Going Against the Grain

~Hi everyone! The Obon vacation is over, and it's Back To The Grind in "that so called educational institution." But don't worry, as I took plenty of pictures over the break and collected a number of interesting stories for you.

Do you remember my post about vending machines from a few months ago? What with the beer, toothpaste, soap, and dozens of brands of coffee and soft drinks, I thought I'd seen the limit to what a machine could possibly dispense. How wrong I was. From right here in Nagaoka, I present...the RICE VENDING MACHINE!

^ This is a panoramic view of the nine machines lined up next to each other. From what I could tell, each machine dispenses a different brand of rice, in different-sized bags ranging from two to ten kilograms (the maximum, which you can see on the white writing on the lower part of the picture). Here's a closeup of one of the machines:

^ As you can see, this one dispenses ten-kilogram bags for a rather steep 4,700 yen (or is it 5,500?). I examined the machine on the right, that seemed to be the "master control unit" for the others, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it. The Zen was not strong with me on that day.

^ Near the machines was an unmanned booth of some kind, with this mascot painted on the side. In case you can't tell, he's a grain of rice (apparently uncooked), who seems to have suffered a bizarre mutation causing him to grow legs, arms, and a face. But the strangest part is the fact that he's holding a 100 yen coin, which, if we compare the relative sizes, indicates that this monster grain of rice is about three inches in length. Freaky.

Enough about the rice. On with the Japanglish!

^ I saw this sign in Kashiwazaki, outside of the clothing store that sold unusual t-shirts. Text reads:

At Takaraya Shop. all of our articles for
reliable everyday-wear from matelia to
finished product are carefully designed
and made together with TRAD keeping
you. the cultured person. in mind.

My questions here are, they could correctly spell designed but not material? And what exactly is TRAD?

Oh, by the way, thanks for over 1,000 hits! Sure, a few hundred are from me re-checking the site to be sure each post formatted correctly, but on the other hand, I didn't set up the hit counter until I'd been making the blog for several months. Thanks to everyone for stopping by, and keep your bookmarks handy for future posts! ~Oyasumi.