Another in my growing list of unusual Japanese soft drinks: Chocolate Sparkling. I keep seeing this at my local supermarket and, despite the intrigue, I’ve resisted buying it (which means I’ll just have to continue imagining the sickly sweetness).

PS: posted with the VERY handy Wordpress for iPhone app

I’ve always immensely disliked February, so I am happy it’s done with yet again!

I have a few blog posts lined up, but I will start with something silly:

I spotted this the a couple of weeks ago as I was passing through Ōsaki station. I am not sure in the least how or why this duck in a chairlift is meant to entice me to buy a JR ski travel package.

Please don’t leave a comment telling me that “Japanese people like cute things, so they use cute things to advertise”. I have lived here long enough to know about all things kawaii. It’s more a question of “why a duck?” or  “is this what the enormously popular AFLAC duck does in its down time?”

In previous years, JR has used other animals on skis – a few years ago it was an ostrich, which was even more bizarre than this little duck. Here’s one of the commercials (it’s a blend of live action and CG, but looks pretty seamless):

What I love about Tokyo is that on any day of the week, at any given time, you can happen across oddities such as this:

Yes, of course there’s a polar bear plushie outside of the Sony Building. Why wouldn’t there be?

Anyway, as funny as it looked, there is a reason (and it did make me laugh to watch the bear and its sidekick, who looks like he is trying to pretend that he is not on the same gig as the bear): they were out there to promote the Sony Building’s Opus High Vision Theatre and it’s showing of 「3D ハイビジョン旭山動物園」or “3D High Vision Asahiyama Zoo” (a 3D film of some animals at Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido).

In general, the Sony Building is always a good place to cruise by with your camera because you never know what you’ll find out front. They have a display area in front of the building called ソニースクエア (Sony Square) and they change the display quite often. For example, in the summer, I happened to be walking by and I snagged this photo:

You can visit the Sony Building website here (but, if you’re inclined to click on the “English here” link, don’t bother: they have not updated it for well over a year).