Garamon- I am not cute, but I am valuable!

Garamon is the name of the scary character you see in the picture, a 7" inch Soft Vinyl toy ("Sofubi", abbreviation in Japanese) produced by maker Marusan, following the release and success in 1966 of the Kaijuu monsters movie "Ultra Q".

Soft Vinyl toys just started to become popular at this time, (a cheaper option to the more
expensive Tin toys). The first edition of Garamon was 300 pieces (original price 350 Yen), and it sold out very fast.


Later, Garamon popularity soared after being in the first "Ultraman" series- becoming one of the most classic characters of the show.

Meanwhile, more editions and thousands of Garamon vinyl toys were produced over the years, and nowadays some companies release the very same original shaped and sized vinyl toy for collectors and nostalgics, at resonable prices.

But, how much is a Garamon 1st edition valuable?
With only 300 pieces made at the time, the initial problem is even finding one! According to experts, only about 5 pieces are known to be in existence.

As a consequence, the value is approximately 7,000,000 Yen (about $85,000!), which makes it the most expensive japanese Soft Vinyl toy of all time.

As you can see, you do not necessarily have to be good looking,  to be popular...

Playstation Portable Monster Hunter Preorder Available!

Excited about the newest Monster Hunter ??

Disappointed to hear no word on the special bundle release outside Japan?  No worries!

Japan's special edition releases December 1st, and the preorder is now open on Rinkya Stores!

US $285.82

The Monster Hunter Portable 3rd PSP pack comes with:

Game installed

2200mAh capacity battery

New concave shape joystick

Other changes include cosmetics- speaker holes are shaped like mini paw prints, black & gold lining, guild decals

Solid Gold Chocolate! Most Expensive Chocolate Ever?

DECO Choco makes customized wrappings for little cubes of chocolate. Get your picture, your design, anything you want, on the flavor you choose.

This season's flavors are cookies and cream, hot cake and milk flavored.

MAC Style opens a new candy & gift store called "Yr. Style" in Ginza, Tokyo, and has made a solid gold DECO choco for the promotion.
The price is 1.5 million yen, which is about $20K.

You can't eat this piece of chocolate, but you can order your own DECO Chocos at any time by asking us here at Rinkya!


Check out the designs available on their homepage and we can send it you in non summer months!

Introducing Japanese Bands Volume 1- Straightener

A guest blogger from Rinkya will tell you about his favorite Japanese bands, perhaps you will learn about ones you have never heard of!!

There are so many Japanese bands, those I want to introduce.
Today, I raise one, that is my best.

Straightener is the band.

B: Hidekazu Hyuuga, D:Shinpei Nakayama, Vo&G:Atsushi Horie, G:Jun Ooyama (Left to right.)

Horie & Nakayama created the band in 1998, and at that time, a band with only 2 members was not common.
Hyuuga joined in 2004 and Ooyama did in 2008, creating the current band today of 4 members.

Though I liked the first band, I prefer the sound of the 4 members.

Especially this album,
"CREATURES"



Read more about the album after the jump!

Read more »

Bunny Butt Holds Your Iphone!

The iRabbit holds your iPhone or Mp3 player up for you, just stick his butt on and you have a convenient and CUTE stand!

US $13.00

Three colors available- Pink, white and gray!

Halloween & Yotsuya Kaidan- Japan's Most Famous Ghost!

Halloween is coming up at the end of this month... Are you concerned about what to wear?

Vampire? Witches??  If you have not decided yet,  I suggest Japan's most famous ghost "Oiwa"

There are many variations of Oiwa's story, the one I was always told is she is the ghost of a woman who was cheated on by her husband, who later poisoned her to death.  

She haunted him to avenge her death, she was violent and showed up everywhere her husband went - "Tokai dou. Yotsuya kaidan"

The ghost story of Yotsuya kaidan has been adapted numerous times in plays and movies.  "The Ring" plays homage to Oiwa with her final image looking creepily like the woman above!

You can check out more variations of the stories here!

Be one of the most famous Japanese ghosts and scare all of your friends! 

Learn this Japanese phrase to go along with your costume- "U ra me shi ya"  ("I'll curse you till you die")

We have a few different Oiwa costumes available for purchase from Japan, check them out here!

The Tower of Sun: one Osaka's symbol turns 40!

Exactly 40 years has already passed since the famous Avant-garde artist Tarou Okamoto delivered what became his greatest and famous work, the "Tower of Sun".
The art was commissioned by organizers of Expo '70, the memorable international cultural fair which took place in Suita (a location near Osaka) and lasted for about 6 months, with an amazing audience of 64,218,770 visitors!

The "Tower of Sun" became the symbol of the entire show and was preserved at the end of the Expo, continuing to be a tourist attraction today-  in what is now named "Expo Commemoration Park".

The controversial monument (height 70 meters) is both loved and despised since the early days.
However, it became an icon of the 70's pop culture and you can find hundreds of commemorative little models depicting it today. A whole range is available, from high priced original numbered & certified pieces for art collectors, to cheaper plastic souvenirs, etc.

If this monument brings you nice memories and you wish a souvenir to celebrate the historic event, you can find it on Rinkya!

Happy Birthday, 太陽の塔 !!

Beautiful Japanese Printed, Ceramic Knives!

Why didn't we think of this first?

Gorgeous knives, with printed blades from Minova.

The production of knives in Japan, started in the 16th century and keeps getting better. No one makes a knife better than the Japanese. Each one of these knives is an amazing piece of art and quintessentially, Japanese.

US $274.75

Tour of Shiro-Hige Cream Puff Factory! Miyazaki Totoro Cream Puffs!

At Shiro-Hige Cream Puff Factory, you can get delicious cream puffs in the likeness of Totoro.

We were lucky enough to get behind the scenes to see how these little guys are made!

Shiro-Hige has a special iron cast where they bake them in small batches in the oven.


After the totoros are nice and crisp, they cut off the bottoms and prepare them for the delicious cream filling! There is the standard chocolate and vanilla-creme, however, the third flavor is seasonal. Right now, in the Fall, we had peach cream.
The final step is putting the little eyes, nose and either a leaf or a hat on each one of the totoros.
Hiro-Shige Cream Puff Factory is one of the few outside companies with a legal contract to be able to use Totoro's likeness from Studio Ghibli.


They make and sell over 250 per day except for their day off, Monday. In fact, you have to call in advance if you would like for them to specially make a fresh batch for you, since they sell out every single day. Each totoro costs between 390 yen - 430 yen.
Shiro-Hige Creme Puff Factory is located 2 stops from Shimo-Kita-Zawa on the Inokashira line at Takaido. The magic of Hayao Miyazaki even tastes good!
You can visit their website here.

Japanese records: a matter of sound & look!

What benefit could bring you the purchase of a music recording on a Japanese edition, instead of a regular local edition that you can find in the record store near your place?

The Japanese market gets exclusive titles and editions unreleased elsewhere. Recordings,  jackets, colored vinyl records, promotional materials- you name it, Japan will get it and you won't.


Let's take the vinyl record for example which remains a favorite amongst a loyal niche of consumers who love its unique and natural sound.
The remarkable quality of the Japanese recordings, emphasizes even more of those characteristics, it also is  a solid heavy manufacture, which give it more stability on the plate during spinning.

The sound is not all you want, however, the eyes must be satisfied!  And here we know Japanese are masters as usual. The jacket and inserts are usually full of surprises.

Learn more about Japanese records & the "OBI" below!

Read more »

Revival from 1988! Nubo!

Nubo was a chocolate snack that was produced in 1988, and vanished a long time ago.
Nubo was always recognizable by its' mascot-  a cute, fat little chickee!


This October, the snack is re-released  into a new steamed cake.

It is sweet, fluffy, soft and for all the health nuts- it also includes DHA for a healthy brain!

The guy with glasses is Tashiro Masashi,  a famous celebrity in the 80s who was a spokesperson for Nubo, but later was arrested for using drugs and being a peeping tom. Oops!



Comes in vanilla and chocolate flavor, 2 to a pack for 105 yen. We do not  officially sell these on our site, but if you are desperate for some DHA, I am sure we can make arrangements.

Porcelain Buddha- Guest Blogger Post on Living in Japan!

Ahh... the bright white vision of porcelain heaven.

Many memories shared here, reading magazines, playboys, or the maker of your toilet paper company. Whether it was a twelve pack of bud light, (keystone, if you were poor) or some Indian food, our friend was always there to comfort us in time of need.
Well, in Japan toilets are a whole new kind of comfort and I think I will call this one, the porcelain Buddha, because poop like this is how it should be.
A toilet seat packed with +10 armor, +15 butt cleaning and +20 to "insert word here" cleaners, ahh and that it does...

Before I go on with this fabulous invention, I have a few things to say about the old school Japanese toilet.  Actually, I will use only three words to describe this abomination. Crap on pants! Yup, the porcelain toilet from Lucifer himself.

Read more about the old & new Japanese toilets by clicking below!

Read more »

Q-Pot Halloween 2010 Collection!

Q-pot's annual Halloween collection is very popular and only sold for a limited time, thus making them very rare and hard to get!

Rinkya was able to get some and we have the Halloween items here for you!

We only are showing two on the blog here, so check out the whole Q Pot Rinkya Store for exclusive Halloween items, over 30 items available!!

Ryo Ishikawa: the boy in our lives

If you are in Japan these days, most likely young 18 year old professional golfer Ryo Ishikawa is the person you will have the chance to see the most.
Chances are you will see young Ishikawa at least once a day!

I was impressed about the quantity of sponsorship that he keeps being offered. I counted around 50 sponsorships the young Ishikawa is leading at the moment, but might be even much more.

You might be seated watching japanese TV, the CM breaks in, and you see this young guy driving happily 3 children around the country on his new car, ...and at a certain point you might be wondering "...hey wait! Wasn't he the same guy aiming so badly for a Mc Donalds burger two commercials ago??".

Read more »

Dwarf? Pixie? Fairy- Kobitozukan!!

"Kobitozukan", are popular items in Japan, an encyclopedia of  fairies/dwarves.

The second series of models is out this week in Japan!

All available at Rinkya Stores via Japan Trend Gadjet!

Super Mario Anniversary 25th Edition NIntendo DSI Pre Order!

Exclusive to Japan, Nintendo has released a red Nintendo DSI to commemorate the 25th anniversary of everyone's favorite plumber- Mario!


Available on Rinkya Stores!

US $210.86

Happy Anniversary Super Mario!! Cannot wait to see what Nintendo does next!

Japanese McDonald's New, Weird Chicken Burgers!

To be released October 8th, 2010.
McDonald's Japan announces its new series; "Meeting European Foods".
4 kinds of chicken burgers:

1) Chicken Cheese Fondu
2) Chicken German Sausage
3) Chicken Carbonara
4) Chicken Diavolo

Limited to only 250 restaurants, we'll see how well they do! How do you think they look?

We all know how they are made! YUMMY!
http://gizmodo.com/5654066/chicken-nuggets-are-made-from-this-pink-chicken-goop

Japanese Potato Chips- UME x WASABI & CHEESE x CONSOMME

The recipe for a hit food product in Japan is "Igaisei". "Igaisei" is the unpredictability of the flavor, smell, or texture one would expect from similar products.

Companies pump out thousands each year in search of the next big hit.

Calbee's new attempt at rippled chips feature the collaboration of the Japanese consumer's favorite flavors, Ume x Wasabi & Cheese x Consomme.

They got Cheese & Consomme right! It's a mouthful of Potato Gratin without the burnt tongue. You should try it if you get the chance!

Kamen Rider Notebook & iPad Cases Just Released!

Sick of boring cases to protect your precious?

Behold the most awesome cases you can get to protect your computer from Shocker brainwashing and world domination.

12.1 inch notebook size, or perfect for your iPad.

Comes in 3 different versions of awesome.

US $48.77

US $48.77

US $48.77

Source: October 1st. Tokyo Walker.

Amazing Floral Art From A Photo!!

I stumbled across this amazing floral shop in Japan that creates a flower arrangement based on a photo!

Take a look at some of the amazing designs:

French Bulldog

Carey!

Adorable Baby Boy!

A stunning couple, makes a great wedding gift!

Prices range from 3500 yen (a small floral arrangement) to approximately 40000 yen *_* (wedding one)

Absolutely beautiful design, it is amazing the detail they go into!  Hope you enjoyed!

Engrish in the Onsen!

I thought my foot might be feeling a little frisky, but who knew there was this lotion to take care of that problem!!