20.2.15

Mai Lucky Day

Around the 10th of November, a festival called Tori no Ichi is celebrated throughout Japan. The festival originated in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, during the Edo period (when Tokyo was still called Edo), and has evolved since then into a national phenomenon dedicated toward summoning luck before the new year. Temples and shrines set up massive marketplaces full of festival foods and booths selling all kinds of charms and trinkets, particularly engi kumade, or "lucky rakes." These lucky rakes vary greatly in size and complexity, but the basic design includes a bamboo rake and sheaves of rice. The purpose of the rake is to "rake in the luck," as symbolized by the sheaves of rice - which actually, in turn, symbolize cold, hard cash.

(Tori no Ichi celebrations in Asakusa)

Why cold hard cash? Because Tori no Ichi is a festival dedicated to praying for commercial success more than anything else. Take a close look around any shop, restaurant, or other business in Japan, and you're likely to see an engi kumade hanging somewhere on the wall. Merchants purchase the engi kumade during Tori no Ichi and display it on the wall throughout the year, in hopes of attracting good business. When the year is up, the merchant must bring the engi kumade back to the shrine where it was purchased and offer a prayer before purchasing a new one for the next year. If the business grew over the course of the year, a larger, more imposing engi kumade is in order for next year. These engi kumade can be a meter wide or more, and can include all kinds of wild decorations, all with symbolic meaning. Common elements include daruma dolls, mini-lanterns, cranes, pine branches, bamboo leaves and plum blossoms (a New Year's good-luck symbol called sho-chiku-bai...fun fact, the "chiku" in sho-chiku-bai means "bamboo," but the same kanji is also used to spell the word "bakuchiku," which I think you all know), lucky fish, lucky cats, and images of the faces of the Seven Gods of Luck (Shichi Fukujin), especially Benzaiten, goddess of wisdom, wealth, music, art, and female beauty.

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Here's Benzaiten...

(this famous statue of Benzaiten is located
in her shrine on Enoshima Island, Kanagawa prefecture)

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And here are some typical engi kumade...




...which brings me to my main point, which is the extra special original handmade engi kumade pictured below. Come the New Year, it appeared mysteriously on the bathroom of a certain bar we're rather fond of..but something tells me that's not Benzaiten on there.


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Props for the hanging bat and the toll-tally lucky drumsticks...but however appealing a handmade plushie of Imai Hisashi's head may be, I still have a feeling that Acchan-chan would say that this engi kumade needs more lucky cats.


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Live and learn! And no, I'm not telling you where the bar is. Go out and find it for yourself.

13.2.15

Fish Tanker's Only 2014 Report

It's past midnight and officially Friday the 13th in Japan, and Cayce's photo-annotated mini-report of the Fish Tanker's Only Tour 2014 is now up over at This is NOT Greatest Site.

Are you jonesing for box wine?

Are you a card-carrying card collector?

Do you like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, but only when used as smutty euphemisms?



If the graphic above represents how you feel about the items above the graphic above, then boy is this the live report for you! And if you enjoyed reading, please leave a comment below. As always, thank you for your support.

5.2.15

Metaform Nights Live Report

A live report of Tour 2014 Metaform Nights (or Anarchy!) is now up over at This is NOT Greatest Site. It takes me a lot of time and effort to write articles like this, so if you enjoyed reading, please leave a comment here. I will be also be posting a short report of the Fish Tanker's Only Tour 2014 sometime soon, so stay tuned!


"Ohww yes!"



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"Hell yes!"


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"Squee~~~ yes!"


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"Fuck yes!"


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Come and get it.


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4.2.15

Fifty Flowers of Evil

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The following advertisement just appeared in this week's issue of The Hisashi Inquirer.

The media may currently be excited about the upcoming 50 Shades of Grey movie sex toy tie-ins, but it appears that Victor Entertainment would like to announce here and now that they will be releasing a tie-in of their own.


(Not that kind of tie-in. Sorry, fans.)
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In honor of the all-new DVD/Blu-Ray release of Aku no Hana: The Video Album...

Victor Entertainment Presents!

'50 Shades of B-T'




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From the makers of "National Media Boys"...





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"Maboroshi no Miyako"...


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..."Pleasure Land"...




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..."Misty Blue"...





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..."Kiss Me Good-Bye"...





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...and "Love Me"...






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comes an all-new collection...

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'Ladyflowers of Evil'


Remaster her pleasure space...


Feel, have an OX boozy style.


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(Advertisement brought to you by Vxxtor Entertainment in cooperation with Sxxxing Hands, Inc. and the Hisashi Inquirer. Cayce had nothing to do with it. If you don't quite catch the drift here, reread the lyrics to "Dizzy Moon." As for OX, it's Russian for the big O. I mean Oh. I mean, please me, OX yes.)

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