey to Vietnam and Japan to talk about all the places he visited and the toys he saw along the way!
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube
Start creating a podcast today with Zencastr! Learn more.
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Adventures in Collecting'
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents permission, check your mailbox and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric.
00:00:15
Speaker
And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture and hauls, along with our journeys as collectors.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting. hi ah Dave. I am center back myself from a center. do You want to center? You want to like center yourself or do you want to like center yourself in frame?
00:00:45
Speaker
Are you trying to center your chi in frame? OK, I mean, you should do both. guess it's beneficial to center center oneself.
Humor and Teasers
00:00:54
Speaker
not a bad thing. um Welcome back.
00:01:00
Speaker
To the show, Dave. Yes. who Who are we drinking today? ah Cherry obituary. Oh, OK.
00:01:11
Speaker
So this is like postmortem, then. That's a postmortem beverage if it's an obituary. Yeah. It assumes that one is already has already passed. It assumes that your thirst has already been murdered.
00:01:28
Speaker
Well, um this episode is ah we we do not have a guest. No, no, now very no, no, no. I guess there is a little bit of one. Well, I yes, i I guess there's a surprise on the episode, but I know what it is. You don't.
00:01:45
Speaker
And our our viewers, our audience does not know what it is. Well, I guess the lead would be what we're talking about. This. Oh, well, well, I mean, if they saw the title of the episode. Yeah, it's true.
00:01:57
Speaker
Um, but yeah, so ah I went on a fun adventure, um which we're going to talk about today, but a little bit of housekeeping, I guess, before we we jump into that.
May Celebrations and Giveaways
00:02:08
Speaker
um It is May. um It is still May by the time this this airs. a Happy Memorial Day or no, I'm sorry, we don't say happy Memorial Day. We say that.
00:02:22
Speaker
um a respectful memorial day yeah i hope hope everyone is appreciating their remorse this memorial day as it uh as this is airing on memorial day here in the united states uh and so uh honoring all of those who have who have gave given their lives for uh for our country ah over over the many years that we've been a country. So, yes. while While it is the unofficial start to summer for a lot of people and retail and everything, the actual holiday is a is a somber one here. So,
00:02:56
Speaker
um may may you reflect on on this Memorial Reflect accordingly. Yes. That being said, though, there are still um some days left in the month of May, which means that our May giveaway is still live um this this month. Also, you know, being home to to Star Wars week.
00:03:20
Speaker
So May the 4th and the 5th and then Revenge of the 6th, all that good stuff, right? So um you can visit us on Instagram at AIC underscore podcast where you can find the pinned post.
00:03:33
Speaker
ah It is a Jazwares Micro Galaxy Squadron um chase variant of Luke's Red 5 X-Wing.
00:03:45
Speaker
And it's in the colorway of the original Kenner X-Wing. So pretty cool. Hard to come by piece for Star Wars fans. You still have a few days to enter to win.
00:03:57
Speaker
um While we're we're talking about housekeeping and giveaways, we also will have already announced ah the winners of a second giveaway we had going on this month thanks to our friends. If you listened to the last episode of the show, which you should,
00:04:15
Speaker
um All about ah Five Points Fest and Toy Pizza Expo. ah we gave away two sets of weekend passes to Five Points Fest. ah That is happening June 7th and 8th in New York, ah Beacon, New York at The Yard.
00:04:33
Speaker
ah so if you were not one of the two lucky winners of those sets of tickets, uh, tickets are still available. You can go to five points, fast.com.
Toy Events Preview
00:04:44
Speaker
Uh, or again, just, just visit us at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram. We have all the info there, um, where you can get your tickets, uh, and, and yeah, go back and listen to the last, last week's episode because, uh, it's going be a really fun show.
00:04:59
Speaker
So that's really cool artists there. ah we found out, so I was going to say, we're hopefully going to be there. Yes. um We found out after recording that our our friend, ah our friends at the the now home Safubi Wrestling Museum in New York City, ah they will be there. Preservation Museum. Yes, Preservation Museum. Yeah. um So i he will be there as well. So, yeah, lots lots of really cool stuff happening. Yeah.
00:05:33
Speaker
coming up, you know, we were entering in that that busy, busy season, a busy toy season where we got all the conventions. I mean, right now, licensing expo will have just wrapped um some pretty interesting stuff coming out of there, giving us kind of some first looks at some of the fun things that are happening in the world of of licensing, which is very much so connected to ah the toy world.
00:05:58
Speaker
First, yeah the new Jason from the the Friday, 13th. ah
Vietnam Adventure: Culture and Collecting
00:06:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's lots. Lots of cool stuff happening. It's it's ramping up. It's ramping up. um But Dave, speaking of cool stuff, I went on a little trip, little journey. You did. It was more than a little.
00:06:18
Speaker
um So adventures in business tripping. Yeah. Adventure adventures in work. um No, I'm I'm very fortunate to have a a very cool job in the world of cybersecurity.
00:06:32
Speaker
And ah my company has an office in Vietnam. So I had the opportunity i roughly, I guess now two weeks ago, um to go... As a varying, yeah. As varying, yeah. i had to Had a chance to go visit our our office in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon. You pick.
00:06:54
Speaker
I learned they're both two and one. And everyone there is... they they Some people like to still call it Saigon and some people like to ah like to call it Ho Chi Minh City.
00:07:05
Speaker
So um but yeah, I had a chance to go there, ah which was awesome. ah Vietnam was a lot of fun. If if you have never been there, um it's a it's a great city.
00:07:18
Speaker
ah It is How do I describe it as as somebody who's never really traveled internationally? Saigon is. saigon is is more alive than any city I think I've ever been to. OK, it is It is sensory i overload.
00:07:39
Speaker
um but in a, in a good way. Like, I don't mean that in like a, like an imposing way. It's, there's lots of competing, um, uh, scents everywhere. you know, you walk the street and you'll, you'll get like a ah city smell, you know, within a couple of steps, all of a sudden you're smelling like fresh markets and co food being cooked. And, uh, there are people everywhere. The, the hustle culture there is, is kind of unbelievable.
00:08:09
Speaker
Um, If there is space on the sidewalk, somebody will use it for something, ah whether that's cooking, whether that's selling something. um But ah yeah, just ah just a really, really cool city.
00:08:22
Speaker
um If you have the opportunity to go, i highly recommend they have a service there that's called Grab. um It's kind of like Uber. But ah you have the option for Grab to grab a a scooter or motorbike and hop on back with somebody that's driving the scooter or motorbike.
00:08:41
Speaker
um Experiencing the city that way is ah is awesome because there are more scooters and motorbikes than there are ah cars. At least that's the way that it seems.
00:08:53
Speaker
um So being in a car with all of the people and motorbikes and scooters, like kind of like The way that i would imagine it looked like would look like from an aerial view is like ants trying to navigate around like leaves, where it's just like you have a car that can only fit so much, but like you can scoot around on the motorbikes and scooters, and if there's space, they will be filled.
00:09:20
Speaker
Okay. By somebody on a scooter. So I had the opportunity. Um, one of my coworkers uses a scooter to get to and from work. So I hopped on back with him a couple of times to, you know, kind of navigate around the city and get to dinner and things. And it was a lot of fun.
00:09:34
Speaker
So, um, And I did have the opportunity to do a little bit shopping while I was in ah Saigon. And of course, you know, having the opportunity to see what ah what toys and, you know, things are around.
00:09:48
Speaker
um i definitely took advantage of that opportunity a couple of evenings. So. so A lot of the toy stuff that I found in some of like the just the the local toy shops and like a lot of the the stores in Vietnam were combination like toy and bookstores or toy and stationery stores.
00:10:12
Speaker
um Or like there were stores that were dedicated purely to blind box toys. um There was a lot of stuff to to look at.
00:10:23
Speaker
i The majority of it, I would say, is stuff that we could find over here in the United States. Like there wasn't really anything that was like super unique.
00:10:34
Speaker
um One of the things that ah that did jump out and hang on, actually, i forgot to grab it, so I'm going to grab it real quick. five hours later One of the things that um that I saw that was really cool was that the company Blokies, I don't know how it's pronounced, but they're pretty they're they're gaining popularity here in the States with their Transformers, and um they have like Minions, and they have ah Pokemon now, and Sesame Street, and they're little model kits.
00:11:05
Speaker
And the model kits come together and build um an action figure, like a 5-inch action figure. ah they had ah Infinity Saga ones out there. And these are, you know, if you're not familiar with these, they're their blind box. Let me show you the kind of the assembly assembly there.
00:11:24
Speaker
But um there is a chase element to them. So each wave has a different set of characters with one, you know, being kind of the secret or chase. Oh, so they're actual figures. They're like...
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. No, they're actual pigs. No, they're, they're fully articulated. um Okay. Fully articulated figures. I haven't, I haven't put one together yet, but ah ah for these, I've seen the the Transformers ones, but I picked up, ah they had, they had series three and series two of the infinity saga figures.
00:12:00
Speaker
So I grabbed, I grabbed one of each series. Um, we'll see who we get out of these yeah i gotta open them at some point but there's some really cool character selections so like it's everyone from like hulkbuster you thanos uh iron monger is even in this um it really does span the incont like a good amount of the the infinity saga and i'm not sure what the um what the deal is why these are not available in the united states i don't know if it's a distribution thing but um
00:12:33
Speaker
I'm a sucker for MCU stuff. So maybe licensing. Maybe could be. um But, ah you know, I know a lot of people really rave about the um the Transformers ones and the now the Sesame Street and and Pokemon one. So I figured I would try these out.
00:12:52
Speaker
OK, cool. um I have experience with some ah kind of a similar concept. The the Yolo Park ah Transformers ones are are really nice. And it's the same concept. They're, you know, snapped together, pre-painted model kits that make poseable action figures. So I saw these in one store, so I picked up a couple. But the big find that I had in Vietnam um while I was there for the week was at um the Saigon Center Mall has a Pop Mart.
00:13:21
Speaker
Hmm. So ah the labubu craze. Yeah, I just learned about this is um is big deal here in the United States. These things are incredibly hard to come by um Pop marts are few and far between and the United States. I actually i would imagine that there there might be one or two like physical retail locations, um you know,
00:13:47
Speaker
in the United States, but I have not seen anything outside of the um vending machines, which I know that these Labubus are present in. um I had the opportunity to pick up a whole case of them.
00:14:03
Speaker
So the the ones that I got were the the have a seat variant of Labubu. And you can see the the different options that you can get there. And then, of course, the the secret rare variant. So um preview to those listening and watching, this will be your June ah giveaway.
00:14:22
Speaker
So next month, this exact box, this exact labubu sealed from the have a seat set, ah this will be our giveaway. So um maybe that one of 72, maybe that's this guy right here.
00:14:36
Speaker
Yeah, maybe that too.
Shopping and Giveaways in Vietnam
00:14:38
Speaker
um But yeah, this was also my first experience kind of seeing these in person. So of course, i you know, being there, you know, the currency conversion rate as well as just kind of the general availability. I did buy an entire case of them.
00:14:52
Speaker
um They made for wonderful souvenirs for my children. So I have I have one of theirs here just to kind of, you know, experience the Wabubu craze. I mean, they are really cute. You you actually made it a good point earlier that ah it kind of looks like the... What did you say? the um Where the Wild Things Are? Yeah, it's like Where the Wild Things Are meets Monchichi.
00:15:17
Speaker
for For those of a certain age that remember Monchichi. um They're super soft and they're dumb cute. like they they are They are really cute. But the the brand is actually... The monsters is is the name of the um the the brand, but they are a Pop Mart exclusive item.
00:15:35
Speaker
um And yeah, they they were, I wouldn't say readily available in Vietnam. I think I got lucky because i literally watched them sell out while I was wandering around the store looking at a bunch of other stuff. Pop Mart, really cool store, by the way.
00:15:52
Speaker
ah the very like designer toy, a blind box, art toy, vinyl toy type shop. um Okay. They had a lot of, was going to ask like, what do they have?
00:16:04
Speaker
Yeah. that Most of it was like, um, either these these plush labubu, and they have, like, different sizes. So, like, they have, like, they have, like, a large plush.
00:16:15
Speaker
um They had blind box little vinyl versions, like, pre-posed vinyl figures. Lots, lots and lots of those. Like, the, like, four-inch... um pre-posed, like bigger than a mystery, mystery mini, but smaller than a Funko pop blind box vinyl figures, but like across brands, they had toy story ones, they had Spider-Man, you know, across the Spider-Verse ones and star Wars ones, um, DC,
00:16:44
Speaker
i tod just tons, tons of different brands. And it looks like they had some of their own IP as well. So like the monsters, they have this little, um, or this character, she's she looks like ah like a little space cadet, um but with like a almost like a Precious Moments doll-style face.
00:17:04
Speaker
i And that astronaut or or you know um or space cadet is in like a just a ton of different colorways, including IP tie-in, so like...
00:17:18
Speaker
They had one that was a like a Joker colorway where her hair was green and her face was white. And and they those come in different size. They had ones that were like 14 inches tall, like these gorgeously painted giant, you know, astronaut girl neat statue things.
00:17:37
Speaker
um I picked up ah I actually don't know where I put it. I was looking for it before we started recording. But I picked up a um a three and three quarter inch Joker figure.
00:17:49
Speaker
Like it's just the Joker, but it's packaged like an old style, like Kenner three and three quarter inch figure. And I think it's a pre post, just a pre posed vinyl figure. Um, but yeah, just look neat.
00:18:00
Speaker
It's a cool store. It's a, it's a very cool store. it was very busy. Um, there are lots of people outside with tons of these, of these laboos, um, chains to their like bags and stuff. And it looked like they were trading them.
00:18:13
Speaker
Um, okay. And yeah, each set is different. So there's like different colors. This one again, like is called have a seat. It's its feet are pointed out and you could see like it's in a sitting position.
00:18:25
Speaker
But um yeah, there are different, you know, different kind of versions of it and everything. um But yeah, that was that was the big i the big thing from from Vietnam from the week that I was there. and ah yeah I don't want to say unfortunately. I mean, I was there for work, so I didn't really have like a whole lot of time. I maybe had like two nights to go out and kind of, you know on my own and and and shop and things.
00:18:52
Speaker
um The one thing I will say about ah the the Saigon Center, great mo mall, like very, very cool mall. um lots of the malls there are the two malls that i went to there there was another one called vincom that um did not have a pop mart had just kind of like other like random toy stores um They're all like vertical, very vertical.
00:19:14
Speaker
So like when we think of malls the United States, we think of maybe like two or three floors max and like these kind of sprawling, you know, um walking tours of things.
00:19:26
Speaker
The malls there are in high buildings with like low surface area. So it's like just... floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor after floor of stores, but they're all like you could see from one end to the other.
00:19:46
Speaker
Like, think like a like a um ah very small footprint, but very, very high up in the air. So both malls were like that. um If you go to the Saigon Center at night, it is right next to the red light district.
00:20:04
Speaker
So walking to the Saigon Center for an American that has never traveled outside the country was an experience. Let me tell you, that was something. And I was there with a few other people that had not experienced that experience.
00:20:24
Speaker
either and I mean it's just that that's the that's one of the fun things about the city though is like it's so multi-dimensional that there's this um uh this cough these like few coffee shops that are chains like a Starbucks um that you see pretty frequently um and it's like one of those was on a corner you know and It's like your typical coffee shop you know vibe. It's got a little some seating outside. It's got some seating inside.
00:20:53
Speaker
you know it's Everything is like cleanly lit. It's very modern. And as you're sitting there like drinking a coffee, looking across the street, it's like there are...
00:21:05
Speaker
you know, like six bars in a row with, you know, women standing outside of them. Cause it's like, Oh, I'm sitting in a coffee shop on a corner looking across street at where the red light district starts.
00:21:16
Speaker
So it was just like, it's like a a wild, you know, head fake wherever, wherever you go. And it's like that area, there are some so some stores in that district that are not part of that district. And it's like everyone observes the like boundaries of where that shop ends and where the next one begins. So it's like you could be walking and...
00:21:40
Speaker
It'll just stop for like 30 feet and then it just starts again. It's it's it's very it's very interesting. And walking around the city, obviously, during the day versus at night or two very different experiences.
00:21:51
Speaker
If you walk to the Saigon Center during the day, the red light district, the lights are off. So, um you know, nobody nobody is outside. But. ah When the lights are on, just just prepare yourself. It's a it's an experience. um Yeah.
00:22:09
Speaker
But that was ah that was kind of the big this was the big find from from Vietnam was was this was La Boo Boo. And I'm excited that we're, you know, we're able to kind of share the love here and and give one of these guys
Journey to Japan
00:22:22
Speaker
away. It still has the Pop Mart sticker on it.
00:22:25
Speaker
um Yeah, so this will be this will be will be posted on our Instagram. So I mentioned it at the top, the at AIC underscore podcast. um We'll post it. It'll be live for the whole month of June. You get a chance to win yourself a labubu.
00:22:42
Speaker
you can You can follow the wise instructions of Mace Window and you can you can have a seat. I feel like... ah That's going to be a popular one, huh?
00:22:53
Speaker
Oh, maybe. I don't know. i i Unless I have a completely wrong read on it, but ah it seems like these things are hard to come by. So, um yeah. So look out for that in June.
00:23:05
Speaker
um So after Vietnam... ah The way that my travel worked, so headed out to to Vietnam, I flew from Newark, New Jersey. um I sat on the tarmac for roughly 90 minutes before we took off, which was very Newark, New Jersey, if you're following what's going on at the airports.
00:23:25
Speaker
um But also, you know, common in general. Sometimes i I flew through Tokyo, headed down. So 14, 12, 14 flight to Tokyo.
00:23:39
Speaker
um And then from Tokyo to Vietnam, my layover in Tokyo at at Narita Airport um was not very long. It was, I mean, it's four hours, but that's not like a long layover.
00:23:51
Speaker
That's not enough time to leave the airport. coming However, coming home, I had a ten and a half hour. well what did you find anything in the airport? Um, You know, in Narita, there was the Akihabara store, which is kind of like the general, like, hey, cool Japan shit store.
00:24:13
Speaker
um So they had, like, it was just interesting to see, like, tons of SH Figurarts out and, you know, the Studio Ghibli stuff. Like, of course, they had tons of Godzilla stuff and Pokemon stuff.
00:24:24
Speaker
Yeah. But again, like a lot of it was not anything that I hadn't seen before. um you know, you had the like the Bandai model kits for Pokemon, lots of plushies.
00:24:35
Speaker
um I hadn't seen that Kaniku Man um figure arts that you should. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, and I hadn't seen it in person. but Yeah, I hadn't seen it in person.
00:24:47
Speaker
knew Knew it was out. um Yeah, they had some of the new Dragon Ball Dima stuff for the SH Figure Arts. um And the prices were all, like... it was just interesting. Like they were like the Kiniku man was, I was like under a hundred. And I, I think he's, he goes for more than that.
00:25:04
Speaker
Um, here the, uh, the SH figure, it's like the new diamond Goku was like 20 bucks, which is kind of crazy. Cause that's like a you 30, $40 figure, i think.
00:25:16
Speaker
um So the prices prices were were good. And they also they were in the Akihabara shop in the airport is technically duty free. So, you know, you had that going for you too.
00:25:29
Speaker
i But ah yeah, I mean, it was it was a good taste. So like coming through, i did pick up a couple of things for the girls just in case, you know, I saw things that I knew that they would like. So I was like, well, I'll throw them in the bag now. And, you know, it's one less thing I have to worry about when I'm coming coming through the other way.
00:25:46
Speaker
Plus, I didn't know the difference between the airports like, you know, versus nari Narita versus Haneda. Of course, I looked at the fast food stuff. You know, the McDonald's had some like special menu items, um which we'll get to.
00:25:59
Speaker
ah The i Starbucks had special menu items. Yeah. Again, like, you know, we kind of just kept moving through the airport. We didn't have a whole lot of time. we wanted to stretch. It had been long a long flight um and we still had seven hours to go in a plane, you know, to go from from Japan to ah to Vietnam.
00:26:21
Speaker
However, Coming back, ah we had a 10 and a half hour layover in Haneda Airport. So the two major airports in Tokyo or Narita and Haneda. Haneda is closer to like Tokyo's city center. um Tokyo is massive.
00:26:39
Speaker
Like it is – the one thing I've learned from from this trip is like Asia is just so big. Like the things like – Yeah, it's a large continent.
00:26:51
Speaker
But like the just the scope of things like like even in Vietnam, like the the.
00:27:00
Speaker
Everything is just sprawling there. And like the density of everything is just so much more than what, you know, even like I think, you know people, a lot of people would consider like the area that we live in in New Jersey to be pretty densely populated.
00:27:14
Speaker
does. It doesn't even remotely compare like New York City versus, you know, Saigon. It's just the the population density feels so much more dense there. um Yeah.
00:27:26
Speaker
And like that's what I've heard. That's that's what you normally. And and like when we got to Tokyo, so when we got to Haneda, we actually arrived a half hour earlier. So we had like a full 11 hours and okay layover, which meant realistically, you know, leaving time on both sides to go through customs and security and all that.
00:27:46
Speaker
had like five ish hours to go around and give yourself two hours on each side, two hours on each side, plus, you know, commuting time, because you still have to take ah an Uber, which, by the way, really cool. um Uber.
00:27:59
Speaker
you're if you're visiting Tokyo, your Uber app works. So you could just use your your regular Uber app there. You don't need like a special app. app Same in in London and Paris. Yeah.
00:28:11
Speaker
So um it it did not work in Vietnam, but it does work in in Japan, um which really helps with, you know, translation and and addresses and stuff like that. It's that there is a a ton of English in Japan where there's like hardly any in Vietnam. um So like street signs, train signs, signs all over the airport.
00:28:36
Speaker
um There's usually there was English, um not necessarily like English words, but Japanese words in English, if that makes sense.
00:28:48
Speaker
So like if you were looking at a street sign and it was like, it came to Koro, district or Shibuya district, like like you could read it. Even if you may not have been able to like understand what it said, you could at least phonetically read it.
00:29:03
Speaker
um which made giving addresses and things like that much easier. So we had a plan. I was traveling with two other people at this point. It was my my boss and one of our coworkers.
00:29:14
Speaker
um One of the things that we had to see for you know our kids and our friends and stuff was a Pokemon center. That was like a big must. ah my bar My boss and his son are very much so into Pokemon cards and Pokemon in general. So that was that was like number one.
00:29:32
Speaker
And did they have stuff there. Oh, my God. So, I mean, obviously they had stuff, but like, dude. So ah the Pokemon Center is. I don't know.
00:29:44
Speaker
i was trying to think of ah of an example of another brand that has like a store like this. And the only other thing I can think of is maybe Nintendo. ah But like.
00:29:57
Speaker
The Nintendo store. like pales in comparison to this like this is imagine like and to put it in reference to somebody who doesn't who's not into the world of Pokemon or like not really a what like I know everyone's aware of Pokemon I don't want to you know make people sound like idiots but like you know it would be like imagine if G.I. Joe like owned stores like Hasbro put GI Joe stores. Like they weren't like, it wasn't like a, a, a licensed thing or like a franchise thing that like somebody could buy into a GI Joe store.
00:30:41
Speaker
Right. um Imagine if they put like GI Joe Cobra bases, places. Right. in malls where you could buy gi Joe figures and merchandise and apparel and home goods. Like it, the Pokemon center is, is unbelievable in the sense. it's like going to like a team store at a, at a sporting event.
00:31:06
Speaker
and he Kind of. Yeah. Yeah. Like they had everything there and, and taking a step back. So we, we went to, um, it was it called the, the Pokemon center, um, Ikibe Kuro, um, in sunshine
Japanese Shopping and Culture
00:31:22
Speaker
city. So sunshine city is like a ah mall and it's like a mall, the way that we think of a mall it's that was set up like a pretty much like a three floor mall, sprawling shopping mall.
00:31:34
Speaker
Um, but with primarily Japanese, Japanese, like retailers. um So they had the Pokemon center there.
00:31:45
Speaker
They had, which I, did I didn't really look too deeply into it. I was like, Oh, it's Pokemon center. There's gotta be other stuff around. I didn't really understand the way, because of the way that it was listed, that it was in a mall, but like the Pokemon center, they had the studio Ghibli store.
00:32:02
Speaker
They had the largest bandai cross store. Ah, so they had ah one piece store, like an entire store dedicated to one piece.
00:32:13
Speaker
um They had the Pikachu cafe. They had a Marvel store. I'm trying to think if there was anything else. They had a a Shin Chan crayon store.
00:32:23
Speaker
um They had like a world of Snoopy store that was all not even just peanut stuff. It was Snoopy stuff. Just straight up Snoopy. Snoopy. um They had a Toys R Us in there.
00:32:36
Speaker
I'm
00:32:39
Speaker
trying to think if there was anything else. I think that's that's pretty much it. At least that's where we stayed. It was much also much bigger than we realized. like We kind of stuck into one area and then realized at like the very end when we were looking for an ATM um that there was like a whole like second and third section of it. We were like, ah we just don't have time for this at this point.
00:33:00
Speaker
So... um Was that then that was the place that. um We talked about briefly last week. No, that I think that was Nakano. That's the next stop. OK, so so this this place um that Jesse was talking about.
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, we'll get we'll get there. That was second stop. And now a word from our sponsors.
00:33:28
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores.
00:33:44
Speaker
Visit them in person at their brand new home at 101 Newark Pompton Turnpike Suite 1 in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at chubzywubzy.com.
00:33:57
Speaker
That's
00:34:03
Speaker
And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:34:09
Speaker
And now, back to the show. So we started we where we got to the mall before it opened, but the mall is connected to like a um corporate building. So the malls in though this mall had no music playing. It had like bird noises and like nature sounds playing throughout the whole mall. So like everyone that was like walking through it had this like nature kind of vibe to it. All right. The lights were dimmed.
00:34:36
Speaker
The bathrooms even had the music playing in it. And by the way, Japanese bathrooms. the best bathroom I have ever been in in my life. It is like it to to be To be crude, it's like shitting in the future.
00:34:53
Speaker
um The toilet seats are warmed. It has like a controllable like digitally controllable bidet that you can change like temperature, intensity, location.
00:35:05
Speaker
It's got a blow dryer for your your butt. Yeah, I need that. Absolutely unbelievable. And the... and the the atmosphere of Japan, everything is about like respect that I that I bumped into. Like everything is about is about respect. So like the first bathroom I went into had this like sliding door, I guess it was like a um like a special bathroom. So like it had a place to like lay down for a minute if you needed to. It had like seats for kids.
00:35:38
Speaker
It had kid sized toilets. It has bars near like the toilets and urinals in case like you you need help. Like you can't like get down or get up or fantastic like stuff.
00:35:51
Speaker
And there's like a sign that actually says like, you know, we make bathrooms here for everyone. And it shows like the elderly and children. And like it is it is accommodation to the max.
00:36:04
Speaker
And it was it was it was lovely. It was lovely. um So, you know, we get there, you know, we had to use the bathroom. So we found this amazing bathroom experience, which was just incredible. But like that was everywhere. So it was even at the airports yeah everywhere you go. Bathrooms are amazing.
00:36:19
Speaker
um We were we were hungry. So we stopped at McDonald's. um Just, you people i was traveling with. Not 7-Eleven. No, wanted something quick. There was no so I didn't see a 7-Eleven in this mall. There might might have been any other section. But i i yeah, that's that's what you hear is like the gold standard for quick food. 7-Eleven. I did go to 7-Eleven in Vietnam. I was not like super impressed. They had some really fun snacks, but like ah it just kind of seemed like like a exotic version of 7-Eleven to me. Like there was nothing in there that I was like, oh, I got to try that.
00:36:55
Speaker
Because like Japan supposedly get the like egg and milk bread sandwich. and Yes. Yeah, I've i've heard there I did not. so I did not come across one um during my my very brief few hours there. But we did stop at McDonald's and I did get um on the breakfast menu, they had this like fried chicken sandwich.
00:37:15
Speaker
Okay. That completely blew my doors off. it's this It's a, it's a tie in for an anime film that's coming out. Um, detective Conan, I think is the name of It looks like little kid detective. I've, I've not heard of this. didn't know it was familiar, but for some reason there was a detective Conan chicken sandwich.
00:37:36
Speaker
Um, um, The bun was like Hawaiian style almost bun. Like a sweet roll? Yeah, the the chicken patty was basically like a giant McNugget.
00:37:47
Speaker
like I mean like ah like a like giant McNugget. Not like this the McChicken Patty. No, was not the McChicken Patty. It was like a massive McNugget, but it was like a teriyaki McNugget.
00:38:01
Speaker
Oh. And it had this like spicy mayo and this like shredded lettuce. And it was not what I would think of as something I would eat for breakfast, but i would eat it again. i'd i'd mess with that sandwich.
00:38:16
Speaker
you know, seven days a week, twice on Sunday. It was delicious. um That was the other thing, too. Like are like an American version of breakfast like, ah yeah, we have savory stuff, but like the sweet stuff is kind of the the thing we're known for, the pancakes, waffles, the, you know, um a lot of the breakfasts in.
00:38:37
Speaker
Well, I mean, all of the breakfast in Vietnam, like I had pho and like shumai and wontons dumplings and like savory food for breakfast every morning.
00:38:52
Speaker
Like that's what was offered in the hotel is like the breakfast option. And at first I was like my first day I went into the office and I was like our hotels like must be really like indexing towards the you know the like visiting because I was in the tourist area like you know giving us like dinner for breakfast and they all laughed and they were like, no, no, no.
00:39:15
Speaker
Fuzz breakfast food. i was like, oh. And they were like, it's also a lunch food. It's also a dinner food. In fact, breakfast is just another meal. So you can really eat whatever you want for breakfast.
00:39:26
Speaker
was like, oh, okay then. um But yeah, so I had this chicken sandwich in in in Tokyo that was arguably the best chicken sandwich I've ever had at a McDonald's.
00:39:36
Speaker
All right. um And then all of a sudden... i mean, you had me at Big McNugget, so... we We go up to the Pokemon Center, and they have this amazing little, like, fake courtyard in front of the Pokemon Center with all these life-size statues of Pokemon and, like, foliage and trees, and the outside is all...
00:39:56
Speaker
is all decorated. And then i noticed people started lining up. It was it was getting close to when the store was opening. So we hopped online. All of the bird and treaty and insect noises came to like an actual end. it didn't just fade out like there was like an end of the track play. So like whatever they were looping had like if had like a tail end on the loop.
00:40:19
Speaker
with like a little jingle and then the lights got a little bit brighter and and like a like almost like a wake up jingle played and the mall woke up like the actual like it was like somebody turned on the mall like all the doors started opening the like mall music started playing we could hear the pokemon theme playing from inside of the the pokemon center it was like a cheery little fun like wake up moment, which was which was really nice. But the Pokemon Center was was unbelievable. They had, um you know, obviously cards, ah all the Japanese releases.
00:40:54
Speaker
Some stuff was already out of stock by the time I got to it. um They had like daily purchase limits on some of the the different like um sets. So i yeah I got a couple for for the girls.
00:41:06
Speaker
um Yeah, I mean, that part was cool. I did get a chance to you're aware of like the that like they use pretty heavily favor like a lottery system in. Are you familiar with this like this Ichiban lottery thing?
00:41:22
Speaker
Yes. ah From Justin and Dave have told us about that. So um we did, I did the one in the Pokemon store or the Pokemon center. um And I got it. Don't they do that for Bandai as well? Yeah, it's, they do it for all of, yeah I guess like throughout the stores. i noticed it everywhere.
00:41:41
Speaker
Oh, in the Calico Critters store as well. There was an entire store for Calico Critters. um Shouts to Frank. Frank, I thought of Frank as soon as I walked in.
00:41:51
Speaker
um But yeah, yeah so i did the the lottery thing which was fun i ended up getting like a gengar um hand towel you know i got i got the lowest tier of the the lottery um but still i got got a chance to play in one um and i did pick up myself something so the pokemon center they had my favorite pokemon chancy and it was this Pokemon fit.
00:42:18
Speaker
So I don't really think of Chansey as being the most fit Pokemon, but um yeah, Chansey with her, her egg. had never in my life seen a Chansey plush before, so took the opportunity and ah and grabbed that.
00:42:34
Speaker
I know Chansey from Smash Brothers. There you go. Yeah. ah So yeah, so I picked up a Chansey for myself. Um, Tons and tons and tons of plush. Like I would say the store is like 70% plush um to the point where they even have like little, like if you've ever seen somebody carry like a ah small pet or animal in like one of those carrying cases, they had you can carrying case for your plush.
00:42:59
Speaker
Um, Like Callie's Ikron? Yes. Yes. Becca, you mean like Becca? i Yeah, they they had carrying cases. um They were advertising this new thing. It was like for life size plushes of Pokemon.
00:43:17
Speaker
um They're doing the the Evie Evolutions first. OK, so you can you can get a life size Evie or one of the Kanto evolutions for ah for your home.
00:43:30
Speaker
They had them advertised really nice as like just like an Evie sitting next to like a coffee table. It was actually very cute. um So, yeah, so that was Pokemon Center. The Studio Ghibli store absolutely blew my doors off.
00:43:44
Speaker
um It's like sectioned off into different you know parts of that universe. So like there's a whole Totoro section. Like the different movies. Yeah, they actually have these had these Totoro.
00:43:57
Speaker
I guess they're finger puppets. I think they're just meant to be like, like, um what's the term? ah like blow mold pucks, like action figures.
00:44:10
Speaker
They actually sell the house from my neighbor Totoro. And like, you can, you can buy the house play set and have the characters in it, but they don't make the girls. They just make Totoro and the other like woodland creatures.
00:44:21
Speaker
um Same goes for, for no face. And like, you could see like two, like the bottom half is slightly translucent. Like there's a little bit of a gradient in it. Like they're, They're little like almost like the little people, like the Fisher Price a little. That's what was going to say. Are they like that's what they they feel like ah to me.
00:44:40
Speaker
But they're they're Totoro characters. So I bought a very cool crap ton of these are not just total Ghibli characters. So they had Kiki. They had ah a bunch of characters from Spirited Away.
00:44:51
Speaker
um So bought a couple of those again, like tons of tons of plush and home, good lots and lots of home goods and wearables like, you know, socks and t-shirts and, um,
00:45:03
Speaker
the Ghibli store had these really cool like built-in areas. So they had like Calcifer in like on the fireplace and like, it was actually like on and like, you know, I'm just sitting there thinking of Billy Crystal.
00:45:15
Speaker
um But like, to like ah not a life-size Totoro, but a pretty close to life-size Totoro in the store. Just again, like super cool theming throughout. And the Bandai store, i mean,
00:45:28
Speaker
it It was unbelievable. Like it was almost like an entire convention space. And you went to the cross store. Yeah. Yeah. Bandai cross store in Sunshine City. It was almost like going to like a Bandai convention.
00:45:42
Speaker
oh It was it was unbelievably massive. And they have there the world's largest gashapon.
Nakano Broadway Exploration
00:45:53
Speaker
area okay there are more there than anywhere else in the world and it was it was like going to like a gashapon like factory like i don't even think i walked to the end of where like the gashapon pods ended did you get one so this was the problem um there's gashapon everywhere like i mean
00:46:16
Speaker
Dave, it is you sneeze and there's gash upon somewhere. Like, I mean, throughout everywhere I went in Tokyo. Everywhere.
00:46:26
Speaker
So it's like the, you know, with the frequency of finding the toy machines that like, um like ShopRite. Even more, more so.
00:46:40
Speaker
Like there are stores that don't look like they should have them in there. And it's like, oh, they have two rows of Gashapon. um So I was spend I was paying with my you know American credit cards pretty much everywhere I went on the trip. Everywhere takes, you know, a Visa or, you know, a MasterCard. Yeah, it's funny how how that's changed.
00:47:03
Speaker
you can't exchange credit card for gash upon tokens anywhere i went and atms are a little harder to come by at least at least where i was so by the time i found an atm i was i knew i kind of had a gut feeling that the next stop we went to i was going to need cash cash so i i found an atm but then i use the cash on things that like I needed to use the cash on sure at the next stop.
00:47:35
Speaker
But yeah, I did i unfortunately i did not get to play any gash bomb machines. um But there were there were a ton. There were. Did you get to play any of the video games at the cross store?
00:47:46
Speaker
um We looked at them. We walked through that whole arcade section. We just kind of did like a quick like walking tour again. I was with other people um and I didn't want to max them out on our first stop knowing that we were going to Nakano Broadway next.
00:48:02
Speaker
So we just kind of walked around, looked at things, you know. took, took a little peek at at everything that was going on in there, you know, the entire Tamashi area, the entire bath bomb area. Uh, they had an entire, like almost museum for, um, common rider and super sentai. So they had like an actual props from the show.
00:48:24
Speaker
Oh, that's cool. Um, and it was like a history of, of, uh, super sentai. Um, and I was explaining to the people I was with, I was like, this is power Rangers. Um, But ah yeah, so really, really cool stores. There were awesome. The Pokemon, the Pikachu cafe that was connected to the Pokemon Center was a lot of fun.
00:48:44
Speaker
um Yeah, they had a whole Pokemon Go area to where you could like meet up with people and have battles. And yeah, very, very, very cool. So.
00:48:56
Speaker
We left there and against Jesse's better advice best advice, and I understand now fully why he gave the advice he gave, Macano Broadway is one of the most deceptively complicated and complex system of stores I have i have ever personally witnessed. and And at the same time, also one of the coolest things.
00:49:22
Speaker
um Not like we would think a shopping mall more that like we would probably describe as like a bazaar or it looked like a flea market, an indoor slash outdoor flea market.
00:49:36
Speaker
Nikano Broadway. Like it reminded me of like the indoor flea markets and like like in mall rats. It is deceptively catacomb like there is just like you you just keep finding things.
00:49:52
Speaker
And thankfully, um i was able to find what's called like the Mandarake. area which is where all of the toy stuff is and this was vintage they did have some new stuff but like vintage everything from like they had a mandrake has vintage movie posters they have vintage and i mean like full-on japanese like one sheets like oh like og like like
00:50:24
Speaker
kaiju and godzilla stuff horror stuff um video games like you region specific video games toys safubi um uh uh cards trading cards do a sports memorabilia dude like um unbelievable and everything from like Stores that looked like they were like smashed together, like hard to walk through antique style stores like antique, like like little shop of hoarders type of things to like highly curated.
00:50:59
Speaker
like one of a kind Sofubi art piece type stores where like the, the owners don't even want you taking pictures. Like I had like a couple of times, like I was like stopped when I walked in taking video. Um, and I explained like, Oh, podcast, you know, I'm just taking pictures, like doing a little travel vlog.
00:51:16
Speaker
Some of them were like, oh okay, no problem. Go ahead. And other ones were like, I don't care. Don't take pictures. Um, So I had a mission in Nakano Broadway and that was to buy. I wanted to buy Godzilla.
00:51:29
Speaker
So fooby. um That was like my one goal. I said, it's the people I was with. I was like, got to find it. That's like the thing I want to do. So, In my journey. So this was this was your request.
00:51:41
Speaker
Yeah. So Nakano Broadway was my Pokemon Center was the other two. Nakano Broadway was mine. um And my boss loved Nakano Broadway. At this point, our other travel partner, he had to change his flight because he was worried about coming into Newark with all the issues that were happening because he had a ah domestic connecting flight in out of Newark.
00:52:01
Speaker
to um to Maine so he actually ended up changing his flight to go out of Washington DC so he had to peel off and leave early so at this point just my boss and I and we so we kind of split up because he was looking more at like the card stuff more of the sports memorabilia stuff and this is where the first part of this is going to come in so I'm walking down um I'm walking down this one part of it and I just see a wall of Japanese wrestling masks and in a glass case, tiger mask, Jushin Thunder Liger. Yeah, it was a cool looking photo.
00:52:35
Speaker
Unbelievable. So I'm like, okay cool. So I walk in and as I walk in and turn directly to my left, it is a floor to ceiling wall of Kinnickman muscle figures.
00:52:49
Speaker
Cash is just cash upon cash. And I'm like, oh, my God. And like some of them were like mad expensive. So then I walk in and I you know i said hi. you know It was very clearly a wrestling store, um which is when I turn to the case to the right of me and you get to open the bag now.
00:53:12
Speaker
And I'll just reach in the bag? Yeah, there's there's two things in the bag. Okay.
00:53:22
Speaker
So I couldn't leave this store without getting, getting, there are fact two things in here and one of, which one should I pull out? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. There's like a smaller thing and a larger thing. It doesn't matter. All right. I'm going larger. Oh, that's cool.
00:53:38
Speaker
So they had this awesome, it's a foodie, final fig of juice and thunder lager. So I thought that that was really cool. That is really cool. Thought it would speak to you. um But it was in this case of just like wall to wall wrestling stuff.
00:53:57
Speaker
um um I'm not going to take them out of the bag now, but Yeah, so Jushin Thunder Liger, little very cool little like chibi vinyl guy. And then the other one, this is something that I had never actually seen these in person. So it was really exciting to see like a case full of them. And I just picked one because I figured I figured if you were going to have one, this would kind of like be the guy to have.
00:54:21
Speaker
But.
00:54:24
Speaker
but Is that a Noki? It is a Noki. It is and Antonio Noki. It is a ah what I believe is ah is a Char Pro.
00:54:36
Speaker
That doesn't say on his feet, but that's cool. And he's got the belt. Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:45
Speaker
but I have no experience, no real experience with these. I mean, i recognized some of the guys, but. Oh, he's his arms move. He was like front and center. um And he looked like he was in great shape.
00:54:57
Speaker
They also had, they also had an Inoki that was in like a suit, like, like he was in like a, like suit. Oh, and he's doing the lariat. Yeah. Or yelling. Yeah. And he's yelling. um That's a famous figure. Like it just, you see that figure, you know, people are like, oh, that's ah So they had they had a whole case of them. um It was just it was cool just to see like literally an entire case loose case of them.
00:55:22
Speaker
Of course, as I'm going through my video footage, editing on the plane, leaving, I realized that there was an NWO Muda just in the center there. And i was like, oh, I saw that. That's the one I should have gotten.
00:55:34
Speaker
But I think I think we know somebody who has that. But I missed that um and in my initial just kind of like shock of this the store. Who was appearing at ah Five Points Festival. Walking through that store was just was just unbelievable. like And the the dudes there were so nice. And then the other half of the store was all Kinnicka Man.
00:55:56
Speaker
And I mean, more kind of more than just the Kessis, they had like these giant 12-inch Sofubi figures. They had... um Like some of the the the Bandai stuff from, I believe, like the early ninety s And i know the Kaniku Man, like the original, like when I had muscle.
00:56:14
Speaker
Yeah. I think there are more Kaniku Man than muscle. Yeah, I remember correctly. Yeah. So they had they had a ton of that stuff in there. They even had some like it was funny just to see like a bin of like old basics, like old, like elite, like Mattel basics.
00:56:30
Speaker
Yeah. um But yeah, so just it was cool, like an entire wrestling store. And it's like it's like one of those things where from my understanding of it is like it's just part of this mandarin system.
00:56:42
Speaker
And like, like if you if you know, you know, sort of thing like there was looking it up even afterwards. I was like wrestling figures in this and it didn't come up like on Google Maps. It's just mandrake toys.
00:56:56
Speaker
So we're wandering around. um We continue wandering. And um yeah, I told Christina we're going to if for when we ever go to Japan, I'm going to need to bring like an extra suitcase. That's what I did.
00:57:08
Speaker
but I did for wrestling figures and I'm glad I did. um so the first thing that jumped out at me, ah gave myself a budget. Um, so I gave myself to 200 USD was what I was going to spend on, on Sofubi for myself. And I actually spent under that. I found two pieces that jumped out at me. Absolutely. Love the first one is this amazing Hedora.
00:57:35
Speaker
but roll You know, just I love the colorway. It's the green and pink. I'm not even super familiar with but um the maker on this. What's cool is it has this like plug in the bottom.
00:57:49
Speaker
I almost wonder if it was like filled with candy or something, which is very possible. Bank, maybe? I don't know. There's no slot in it, but. um The date on it is it says Marit M-A-R-I-T 2003. OK, you know, not super, super old, but I love it. Just crazy colorway. That's great.
00:58:12
Speaker
Has that awesome like Sofubi feel to it. um So that was in one store. No Godzilla, though. They didn't have any like any good looking Godzilla. Then I walk into this one store that was like clearly like just Kaiju Mart.
00:58:27
Speaker
Like half of it was was Ultraman and all the Ultraman Kaiju. And then the other half was just Godzilla. And they had everything from like super expensive. Like, oh, my God, I was like itchy as anything like vintage, vintage. So fooby stuff um to like modern day SH Monster Arts.
00:58:47
Speaker
But somewhere in the middle, they had this guy.
00:58:52
Speaker
This absolutely stunning. That's cool. Blue and and gold, slightly translucent. Like it almost looks like glass. Sofubi Godzilla. This is by ah the wonderful, wonderful folks. And I did know this company um going in.
00:59:09
Speaker
This is by Gigabrain. um they make uh just they make safubi godzilla figures and it's fantastic it's roughly around as old as that uh hedora so it's like you know the early 2000s i think so 20 years old yeah i think i think this one is is from that run um i don't know if the date is stamped on this no just gigabrain Um, but they make these odd, they had a ah few different colorways. They had like a ah red one, they had an orange one, but this blue and gold one just really like sung and they have different like molds of Godzilla too. So like, you know, this is three toe Godzilla. So I think this is 54.
00:59:53
Speaker
i don't know what the stamp is for the actual like Toho stamp on it.
Reflections and Conclusion
00:59:59
Speaker
I can't really see. Oh, there we go. But it's it's early. god Yeah. um But I just loved it.
01:00:06
Speaker
And it it like checked the box for me. Yeah, it's awesome. It was within my my price range, like comfortably within my price range. It's a great size. um And it just it's just glimmers like it's just just perfect.
01:00:20
Speaker
Um, this, I was too afraid to put in my luggage. Uh, Hedorah went right in my, into, like, I wrapped him in some clothes and just put him into my, uh, my checked bag or my, uh, my carry on, I should say.
01:00:31
Speaker
um and and he traveled fine, but I was worried about putting him. So he he was my, he became my personal item in the little like black shopping bag. He just, he just stayed with me for the, whole for the rest of the trip. But, uh, but yeah, so this was a mission accomplished on all, on all accounts.
01:00:52
Speaker
Um, very cool all parties got what they wanted, ah from, from the trip. And then, um, Of course, we we left. So at that point, we got back in ah in an Uber, went back to the airport, had ah realized that we had forgotten to eat lunch, and figured, hey, we're you know we're still in Tokyo. The airport sushi has got to be better than... like we actually made a joke. The airport sushi here is probably better than most sushi you can get at a restaurant.
01:01:21
Speaker
um We were absolutely correct in that regard. The sushi we got was just... out of this world um and then started our uh our journey back home so would looked for some uh airport omerice yeah i mean we we there weren't many food options there was like a little tiny food court in our in our terminal um that we had access to that was basically like it was like soba ramen udon like Japanese barbecue and then sushi.
01:01:53
Speaker
And we were like, let's just do the sushi. um And I'm glad we did. It was it was fantastic. But ah Japan, say that's you know, somewhere that I have wanted to visit since I was very small. Yeah.
01:02:09
Speaker
And I i got a a taste in the five or so arrow hours that I explored. And, you know, I think it's kind of funny. you know, I was talking to some people that are yeah not in our little toy circle that were like, you had five hours in Japan and you went to two shopping malls.
01:02:28
Speaker
like it's pretty sad and i was like yeah if you look at it that way um or it's not and because like you know like yeah i could have gone i was right near like the um in in the district or or prefecture that i was in i was right near some like very historic stuff like i could have gone to like an imperial like castle basically um i saw it like i looked at it as our uber drove past it on the way to the mall but uh I mean, it's just one of those things where ah culture culture is what you what you you know what you appreciate. And it's not that I don't appreciate thats that stuff. I love history. And if I had more time there, I definitely would have carved out time to do something like that.
01:03:14
Speaker
But... um I figured being laser focused on achieving something was a more efficient way to experience Tokyo and the the short time that I had.
01:03:26
Speaker
And I wouldn't change anything for the world. It was it was a fun experience. um I did it with some pretty cool people and ah and, um you know, I have an unforgettable memory. I have I have a core memory formed. um Yeah, i was going to say, it's not like you had time to go to like experience the arts or like go to a sumo match or.
01:03:47
Speaker
Yeah. And you know, like and maybe we could have gotten if if the end of the timing wouldn't have even worked like it was a Friday morning. and Like we got in at like seven o'clock in the morning, Japan time.
01:03:58
Speaker
Like it's not even like we could have gone to like a baseball game, you know, like we sure we had enough time to do that. But we were there at the time we were there at. And, you know, that's Yeah, it's not like, he oh, we have time to go to like Tokyo Disneyland. You know, yeah like, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, it was but it was it was great.
01:04:21
Speaker
um I got to see Mount Fuji from the plane. Nice. Cool. um Yeah, but all in all, like I would like now, now that I've been there and I've seen experienced a little bit of it.
01:04:36
Speaker
Now I know for sure that like I want to go back. I want to have like a full vacation there. Like I want to say I'd love to. um want to spend a full week. I want to, you know, see like Japanese nature stuff, you know, go see like an onsen, know, yeah.
01:04:54
Speaker
I told Christine, i was like, there will there will be when we go, there will be like at least a wrestling like. yeah Yeah, I mean, i would i would love i would love to go back and I would love to experience more of it.
01:05:07
Speaker
um if you're If you're listening and watching this and you you know you you're either from Japan or you've visited and you have experience, with love to we'd love to have your hit lists. you know where Where should we go you know when we when we eventually get back there you know there? There are the things, and we've mentioned them all, that are like things yeah one or both of us would want to do. like I'd want to go to a baseball game. like I'd want to go to you know, a wrestling card. I'd want to go to, you know, um, Toda Khan.
01:05:40
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I'd, I'd love to see, uh, uh, you know, uh, what do you call it? Uh, with, with the masks, um, the, like this old, the stage plays, uh, like the theater Kabuki theater. Yeah. Like I'd love to see stuff like that.
01:05:56
Speaker
Um, um, Yeah, but i in like I said, in the short time that I was there, it was awesome. We had it. We had a great time. um And, you know, i I didn't break the bank either, which was which was awesome. ah But yeah, so now I'm back ah and I'm missing it.
01:06:18
Speaker
I really am The jet lag really sucks. I was there long enough like I was in Asia long enough to like to like switch my body clock. And now being back, it's it's challenging. um Yeah, it was the same for me and in London and Paris. Like it was being being 12 hours, i you know, different 11 hours, different 12 hours different um is is really hard on the body.
01:06:45
Speaker
i think you're up as eight, especially for a short period of time. You know, it gives me enough time to to kind of acclimate and then i'll immediately have to switch back. um landing like flying home like I left at like 5 30 p.m.
01:07:00
Speaker
Japan time and I landed like 5 30 p.m. the same day the same day American time, Eastern time. And um it was just, it was brutal. Like I stayed up as but long as I could tried to sleep, but like midway through the night, my body was like, Hey, it's time to get up. And i was up at like three o'clock in the morning. It was just, it was, it was bad. And I've only now like a few days on have like recovered.
01:07:27
Speaker
Yeah, it was funny. Like, I remember being gung ho about like, oh I'm going to last. This was last year. Like, oh I'm going watch, you know, make sure I'm up for like the playoffs or anything. As it turned out, I looked and it was not on. so I was like, oh, OK, this isn't going to matter then.
01:07:43
Speaker
And the games were at like three in the morning. Dude, the craziest thing. One of the craziest things was the one morning I woke up. It was Sunday morning, Sunday morning, Vietnam time. I woke up and threw my VPN on and logged into Netflix and watched the end of Backlash at like seven o'clock in the morning.
01:08:08
Speaker
And I was like, oh, this is bizarre for anybody that's from this area that watches professional wrestling. Like the PLEs are on in the morning. Like it's crazy. Like and they would have had to you would have wake up like I watched like the last two matches and it was 7 a.m.
01:08:23
Speaker
So like if you wanted to watch that live, you're getting like four o'clock in the morning. So imagine like, OK, me watching Wrestle Kingdom when it comes on January you know fifth and it's ah on, I think, at like two in the morning.
01:08:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's just it's just crazy how that stuff works. um You know, thinking about like the global clock. Right. i But yeah, ah so that was my international. It's probably on.
01:08:54
Speaker
I forget what the when it airs, but it's like at mountain if it's on in the afternoon, think Japan, Japan is two hours closer our time from where I was in Vietnam. So.
01:09:07
Speaker
Ten hours, different figure. um So if it starts in the afternoon. It's the like early morning. Like really early morning. Yeah, it was this was the farthest I'd ever been away from home.
01:09:24
Speaker
Longest I've ever been away from my my kids. ah So it was it was very interesting, like the FaceTiming and like the talking to them and, you know, basically being on complete opposites like they were getting ready to go to bed and I was and eating breakfast and, you know, vice versa. So it's good to be back. We've got a lot of cool things to look forward to.
01:09:46
Speaker
You know, we've got some some fun guests lined up yeah for some future episodes. But um I think that about covers it for ah for this Japan trip. So ah yeah. 10 out of 10.
01:09:59
Speaker
Get get the to Tokyo. um You should you should go visit. You should go visit Tokyo. And Dave, I hope you like your little taste of ah your little surprise tastes of Tokyo. I love them. They're excellent.
01:10:11
Speaker
ah enjoy Enjoy them in good health, my brother. ah With that, Dave, um I'm actually going to send us home ah this week.
01:10:25
Speaker
Arigato. Sayonara.
01:10:30
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both in our show notes.
01:10:46
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:11:02
Speaker
Don't try this at home. Voidware prohibited and some assembly required. Each sold separately, not a flying toy. Consult a physician if your toy run exceeds more than four hours.
01:11:10
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaui. This program and many others like it on the Non-Productive Network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.
01:11:32
Speaker
i