M Dash 27 - Blog by Hecko X

Happy Chinese New Year 2012

Hecko X — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:31:01 +0000

This video goes out to all my Asian friends; hope y’all had an awesome new year.

The art in the video was drawn/painted by marydoodle, an absolutely amazing artist whose videos you should subscribe to right fucking now.

I’m waiting…
…
…
…
Close enough – enjoy.

P.S. Yuan, you still owe me committee cakes, FFFFFFFFF.

The Golden Age of Video

Hecko X — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:31:17 +0000

An ‘old’ song (by pop standards) made up of various famous film quotes that I re-discovered some weeks ago and have been listening non-stop to since.

The song was created by Ricardo Autobahn with the video being edited and produced by Diva Schematic.

QQ Noodles

Hecko X — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:40:14 +0000

QQ Noodles

Here comes another noodle brand review, like the Koka one I did a few months back. This time, I’m reviewing some flavours from the brand QQ, but since I could only get three flavours here in Denmark, I’ll probably amend this post at some point.

I’ll be keeping a similar format to the other review, but in addition to boiled and fried, I’ll be adding on the taste of the soup itself, something I completely neglected with the Koka noodles.

A thing I should mention, which surprised me at least, is that QQ noodles are glass noodles and not the usual wheat noodles, which I suppose is good news for people with gluten allergies.

A ‘feature’ I really like about the cups is that it has a hole the size of a large needle in the lid, allowing hot air to escape at a slow pace. Lids without holes tend to ‘swell up’ and become difficult to remove, especially if you poured in too much water.

Flavours:

2011 Stats and a Happy New Year!

Hecko X — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:59:16 +0000

Source: http://purrduedvm.blogspot.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope y’all have had an awesome year 2011 and will all safely enter 2012 with your friends and loved ones!

I decided to make a 2011 stat post like Idid back in 2008 and 2009 (the 2010 one was deleted…).

General Stats

Up-time: Since January 1st
Total amount of visits: 31,061
Total amount of unique visits: 29,112
Total amount of pageviews: 43,081
Highest amount of visits in a day: 198 (January 7th)
Lowest amount of visits in a day: 0 (January 19th – Februar 8th; site down)
Highest amount of pageviews in a day: 273 (January 7th)
Lowest amount of pageviews in a day: 0 (January 19th – Februar 8th; site down)

Top 5 Most

Amount of Visits from a Country

United States of America: 7,836 visits
Indonesia: 2,427 visits
United Kingdom: 1,807 visits
Brazil: 1,604 visits
Canada: 1,391 visits

Viewed Articles (amount of visits, main page not included)

How to Make Fried Noodles: 4,753 visits (Post)
Grand Fantasia: 3,394 visits (Review)
Robot Unicorn Attack; Play It, But Not Too Much…: 2,379 visits (Post)
Doubt: 2,378 visits (Review)
Koka Noodles: 1,377 visits (Review)

Viewed Articles (time on page)

Fan Art and Gifts: 01:28:14
Music of the Moment #8: 00:26:44
How to Make Fried Noodles: 00:20:20
Grappler Baki Chapter 8: 00:15:41
Fut-Fut-Fut Freestylo: 00:14:59

Visits from a Source

google: 25,000+ visits
(direct): 2,771 visits
facebook.com: 518 visits
yahoo.com: 350 visits
mangaupdates.com: 336 visits

Merry Christmas 2011!

Hecko X — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:21:34 +0000

Photo of Nash on my desk

A very merry Christmas from M Dash!

I spent my Christmas with Nashayla and her family, having my first Danish Christmas since childhood, when my grandparents were still alive, and trying certain foods for the first time ever! :D

The day consisted of us going to church, singing, coming home, eating a feast of a Christmas dinner, singing some more, and then opening some presents.

I got a gift certificate for 10,000 Japanese yen (for books) and a framed photo from Nashayla of herself, which is now sitting on my work desk ♥

CAESAR THE GUARDIAN KITTY!

I gave a lot of gifts this year, totalling roughly 2,000 DKK! owo

I gave my mom a “best mom in the world” medal and money.
I gave Nash’s dad the album Flash Gordon by Queen and two beers from Sarajevo.
I gave Nash’s mom the book 1Q84 (the first one in the trilogy).
I gave her sister a pair of breakfast bowls, since she recently moved out.
I gave Nash two pairs of white gloves and a joke gift.

Our presents were well protected by the guardian cat of Hell’s gates, Caesar! >:3

All in all, a pretty awesome experience, and I’m really grateful that they let me take part. Apparently, it’s a first for her parents to let outsiders join ^^’

Nash's joke gift: hat and gloves of Tony Tony Chopper from One Piece; her favourite character

1 Year Anniversary

Hecko X — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:43:25 +0000

'Sup, brah? Whatchu lookin' at?

Not much to say; it’s our – Nashayla and I – one-year anniversary today, the day before Christmas Eve~♪

I had wanted to take her out to her favourite restaurant, but it was unfortunately closed for the holidays, so we went for a sushi place where I’ve gotten in good with the owners ;P

We then came home and exchanged gifts – she gave me a penguin game and I gave her a penguin sweater to keep warm during winter – and watched the animated Pixar film, Ratatouille. She fell asleep halfway through while hugging me, it was so adorable ♥

So yeah, short post, but I just wanted to share my happiness for tonight ^-^

December Updates 3: Geocaching

Hecko X — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:13:13 +0000

Hecko and Eutaku finding a cache during late-night stroll

First, for those who don’t know what geocaching is, here’s a short explanation provided by geocaching.com:

“GEOCACHING is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.”

So, a few days ago, I was watching the news on TV, and they had this exposé on geocaching, which was the first I had ever heard of it. Loving treasure hunting and solving riddles, I decided to look further into it online, and discovered just how vast this game actually was.

I decided to give it a go, registered as a free user on geocaching.com, and downloaded the free, open source application, c:geo, for my Android phone (apps for iOS, Symbian, and Windows exist as well, just Google them).

It’s a pretty good app, but my phone’s battery life is shit, so it dies after only 3-4 hours of caching… I wish I had a proper GPS though, so I wouldn’t have to worry about my phone dying, but I make due for now.

To date, I’ve been geocaching for 5 days and I’ve found 6 caches (follow my progress here and on my Twitter). I think the low number of finds are directly related by me still being a greenhorn and because I’ve only been searching after nightfall, which makes it pretty difficult as well, due to limited visibility. On the other hand, there’s also less of a chance of being spotted, so…

A giant Winnie the Pooh we got to see thanks to GeoCaching

It’s good fun though, and a great excuse to get away from the computer and get some mental and physical exercise, and it’s easier to stick to than the elephant thing I tried, since I don’t have to take pictures.

Another great thing about it is that you get to experience new, interesting places, even in your own neighbourhood, that you might not have know existed. I, for instance, found a bunch of new playgrounds and saw beautiful artworks and fun stuff I never knew was so close to where I live ♥

But since I like geocaching so much, I’ve been trying to get others into it too, which I’ve managed to do with a moderate degree of success. I’ve even suggested it to Eutaku as a publicity scheme for Genki; spreading out 5-10 caches with a wristband in each as a “First to Find” prize, giving them free entry to the convention.

Anyway, I hope to one day go on a crazy cache hunt with a bunch of friends, so if this sounds interesting to you, please do give it a try ^-^

Funny Japanese Fanta Ads

Hecko X — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 04:09:54 +0000

This was shown to me by Usk. To understand some of the references, enable annotations.

December Updates 2: Scanlations

Hecko X — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:55:06 +0000

WTF happened to scanlating?

As most of you must have noticed by now, I haven’t released a scanned chapter of anything for a solid five months. The reason for this is quite simply that I’ve ‘quit’ the scanlation business – major groups as well as my own thing – due to lack of time and motivation.

This is not to say that I’m not still working on a minor project, it’s just that I refuse to start releasing chapters of it until it’s almost done. So to those of you who’ve been kind enough to send me drawings for credit pages, don’t worry, I’ll use them eventually! OTL

Also, for those of you who have been reading Grappler Baki: Thanks for the support! The manga has been taken over by the people of U Mad Scans, so keep an eye out for it there. Fair warning though; they also have +18 releases, so pay attention to what you click.

December Updates 1: Food and Candy Reviews

Hecko X — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:28:02 +0000

I keep failing to update my blog, which is horrible. However, while I don’t update, I have actually been working on a few review posts, but they’ve just been a long time coming.

Noodle reviews

My basket was overflowing

Some time ago, I decided that enough was enough; I wanted to try brands of noodles other than my regular Xing Fu chicken flavoured noodles, to see if something could beat my favourite noodles.

So, determined to try what else is out there, I went to Asia Town in the heart of Copenhagen, and bought noodles for crazy amounts of money. The dude behind the register gave me a discount, because I bought more items than he cared to count.

I’ve bought both cup noodles and noodles in packets of various brands and countries of origin, so I look forward to trying them all. I even bought a bowl specifically for this purpose.

Candy reviews

Candy from KAIKI

I have a ton of candy reviews in the making as well. I bought a bunch of random Japanese candy on eBay some time ago, though not all made it to Denmark unscathed (1/5 became inedible). Nashayla’s dad also recently returned from Japan, where he bought me two types of candy, which I was pretty happy about.

Additionally, KAIKI gave me a delayed birthday present of 500 grams of assorted Asian candy that she bought for me while she was in China. It has like 50+ different candies, so it’s gonna take me forever to review.

I’ve been considering taking candy reviews a bit more seriously, and making a different blog for that exclusively, where each post will be about a single piece/type of candy, but I doubt I will have time for this, which is a shame. I barely update this one as it is, after all.

Fail Haircut

Hecko X — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:50:51 +0000

Finland is a character from the web comic Scandinavia and the World, which property of artist Humon.

NSFW Google Game

Hecko X — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:34:33 +0000

A few years back, just for the lulz, I made the ‘hypethesis’ that if you added “asian girl” to any single search term, regardless of what it was as long as it was a common noun, you’d find at least one pornographic image on one of the first three pages. From then on, it would become a game to try to think of a search term that WOULDN’T result in a pornographic image appearing.

I recently remembered that game, so I figured “Fuck it, I’ll share it with the Interwebermernet“, and made an image thingy with rules explaining the game. I updated the rules a bit since Google’s image search has change over the past few years. So, well, here:

Candy from J-Popcon 2011

Hecko X — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:02:48 +0000

Like stated in my previous post, I attended J-Popcon this year as a dealer. For a ‘review’ on the convention, please read that post, as I would like to stick to candiez here. A quick pic of what I got:

Candy I got at J-Popcon

From the left, the things are:

Chocoladeletter MELK [JUMBO]
Pocky – Strawberry Flakes in Cream [Glico]
Pocky – Choco Banana Flavour [Glico]
Collon – Strawberry Flavour [Glico]

Everything on here was given to me. The chocolate was a gift from a friend from the Netherlands, who is also the chairman of the organization behind the largest anime convention in Holland, AnimeCon. He’s a super swell guy with a taste for whisky, so if you like to go taste testing, he’s your man!

The rest were gifts from two of my employers; the owners of BananaCosplay and one of the dealers at the convention.

Chocoladeletter MELK

As my friends can attest to, I’m not much of a chocolate man, especially when it’s chocolate without crisps, nuts, or something crunchy in it. This, however, was exceptionally good milk chocolate, and the fact that my friend had taken the time to not only look for candy for me, but to find one shaped like a V for my name made me really happy :D

For snacking purposes, it’s very tasty, but a bit impractical. It’s thick and clunky, so it’s not something you can put in your pocket and nibble on when you feel low on sugar. It’s also not something you can break into pieces – like a chocolate bar – to serve as a sweet for when you have guests. This is best for when you feel like chilling with a relaxing movie and just want to completely devour some damn nice chocolate.

Pocky – Strawberry Flakes in Cream

Similar in concept as the Lychee Flakes in Cream Pocky I reviewed a while back. The jury is undecided on this one, since while the strawberry flavour of regular strawberry milk Pocky is much better, in my opinion, the aftertaste of these ones is far more pronounced. That being said, I think I still prefer the regular ones.

Like with all Pocky, they are easily portable and can be eaten anywhere.

Pocky – Choco Banana flavour

Looking at the image, I was afraid this was gonna have a very strong flavour of dark chocolate, but on the contrary, the chocolate flavour is subtle, which really makes the banana spring forth. If I were to compare the taste to something, it would have to be a mix between my favourite ice cream as a kid, Stopi (no longer being sold…), and my favourite banana flavoured dessert yoghurt with chocolate sprinkles. Oh sweet nostalgia~ ♥

Like with all Pocky, they are easily portable and can be eaten anywhere.

Collon – Strawberry Flavour

No “Son, I am disappoint” meme could justify trying to express what I feel. Honestly, I had really been looking forward to these, but they turned out to be the worst of the lot.

In concept, they are a lot like the green tea cream cookies I got from Nashayla, but just with strawberry cream instead. In all honesty, I liked the green tea ones better, and I usually hate green tea. The biscuit roll these things are encased in is so gross when you get to chewing. A big miss in my opinion, compared to pretty much any other strawberry flavoured sweets/snacks I’ve tried from them.

The packaging is, however, ingenious. It’s shaped like a small music box and can be re-closed by sliding part of the ‘lid’ into an opening, holding it in place. Peeeeerfect snack keeping on the desk or even in a drawer, as the lid prevents dust from entering and also the cookies from stale too quickly.

J-Popcon 2011

Hecko X — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:34:56 +0000

Unlike previous reviews of J-Popcon, this will only be a single post, similar to my previous ‘conclusion’ themed posts, rather than a day-by-day followed by a sum-up. This is because I was mainly working in a booth during the weekend, so what I got to see was fairly limited.

Dealer Room & Artist Alley

Dealer Room
Photo by D. Hansen

Compared to last year, these were placed at far better locations. Last year, the AA broke several fire safety rules, but this year, it was safe and rarely ever congested; people could stop at the various artist booths without blocking traffic.

Likewise, last year, the line to the DR was extremely long, meaning people could wait upwards of two, sometimes even three, hours, before getting in, due to the person limit of the room it was placed in. This year, it was placed in a room with probably 8 times the legal capacity (due to 7 or so extra fire exits), so there was no wait, which was a big bonus.

That being said, they had apparently decided not to have the DR be a free area this year because of, quote, ‘lack of sponsorships’, which dumbfounded me. Making it a free area would have not only freed up labour (2-3 guards keeping watch), but also given dealers a higher potential revenue, meaning the booths could have sold at slightly higher prices. It was a lose-lose decision.

Security

Speaking of guards keeping watch, J-Popcon sprung for a few security guards during the evening, which was comforting. Additionally, the gophers standing watch this year actively asked to see wristbands wherever you went, which is a VAST improvement from last year, so kudos there!

On the downside, it was easy to bullshit your way through, which I did whenever I forgot my dealer badge (I didn’t have a wristband either). As long as you said it with confidence, you could just walk past while they tried to figure out wtf just happened; no one tried to stop me.

Game Room

Photo by J. Andersen

The game room felt a bit empty on the digital side, but to have a Kinect dancing game hooked up to a projector projecting to the far wall was a really good idea. The Sonic tourney, while I don’t really like Sonic games, was a breath of fresh air from all the usual fighting game tourneys.

During packing on the final day, there was apparently a lot of confusion as to what belonged to whom, so for future reference, making ‘lending contracts’ with what items at what value are borrowed from whom might be a good idea. This also works as a safeguard in case something breaks or is stolen during the convention.

This year, the digital game room shared with S.A.R.Z., a Swedish initiative for traditional board and card games. In my opinion, this was a wise decision, as it not only kept the ‘gaming zone’ within the same area, but it also filled out the room so it didn’t look entirely empty.

There was actually a manga lounge in there too, but it was rather small and I only noticed it by accident, so I have no real comments on it.

Con-book and website

There was no con-book this year, which was sucky. Not only is a con-book a great momento, it’s also a legal security blanket for the convention. For instance, J-Popcon had several rules concerning what was and wasn’t allowed in regards to photography at the convention, which they posted on the website. However, when you bought a ticket, there was no “I accept these rules” condition, the rules were not hung up by all entrances, nor were they printed in the con-book since there was none.

What this means, in short terms, is that people can go “screw the rules” and as long as they follow Danish law, they can do whatever the fuck they want with the images and J-Popcon will have no legal right to say anything about it, because there was no explicit consent on the website nor implicit consent from anything that was physically handed to the participant.

That being said, I do fully understand that there just wasn’t enough money for a con-book, so I don’t blame them at all for not having one. However, the lack of having the participants express explicit consent to the rules when they buy a ticket – a tick box with “I have read and understood the rules, terms, and conditions” would do – is just beyond dumb.

Events and schedule

Yamazaki Urita drawing
Photo by R. Kanan

The schedule was a bit stripped of events. That isn’t to say there weren’t any events going on, but rather, half of the events weren’t written on the schedule. That is just beyond me.

Even though the events not mentioned in the schedule were hosted by third party organizations, e.g. Alpha Entertainment, S.A.R.Z., etc., they all take place at J-Popcon, so they should logically be written in the schedule.

Having to search 6 different sites for a full overview of the schedule of events is NOT cool. The very last thing you do before finishing an event schedule is calling up every single damn one of the event makers to make sure nothing has been forgotten or otherwise left out.

On the plus side, the events hosted by J-Popcon were, for the most part, punctual. There was only one cancellation – that I know of – and the biggest delay was 30 minutes, as opposed to the 3-4 hours the past few years.

On the down side, besides an interview they posted online, they didn’t do much to bring attention to their VIP guest from Japan: manga artist Yamazaki Urita. No one really knew who or where she were until they were told, which was a shame.

Conclusion

While there’s still a way to go, J-Popcon has definitely improved over the last year. They would do well in trying to get someone to handle on-site PR, but other than that and a few bumps here and there, I think they did really well considering previous years. For the first time half a decade, assuming they continue progressing this way, I actually look forward to seeing what they come up with next year.

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn

Hecko X — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:04:41 +0000

In a time of endless movie remakes, shitty sequels, and Marvel/DC superhero flicks, it’s really nice with an action/adventure film featuring a couple of regular Joes with a thirst for adventure and a fucking awesome dog!

The Adventures of Tintin recently premiered in Denmark and getting 50% off on tickets, I decided to take my girlfriend and her family to go watch it, since she and her father – and myself of course – are huge fans of the comic.

The film is based heavily on the comics “Secret of the Unicorn” and its sequel “Red Rackham’s Treasure” while also incorporating (and altering) several key elements from the story “The Crab with the Golden Claws.”

Covers for the three Tintin stories that make up the plot

The film was made using performance capture, i.e. they had real actors act out the scene, which was then animated over, giving a more life-like appearance. Having watched the 3D version, I can testify to that it makes very good use of 3D technology, unlike many other so-called ’3D’ movies that only add a hint of depth.

The character interactions were simply marvelous and the film was both funny and exciting. No prior knowledge of Tintin is required, making this film excellent for fans of Tintin as well as for people who just feel like watching a film (be they young or old). The story is great and well-performed, and at no point did I feel bored with the movie.

Even considering my somewhat high standards for films, I’d say The Adventures of Tintin met those standards and then some, so try as I might, I can’t find any reasons for giving the film any less than 10 out of 10, albeit hardcore fans might feel offence by how The Crab with the Golden Claws was hacked up and altered.

I highly recommend you watch the movie, if you haven’t already, as it was most likely one of the most enjoyable movies I’ve watched this year. Rumours of a sequel – and even possibly a third film – are spreading, so I’m looking forward to news regarding that :D

October Update 2: Work

Hecko X — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:15:30 +0000

Pimped Comic Party website

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, it’s off to work I go~ ♫
Or not really, I work from home, LOOOOOL!

One of the main reasons for me not posting here so often anymore – other than plain meh – is because I am prioritizing work.

Right now, I’m trying to finish translating and typesetting 170-ish pages by the end of the month, which is a bit FFFUUUUUU- since I also have an exam coming up soon, not mentioning the paper due Friday /whine whine whine

ANYWHO, other than the usual Comic Party work, I’m also now doing a weekly post (in Danish) over on the Comic Party website, hoping to get more traffic to the site thus creating more buzz and hopefully more customers, so I won’t be out of job.

The Banana Cosplay site

In addition, I recently got a job as the webmaster over at bananacosplay.com, which is a site for cosplay merchandise. They ship internationally, in case some people out there are interested!

Why am I working so much, you may ask? Because I need the money, duuuuuuur. I’m trying to save up for summer, so I can fiiiinally take a trip to Osaka in Japan and be all OM NOM NOM NOM on their food.

October Update 1: Relationship

Hecko X — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:31:41 +0000

Intense stare of teh sexy /ay caramba

See that really hot Asian chick on the right? That’s mah sexy señorita~

Since the last update, we had some… turbulence… in our relationship, but we managed to work past things and have been together for 10 months today :D

These last few months with her have been AAAAWSUUUUUUM! We’ve been going out a lot, having good times, hosting events for friends (like the mahjong thing), and playing Tekken; AAAAAAAAAAAWWW YEEEEEEEEAH!!

So guys, too bad, she’s mine! And considering she went through the trouble of getting me a 110 cm tall inflatable penguin, you’ll have to pry her from my cold, dead hands if you want her!! D8<

Okay, not really, I’m not that creepy… BUT IT WON’T BE WILLINGLY!!

Penguin of fucking awesome!! Nashayla on the right, Tux in the middle, Nash's colleague on the left.

Awesome Frog

Hecko X — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:09:06 +0000

I so imagine the frog just shrugging it off and be awesome.

Gumi 100

Hecko X — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:31:24 +0000

Here comes a very short candy review of the five Gumi 100 flavours available here in Denmark!

Gumi 100 is the product of Kasugai and receives it’s name from being a gummy (gumi) candy containing 100% fruit juice (or at least so it claims). All candies come in handy miniature bags so you can easily put a bag in your pocket it to enjoy later.

Gumi 100

From top left, the things are:

Gumi 100 – Orange flavour
Gumi 100 – Pineapple flavour
Gumi 100 – Grape flavour
Gumi 100 – Muscat flavour
Gumi 100 – Apple flavour

Gumi 100 – Orange flavour

When I tore open the bag, an immediately smell of oranges and rubbing alcohol attacked my sinuses, inducing two sneezes and a lot of hurt, so I left the bag open for a while to ‘air out.

After that, I took a second whiff, which was a very mellow orange and quite likeable. The taste was, however, lacking; it was tart, but the orange flavour itself was extremely subtle. It’s not until the aftertaste sets in like 15-20 seconds later that you really notice it, so I was disappointed.

Gumi 100 – Pineapple flavour

The pineapple flavour is the exact opposite; there’s no smell of pineapples, but the taste is great!

It has a lovely tartness that gives just the right ‘zing’ of real pineapple, though it obviously doesn’t have the same taste of freshness.

Gumi 100 – Grape flavour

This… pretty much just tasted like purple, much like other grape flavoured candies.

I admit that I’ve never had real grape juice, but… I can imagine this is more along the lines of grape drink.

Gumi 100 – Muscat flavour

I was actually not looking forward to this one, since I’ve heard that muscat tastes odd and bitter and all kinds of other weird crap (plus, it smelled weird…). But it was new to me, so I pretty much had to give it a go.

It tasted pretty gross; kinda like if you stick your face in a make-up bag and take a deep breath through your mouth or something. Makes me wonder if they use muscat in lipstick.

Gumi 100 – Apple flavour

Pretty good actually; sweet apples with a hint of tartness.

They didn’t taste of something with 100% fruit juice though (being an avid drinker of apple juice, I should know). 30% maybe, if we’re being generous, but 100% no way.

Conclusion

All in all, a decent buy if meant as a candy to accompany an elementary school lunch, but other than that, hardly worth the money. If you’re contemplating buying it for yourself, don’t bother. There are better stuff for cheaper prices in DK!

Candy from Nashayla

Hecko X — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 23:25:47 +0000

This is a waaaaaaaaaaay overdue post. About five or so months ago, during Easter, I spent some time at Nashayla’s, who had arrived from Japan some time prior.

Easter almost coincided with our four month anniversary, so as a special treat, she had decided to show me what a Danish Easter was all about, since I’ve only ever celebrated Easter with Serbian traditions.

One of the Danish traditions is an ‘easter egg swap’, which is basically that you get a paper mache container shaped like an egg (they come in various sizes), fill it with candy, chocolate, or other goodies, and then you exchange them. She had gotten me a GIANT one that she had filled with super interesting candy and snacks from Japan :D

Seriously though, the thing was huge. It can be seen on the right next to my slipper (for comparative purposes). FYI, I wear size 44 slippers, which is a good 10-10½ in the UK and US. Cracked open, here’s what it contained.

Candy Nashayla bought for me in Japan

From top left, the things are:

Karl – Green Wasabi flavour [Meiji]
Funwari Meijin – Kinako Mochi [Echigoseika]
Choco Snack [Meiji]
Cream Cookie – Green Tea flavour [Meiji]
Caramel Corn – Green Tea flavour [Meiji]
Karujaga [Glico]

Karl – Green Wasabi flavour

Yeah… naming sense… Anywho, I was a bit dumb when trying this snack, since I pretty much just opened the bag went “uuuh, shape and texture like Flipsy,” stuffed a handful in my mouth, and THEN decided to read the flavour on the front. Fucking wasabi…

Now, the flavour is by no means overpowering, and for people who eat wasabi raw (like a couple of my friends), the flavour would probably even be considered pretty damn mild, but as you all know, I R a byatch with teh spicy; it was too much for me.

Aside from that, it’s a decent snack when you’re just lazing by the TV. But like with Cheetos, the powder gets all over your fingers, so you probably shouldn’t scratch you eye or anything else after munching down on these.

Funwari Meijin – Kinako Mochi

I was pretty confused eating these, since when I read “mochi”, I expected the texture to be sticky. On the contrary, the texture was light and ‘fluffed’, like a Cheeto you leave out in the open for too long. It’s not at all a bad texture, just not what I expected.

The fluffy rice snacks are covered with kinako (soybean flower) and are wrapped in small packets; six packets each containing six fluffy rice ‘balls’. The taste is so an so; kind of bland in the beginning with a slightly salty aftertaste, which is sorta good.

I’d consider this a sort of healthy snack alternative to crisps and something you’d bring to eat during the small break between the early morning classes, since it’s easy to carry the small pack with your lunch, in order to stave off the worst hunger before lunch break.

Choco Snack

A snack with a prize! In addition to the chocolate snacks, you get a Meitantei Conan (“Case Closed” in the US) collectable picture card with a puzzle on the back, so they’re probably aimed at kids ages 8-12.

As for the snack itself, I dunno… It’s shaped like a gourd and is essentially a Malteser with darker chocolate. Because it’s darker, it’s also a bit more bitter than Maltesers and I honestly thought the aftertaste was a bit like old raisins or weak chocolate liquor. Not my thing.

Cream Cookie – Green Tea flavour

The first one you eat will taste funky. I mean really funky. REALLY funky. Kinda like fish gone partially bad. However, if you eat the second one right after, it tastes GREAT. So as long as you keep eating them, they’re pretty awesome, save for that first funky one. Magic :O

Anywho, the sweets seem a bit high brow, if you catch my drift? I prefer lowbrow stuff myself, like crisps or candy you just dig into while watching TV or working. These give off more of a “4 O’clock tea with the lady friends” sort of dignified feeling. So they’re pretty good, but there’s an image mismatch.

Caramel Corn – Green Tea flavour

Now THIS is more my thing. Despite their name, caramel corn aren’t actually caramels, as in toffee; they’re more fluffy, with a texture like Cheetos (lots of Cheetos comparisons today, huh?).

The taste is DIVINE though. They essentially taste like Sugar Puffs with just a hint of green tea. Soooo yummy!

Karujaga

Since these were made by the same company who makes Pretz, which I absolutely LOVE, I had some high expectations for this buttered potato flavoured snack.

They tasted absolutely great, but compared to most of their Pretz products, it falls a bit short. Karujaga tastes somewhat like Estrella’s Potato Sticks, which I adored as a child of 8-9 years old, but less salty (and thus better, in my opinion).

But while awesome in their own right, I’d still pick just about any Pretz product over this, even the Edamame ones.