Meitetsu Girl

Year in review of Meitetsu Girl, the giant mannequin outside of the Meitetsu Department Store. 

Her official name is "Nan-chan Doll" and is a popular meeting spot for locals (and KG, too). 

I walk by her every day on the way to and from work, so I got to see every outfit change (unless I was on a business trip, I suppose)!

Christmas bulbs for the holiday season

 

The only repeat outfit I saw all year:

worn on Jan 1st and July 1st to advertise the two "sale" periods in Japan!

Nurse Appreciation Week?!

Not sure what this one is advertising...

Sailor girl

Cinco de Mayo?!  LOL... I really have no clue!

Chunichi Dragons uniform: Baseball season begins :)

Summer sundress and the Asahi rooftop beer garden.

Beach time!

One day I caught them in the middle of changing her!

Summer trend in Japan!

Yukata = Summer kimono

Back of yukata

Another trendy outfit

I really wish I could read these sashes she wears, so I know what she's advertising!

Summer wedding season?!

Check out her giant bling-bling ring!

A little puzzled by this one, too, but wearing the traditional Japanese jackets and using a handheld fan...

This one is for a new blend of Georgia canned coffee. 

It even plays an audio commentary if you press a button on the wall!

Japanese warrior in celebration of Nagoya's 400th Anniversary!

Latest and greatest outfit this week. 

I'm guessing it has to do with "Cosplay", which is short for "costume play" and often based on Japanese animated characters.  Maybe there is some kind of Cosplay event going on in or around Nagoya?!

Happy New Year!!

After an excellent 10 days in the USA, I am back in Japan and ready to start to 2010. Right now the Japanese are crazy for anything tiger-related since 2010 is the Year of the Tiger!! Here is the hand-painted figurine I have on my desk at work. That's right ~ Peace, Baby!! My first day back to work in Japan was actually a half day. We got the afternoon off to celebrate the New Year. My General Manager decided we should all take our free afternoon and go visit the most famous shrine in Nagoya to say our New Year prayers.

The approach to the Atsusa Shrine. It was a mob scene lined with special little stands selling Japanese festival foods, tiger trinkets, and other good luck charms.

You had to wait patiently (or fight the crowd, depending on your perspective) to get to the front of the shrine to toss your yen, bow twice, clap twice, pray silently for the New Year, and bow once more before you retreat. You choose the yen coin you believe is most appropriate for your wish. For example, if you throw 1 yen (1 cent) then your wish isn't very important, and you don't care about it too much. So I opted for the 10 yen (11 cents), but I did see a couple bills tossed onto the shrine, and the smallest bill is 1000 yen ($11)!!! I guess they really need their wish this year!

People everywhere you look. One guy I was with said the only place that had worse lines was Disney World in Orlando, Florida!! By the way, I found out that there are over 80,000 shrines in all of Japan!! Considering I've been to 10 or 12 already, I thought I was nearly done with them. I'm pretty sure that's not the case! (In fact, today I was invited to take a weekend trip to visit some shrines with a girl from work, but unfortunately I will be on a business trip during that time period.)

One friend I was with elected to buy a "fortune slip" for 200 yen.

If you like your fortune, you take the slip home with you, keep it for 2010, and hope it comes true. If the fortune is not good for you, it gets tied to some twine at the shrine, as my friend is doing.

You can see the shrine workers are replacing the twine because it is so full of discarded fortunes. That's a lot of crap fortunes for 200 yen a piece!!

Just down the road was (not surprisingly) another shrine. This one (Akiba Shrine) was considerably less busy.

By the way, every shrine that people tell me about (or I visit) is described as the "most important" or "most venerable" or "oldest" or "most popular", etc. It's funny how each shrine has some claim to fame!!

Lastly, I leave you with a new pic of the Meitetsu Girl. Remember from my Christmas blog when she was dressed in pink Christmas bulbs?! Now she is advertising the bi-annual Japan sales, which occur on January 2nd and July 1st. I am told there are some great deals to be found right now, but I just got plenty of new stuff when I was in the States, so I can't think of anything I should be shopping for!!

Merry Christmas!!

By the time most people read this update I will be on a plane to Michigan!! I'm so excited to see my family, visit with friends, and be reunited with Clifford (my Big Red Car)! From Dec 23rd to Jan 2nd, you can reach me (call or text!) on my old work cell phone (859-757-8683) or at my parents house.

Even though Nagoya has pretty mild weather, I still manged to get into the holiday spirit. They have great light displays every where you look and stores were always playing American Christmas tunes. Here's a few of my favorite sights that I've been saving up for a special Christmas blog:

She's called the "Meitetsu Girl" and was the first thing I took a picture of when I arrived in Nagoya on Nov 6th! She's in front of the Meitetsu Department Store and Train Line that I will be taking to the airport. Her outfits get changed for each season and/or holiday. I can't wait to see her new ensemble in January :)

Japan loves cartoon characters so much that many places have their own cartoon mascots, even the city of Nagoya!! Here's Mr. & Mrs. Nagoya wishing you a Merry X'mas! Cute Asian girl driving Santa's sleigh can be found on every street corner!

Light display with special "icicle" lights that actually move to look like they are dripping!

Remember my post about the lighting of Nagoya Station? Here's the area directly underneath the giant wall of lights. It's a walkway of lights.

And, of course, you can get your picture taken with your favorite lighted cartoon character.

All Japanese characters that I'm unfamiliar with, but nonetheless entertaining!

Awesome holiday trees.

One mall (Esca) had a "Rudolph" theme!

Christmas tree at a department store... all of the ornaments are little sweaters!

This one is just plain creepy! I have no idea why that deer in the background looks so real and the cartoon reindeer has a face like a person and a dot in the middle of his forehead...

Common Japanese pork chain restaurant. They also dressed up their mascot!

Saving the best for last... There is a cool skyscraper in Nagoya that makes neat designs from their office lights. It was really tough for me to catch because in the evenings people would still be working and the wrong lights would often be on. But at 10pm or later you could get the full effect. Here's one side...

... and the other side!! It's like a work of art!! I love how they even have different colors.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I will see many of you very soon, and everyone gets a break from the blog for about 10 days :)