Sanei Boueki Plush Dolls – A Fluffy World

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 If you are after faithfully reproduced fluffy game characters like Mario & Co., Sanei Boueki is your brand! Besides their best-selling plush toy series, the Super Mario All Star Collection, you find many more cuddly friends to gather up.
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Due to my activities in the past when living and working in Japan, I curiously started to develop a fondness for a couple of Japanese toy companies. One of those is Sanei Boueki (三英貿易・さんえいぼうえき; San-ei Boueki), which grew somehow dear to me. If you are a fan of game merchandise and Japanese popculture collectibles, the name should ring some bells, but I want to introduce it a little further with this article. Welcome to the Sanei’s plushy world!

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Super Dragon Ball Heroes Card Game

20170330_Super Dragon Ball Heroes HeaderSince my last pop-culture related post nearly 2 years have passed and it was more or less about the same subject 😝 With all the community and fan blogs on anime and manga out there I’m never able to keep pace, so I rather choose to focus on other areas. I make an exception with this article though as I did at the time when I wrote about the release of Dragon Ball Super 🔗. Back then, it was also the first time I learned about Dragon Ball Heroes (ドラゴンボールヒーローズ; DBH) and actually intended to make a post about it. However, priorities changed and I left it on the side. Now, I incidentally came across the topic again just recently and it bugged me that I never managed to write that post. So I shall pick it up once more and set about this article under the motto, better late than never 😄 Here we go!

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It should have become an ordinary afternoon. School is finished and homework is done, you and your friends rally to the favorite spot in town, the local game center to immerse in carefree hours of play and to talk shop about Dragon Ball – your favorite hobby! But things turn out totally different, as you suddenly get sucked into the game with heart and soul, the moment you place down those cards onto the gaming machine monitor…

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AmazonGlobal Otaku and Popular Character Stores at amazon.co.jp

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amazon.co.jp got you settled with everything you need, directly from Japan to your door steps!

A few months ago, back in October 2016, I posted the first version of this article, however, a change corrupted some of the settings😤 and it’s no longer appearing properly on Google (sigh, technology 😩!), which lead me to post this again. Might have been a WordPress glitch, but I hope the new article stays unaffected. The former article I left as is though, as some visitors might still strand there (see Edition History on the bottom⬇). The main content remains mostly the same except for some minor editing. Well, here we go again🏃💨!

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The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary

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Played them all? For me personally, I like the titles up and until the Ocarina of Time best, whereby The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for the Gameboy and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo are my favorites. What is yours?
2016 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most popular game series with Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説ゼルダのでんせつ; Zeruda no Densets) and beloved game characters, the legendary adventurer Link (リンク). A character counting to the inner most circle of the expansive Nintendo line of heroes. Time to write a little tribute on this iconic game and its courageous hero!

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Popin’ Cookin’ DIY Candy Kits ‘Fun Sushi Shop’ by Kracie

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This post is featuring the making of ‘sushi’ sweets with the ‘Fun Sushi Shop’ (楽しいお寿司屋さん・たのしいおすしやさん) DIY kit in the Popin’ Cookin’ Chef Series, produced by the Japanese food and pharmaceutical multi concern Kracie (クラシエ) and available, for instance on amazon.co.jp in lots of 5 or 10.

As we go towards the end of the year 🎅🎄, you might wanna try something new with your youngsters or for yourself, besides the traditional cookie making. There is a variety of 10+ such cute DIY kits 🍬🍭 you may choose from, differing in style and flavor (a list on the bottom of this article). In Japan they are categorized as Education Sweets (知育菓子・ちいくかし) for kids (3 – 12 years) to sensitize them from an early age on for the respectful handling of foods and to nurture their imagination by hands on experience. However, they are not only kids’ stuff, as nowadays they enjoy huge popularity at home and abroad with people of all ages. For a start, I tried myself on the ‘Fun Sushi Shop’ kit 🍣, which totally lived up to its name, making for a joyous pastime at this time of season. Let’s see how I did and get down to cookin’!

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Amazon.co.jp rolls out Otaku and Popular Character Stores

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Originally I had planned a mini series for October, unfortunately though this drowned in work and I had to give it up. Still on my ‘Creative Break’ and finding myself with not enough time at hand for research and translations in recent months, there is something I like to make a quick post about today.

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