Snapped this pic while shopping and taking care of some biz in J-land. From Akihabara… where else?

It’s almost over! *sobs*

But there IS a silver lining, yo!

As I sit here in my small, smokey, but homey hotel room posting this on my laptop with 33 minutes until checkout (time which will be obliterated due to my meticulous grooming habits), I would like to guarantee you that I will have enough articles, interviews, stories, and pictures to fill up this damn blog for weeks when I get back to the office. This has been a mind-blowing trip, all the way down to losing my bag on the second day thanks most probably to an overzealous apartment manager.

We also have more goodies coming! TG has found 2 more buyers and will be fully-stocked for Christmas! It’s October, dammit! Get on the ball!

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A massive shout-out goes out to Yaoi-con. Everybody was so friendly and kind to us that we had no problem volunteering and would do it again in a minute. We’d start naming names, but there are a lot of them and they are being saved for out YC wrap-up post coming soon.

Rock on.

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Taro Aso is the new prime minister, as we mentioned. Akihabara stores have picked up on this and even made special omiyage for him. I am yet to confirm if they’ve worked in his line about ‘rich Jews.’

Bit much on that one, eh Aso-san?

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Japanator continues to convince me that they’ve hired a clone of TG’s marketing dude to work for them. Melt Banana in the artist spotlight, who has been hanging out with homedude since the late 90s? Check. Posts about Masaki Ito being hotter than five fires? Check. Shout-out to Metallica’s Japanese-bands-only-except-for-some-band-I-could-give-a-damn-about tribute album? Damn skippy check.

We love them so it doesn’t matter. Stop by the next con and we’ll go drink tall boys in the parking lot, foxes.

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Buying rounds on this trip were heavy on time compression, but we got some amazing goods. Cells, toys, Hello Kitty stuff, study cards, books, and of course DOUJIN DOUJIN DOUJIN. Expect a few mind-blowing updates upon our jet-lagged and sleeping pill-fueled return to the US.

Now off to finish the leaving preparation. On the one day that it’s not gray in a week!

DAMN YOU TOKYO!!!!

A Japanese woman addicted to comics reportedly turned to the Internet to look for someone to kill her parents, after they asked her to clear out her cartoon-filled room.

News reports say the 36-year-old woman – who is unemployed and lives at home – filled up three rooms with several thousand comic books and videotapes she had collected with an allowance her grandmother sent her.

She reportedly became angry after her parents told her to throw away some of her comic books to make space for her sister who was planning to move in.

The reports say she posted a message on the Internet asking for someone to kill her mother, who manages a bar in Tokyo, and her father.

Police intervened after being notified are seeking to charge her with intimidation.