Stamp Larry
Stamp Rally's are an interesting part of Japanese culture. A series of ink stamps are scattered around various locations and people collect them on a leaflet or book. These can be found on hiking trails, all the train stations around Tokyo, or at events (such as the Spiderman one). Because of the "l" and "r" swap-a-round, it sounds much more like Larry.
Collaborating with Pokemon's 10th anniversary*, JREast (Japan Railways East Japan) is conducting a Pokemon Rally this month. Each train station has a different pocket monster stamp to collect. They must be making a fortune on train tickets because each station I pass has hundreds of kids in Pikachu hats, with their parents looking thrilled to be running around Tokyo in the 36plus humidity. I didn't realise how popular the anime/games still are.
After 6 stamps, you can receive a prize from the station master but, if you collect all 50 or so (which is a lot of travelling!), you can claim a special prize. The map is here but below is the area around my home station. Sadly, we have a really ugly brown butterfly thing; three stops away is Pikachu.
Yesterday, we went to the fireworks in Odaiba, and look who we bumped into:
The Toyota Showcase had its own Pokemon Stamp Rally inside the building. I was a green turtle monster, of course. There was also a stage show.
*Actually, 2006 was the 10 year anniversary but the scheme was so popular they've brought it back!
2 comments:
Not being a huge Pokemon fan myself I wasn't convinced about a whole Stamp Rally devoted to the subject, but still it looks like a lot of fun which you both enjoyed.
Mum
P.S. Where are all your other readers? I'm the only one who has left a comment for ages! In the words of Delia Smith "let's be having you" (so to speak)
No-one reads it anymore. Or maybe, when they search for the site, they spell my name wrong and can't find it.
Either way, in the words of Tiffany "I think we're alone now".
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