Blogs from Japan 2003-2006

I've had my mate Nick from back home here with me the past few days. We've been everywhere : up Tocho in Shinjuku, had food by Tokyo Tower, drank beer till 3 in Gaspanic in Shibuya, had Yakiniku in Harajuku with Naomi, had Izakaya night in Shibuya, took a boat along Sumida, went to Meiji Shrine, walked through Yoyogi park at night, went to Sensoji temple in Asakusa and had Yoshinoya, drank lots of coffee al fresco around Shinjuku and Ochanomizu. Now he's off to see his brother in Yamaguchi ken. Lucky sod!
So, I start my new job on October the 1st. Before then, they've asked me to think about the characters we can use for the children's textbook I will be creating. At first I thought of flying strawberries and helicpoter apples and bouncing grapes, but now I'm thinking more along the lines of animals with their favourite foods stuck to their bellies. These characters will travel by flying apple-ship or some kind of bus. Man, I can't believe this will be my job!! These characters are for toddlers aged 0-4, so I concluded they've got to be pretty simple, have big smiley faces and be based on something familiar to them. And animals and food and vehicles seems to be the focus of most little people in Japan. For the older kids I can be more adventurous I think, seeing as the current fave is pocketmonsters for boys and super hero princesses for the girls. Anyway, I got a bit of time off before I start so I'm going to try and draw them and develop their characters. I was thinking of giving them all specific personalities. I think kids like that. Even tiny kids. So, Penguin might fall over alot, Monkey might climb around all the time, Panda will fall asleep all the time, Rabbit will always be munching away on lettuce or carrots, and Giraffe won't be able to fit anywhere cause his neck's too long. Anyway, just getting some ideas together for now...It's good fun!