わたし、ひっこします！！

After five lovely years in Boston, I will be moving in the end of March for my new job in Tokyo.

ボストンでの素敵な五年間を終え、三月末に東京の新しい仕事のため引っ越す事になりました。

Sad to leave bean-town but I’m excited to begin a new life in kaiju City.

ビーンタウンを去るのは寂しいですが、怪獣シティで始まる新しい生活にわくわくします。

Here’s me joining the corporate force of Tokyo.

これが「企業社会での私」の予想図です。

Salary woman

Until we actually begin working in April, the company gave us (new-hires) homework – to write a report on what we “treasure” in life.

入社するまでの間、新入社員には会社から「わたしの宝物」という題でのレポートが課題として出されました。

Of course, my topic was about my small, yet, precious kaiju collection!

私のトピックはもちろん小さいながらも大切な怪獣コレクション！

Here’s where it all started…

始まりはここからでした

 I got this Elmo when I was two and he’s been my best friend ever since.

このエルモは２歳のときにもらって以来、ずっと親友です。

And here are more of my favorites:

その他のお気に入りの子たち：

Gotosan-painted clear rainbow UAMOU／後藤さんペイントの透明虹色ウアモウ

Max Toy Vintage-ish Booska／マックストイのブースカ

A hand-painted gift from Dream Rocket Yajima-san／ドリロケ矢嶋さんからのプレゼント

My Shikaruna Bunny and gifts from TR／シカルナ工房のうさぎちゃんとロビさんからのプレゼント

Disaster Relief edition Mitari-chan／復興支援限定品のみたりちゃん

Hopefully my colleagues won’t think I’m weird, haha.

同僚に変なやつだと思われないといいけど。

I’m SO going to ride this Gojira slide when I’m in Japan…

日本に着いたらこのゴジラのすべり台で遊ぶんだっ！

こんにちわ！

It’s been a long time since my last post, despite all the news-worthy events like Todd Robertson x Blobpus Collabo Project, In Living Kolor Boston, and Todd’s Solo exhibit RELEASE.

前回の記事からTodd Robertson x Blobpus Collabo Project, In Living Kolor Boston, そして Todd’s Solo exhibit RELEASEなど記事になるようなイベントがたくさんあったにも関わらず、だいぶ時間が経ってしまいました。ごめんなさい。。。

I painted my first kaiju toy using an airbrush at In Living Kolor.  Thank you Monster Kolor and Lot F Gallery!

In Living Kolorのイベントでははじめて自分で怪獣をペイントしました。Monster KolorさんとLot F Galleryさんありがとうございました！

Due to neighbor’s complaints about paint fumes in our apartment, Todd got a work studio in South Boston with his friend Will Long as a studio-mate.  Todd now has a studio that is 10 times bigger than his last mini studio in the apartment!

さて、隣人の苦情によりロビさんはアパートにあったスタジオ（プレハブだったけど）を引っ越しせざるを得なくなり、友達のWill Long君といっしょに南ボストンに仕事用スタジオを借りる事になりました。今までのミニスタジオとは打って変わって１０倍ぐらい大きいです！おめでと〜

There are a bunch of new projects going on in here…. Unfortunately, no sneak peaks today, but stay tuned!

新しいプロジェクトがいろいろと進んでいるのですが、写真はNGということで公式リリースフォトが出るまでご期待願います。。。

Sketchy! お兄さん恐いよ。

The only sneak peak picture in this post　唯一のスニークピーク写真

Will Looooongggg　ウィル君！

My friend.　お友達

Transportation　通勤手段

Karaoke?　カラオケ？

Todd, me, James & Kate (and Kaiju, their dog) went to Northampton, MA

to attend the Monster Invitational Group Show reception at FOE Gallery.

Here is just a fraction of the show.

Too see more of the pieces, check out the FOE Gallery online store.

The first week we were back in Boston, we were suffering from the time difference causing never-ending naps…

I was just lazy the from the second week on. (Sorry!)

So, here are some pictures from us of the 2011 June Pachi Summit.

For a better review of the event, check out Kaiju Korner’s article!

View from our seat

Cranking out "Robi-san" flyers!!

We were neighbors with Wombat Toys (a.k.a Marmit?)

My papa

Raffle toy battle

Wombat toy

Another gaijin! (FigLab rep)

Fig lab stuff

BLObPUS clear w/ sparkles

Enma sculpt.... OMG!!!!

This event was a great finale for our Japan trip.

It was an awesome trip.

You should go too, especially if you don’t have dental insurance and you need to fix a cavity. Haha.

By the way this is Todd at airport security explaining toys are not dangerous.

Photo by secret agent Maiya-chan

Unfortunately, the weather was not at its best condition,

but one of the good things about Kyoto is that it is still as beautiful in the rain.

Inari Fushimi Shrine

Todd's new sculpt? Maybe?

Beginning of a long walk

Absolutely amazing

Prayed for our success at Pachisummit

We stopped by at Gion and saw a few Maiko-sans (Geisha in training)

Wish I had more time in Kyoto, but I was getting a raging headache so I had to go home : (

Was not feeling great on the Shinkansen nor on the train ride home,

plus I puked a bit in front of my station (sorry city cleaners…), but made it home safely.

if you are eating something, you might want to put that down for a second.

Also, just so you know, I did get permission from Todd to post these pictures.

If any of you are friends with Todd, you may know about his on-going dental drama.

He has already spent over $300, and the only treatment he’s got

was a quarter of his mouth cleaned.

My mother and I have been telling him about Japanese dentistry;

how it is so much cheaper (even without insurance) and better service.

Today Todd and I went to my dentist, a usual check-up for me and

an examination for Todd (with possible treatments).

In the waiting room... not excited

After a quick look, the doctor spotted 6 cavities and old fillings that needed to be re-filled.

At Todd’s dentist in Boston, they did not spot all of these problems, even with X-rays.

WTF??? Typical American medical system…

Todd had his top and bottom section cleaned:

Cleaning...

Clean!!!

Drilling next...

Then got 6 of his cavities fixed:

Drilling...

All done! Before & After images

Check out the amazing dental work!

Sorry for the gross image (Bottom is bellow, top is after)

Top left is after, others are before

Overall Charge: 25,000yen

Top cleaning: 3,000yen

Bottom cleaning: 3,000yen

3,000yen/cavity

(one cavity was on the house!)

with no insurance!!!!

VS. Boston Dentist:

$85 cleaning

$97+ per cavity

$250 scaling (1/4 section of mouth)

Overall message… brush 3 times a day, floss, and get your insurance on…

Or you can come to Japan and have a good time and an awesome dental experience!

Todd is still a little sad, he has a slightly cracked tooth, which may need a root canal.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to deal with that tooth : (

Anyways, thank you Park Dental Clinic in Fujisawa city, and Doctor Otsuka!!

We’ll be back for next year’s check up, hopefully ; )

Haul from the Dentist

He is very bad-ass

Our gift for Mori finally found a home

The new store only had new releases for toys, but carried different kinds of random stuff.

Strawberry cake... chair?

Todd deciding what to get...

He got a small Tanuki with big balls!

Mori was super cool.

We finally found you Mori!!

Check out Kaiju Korner for a full detailed article!

There are many temples and historical artifacts left today, and is a popular tourist site.

If you know the right area, you can enjoy the old Japanese temples and beautiful nature

without all the other tourists.

My parents are hardcore geo-cachers (they are ranked #10 in Japan),

and they do not mess around in the Kamakura area since it is in their neighborhood.

Today, my mom took us to the Big Buddha at Kotokuin temple.

Cleanse yourself before entering the temple

It's huge.

His sandals

Gift shop

I don't know why he needs a bib

Here are some pics from lunch:

Kamakura local beer

Curry plate

Tofu Burger plate

Shrimp and Avocado savory waffles

Hase-dera (Hase temple) :

Incents

a lot.

We went into a cave. Buddha's in here too.

Hi!

Major big day.

It’s dinner with Yajima-san from Dream Rockets and Yo from Max Toy Company.

We met up with them in Shinjuku, the drinking central of Tokyo.

We spotted Yo right away. He brought his lady with him…

(I’m talking about his blank Grey Lady Maxx keychain on his backpack.)

Soon we found Yajima-san.

He was super obvious; not a lot of middle-aged men in Japan can rock a Monster Kolor T-shirt.

Where's my size small Tshirt, Matt?

We brought special gifts (Todd’s custom painted pieces) for both Yajima-san and Yo.

Yajima-san gave us two beautifully painted Hedoras,

which we could not take our eyes off the whole night.

Thank you Yajima-san!

We had a great night talking about things like differences in two cultures in the Kaiju business,

Japanese artists and American artists,

and showing pictures of old and new projects.

Thank you Yajima-san and Yo!

Luckily, this time they were open.

Here are some pics.

"The Cage"

Along the way, there are a bunch of amazing street art.

Here are some that we found.

Neck Face

Space Invader

JR?

Lady Gaga?