. –And are adopted into good homes by anyone who finds them!
This little project by the Geeky Hooker started when they began crocheting lumpy little characters, which they gave away to friends.
Eventually, they started leaving them in random places in San Diego with handwritten notes attached, letting passerby know that these critters are up for adoption.
People in the area who find them can take a crochet character, and officially give them a good home.
Chimichangas!
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Going to anime events or conventions isn’t complete without getting a souvenir or two. You can get art prints, shirts, figurines and plushies—but one of the best and easiest souvenirs to collect are keychains!
Whether it’s plush, laminated, keybie-fied or rubberized, it’s easy to grab your favorite anime characters in all their cute (or hot) glory as a keychain you can display on your bag or at home as part of a larger collection. It’s also a great way to support local artists who design their own fan merchandise.
Kaneki Ken in all his rubber, keybie, laminated, and plushie glory!
Unless you keep your anime keychain collection locked away in a safe, dry space though, there’s no avoiding dirt and grime accumulating on their surfaces. Rubber keychains in particular can look especially worn out and old when they’re all dirty, but did you know there’s a trick to to clean rubber keychains and make them like new again?
The best part is that this trick doesn’t even need soap!
Ever wanted to dress like your favorite anime character? You don’t have to look for a seamstress or tailor to get these characters’ looks. In fact, with these super subtle and casual cosplay outfits, you can channel your favorite character and see how long it takes before your friends notice! Wear them to the latest anime convention or hangout and channel these personalities without looking too much.
Don’t have funds to get new clothes, but have a computer and a decent internet connection? Check my passive income guide for how to make your computer earn money for as long as it’s open!
While these outfits may not come with super powers or a sempai who notices you, one thing’s for sure—they look great! This list has casual looks for boys and girls alike!
It’s not easy to find casual outfits of anime characters that don’t look very casual to begin with, but don’t be afraid to style your own way and experiment to see how your own clothes can make creative ensembles. These outfit inspirations can also serve as guides to help you see how certain accessories or clothing items can change a whole look. You can get on Shopee or Lazada and find alternatives to the clothing items here that are within your budget. There’s no hard and fast rule about finding clothes that look good, other than a good fit depending on your build.
Don’t forget to also channel confidence in these outfits! After all, one of the best accessories is an air of poise and comfort with who you are.
These may be the easiest to mix and match! With accessories, you can decide how much you want to play up or tone down an outfit.
It’s admittedly more difficult to pull off a subtle anime look for men, but the right pieces in the right fit can look very stylish.
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We’ve covered a cafe where you can hang out with cute, fluffy cats, but there’s another Japanese cafe that’s gotten famous online recently.
At Hukulou Coffee in Osaka, Japan, you can see an adorable pair of best friends who love to hang out together, play together, and–most importantly–nap together.
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A lot of people ask me how to keep their keybies looking nice and pretty for as long as possible, so I thought I’d put together all the keybie care tips I share into one blog post to answer any future questions.
However, all new keybies now have their images sealed in differently, and will last much longer. They can also withstand any amount of sun, though they can’t get wet and you can’t bend it without it looking ugly.
Caring for your keybie (or keybies!) isn’t hard, as long as you follow a few simple rules and tips!
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This is the most important rule of all! If you keep your keybie on your bag and it’s raining outside, detach and tuck your keybie away before you go braving the rain. Though keybies are a bit water-resistant, they are not waterproof—the difference is that while a keybie can survive a few drops of liquid, they will look like they’re melting when they’re submerged or wet for several seconds!
If you do get your keybie wet, do not use tissue to wipe it dry! If you have no choice, keep the tissue away from the sides, or else bits of tissue will stick and it will not look pretty.
The best thing to do is to hang your keybie where it can dry without making a mess, then clean off any stains on the design with a damp (but not wet!) cloth.
Who doesn’t love a good puzzle? No, I’m not talking about the Café down south—the one with the huge collection of board and table-top games.
I’m talking about jigsaw puzzles, with anywhere between a hundred to a thousand pieces or more. I’ve always found puzzles therapeutic, and addictive, but I digress. I’ve done a lot of puzzles with my family, but the most pieces I’ve assembled don’t go above a thousand.
Would you believe that the second largest puzzle in the world multiplies that by 24? Or that the largest puzzle in the world multiplies that by 32?
How about if I said that both of those puzzles—finished and framed—are on display right here, in the Philippines?
They’re part of the 1028 different puzzle sets assembled by Georgina Gil-Lacuna, whose collection boasts of wooden figurine puzzles, 3D puzzles, crystal tiny puzzles, huge puzzles, architectural puzzles, and the most Coca Cola puzzles I’ve ever laid my eyes on!
With that many puzzles, you’d think Ms. Gil-Lacuna would hold an official Guinness World Record for assembling and keeping them all.
And yes, she does!
And she keeps them all in the aptly named Puzzle Mansion, up in Tagaytay.
Bad puns aside, we visited the Puzzle Mansion after going on a little food trip in Tagaytay. Since it was homegrown and no one in the family had visited it yet, we all decided to drop by. It’s actually both a bed and breakfast and a museum, but we didn’t have any plans of staying overnight.
After paying the entrance fee of P100 per head, we started exploring. The first floor has hundreds of framed and meticulously labeled jigsaw puzzles lining dividers—
Walls—
And even some parts of the ceiling.
Some of the puzzles are 3D, displayed on tables—
And shelves.
From simple to mind-bogglingly elaborate, it’s easy to see that a lot of time and care was spent assembling all these puzzles!
The second floor had the two largest puzzles in the world displayed—
and available for sale.
I can’t imagine the floorspace needed to form this puzzle.
When my aunts told me there was a shop that sold puzzles, I immediately hoped to find—and happily found—a whole section that sold Coca Cola puzzles!!
Glow in the dark puzzles, huge puzzles, little puzzles, even puzzles of the actual cans! Unfortunately there were no stocks left of the 3D Coca Cola can… I would’ve grabbed it in a heartbeat.
All this awesomeness made it so hard to choose.
I got this baby instead—
Glows in the dark, and may require actual Coke to finish.
I would’ve also bought a Starry Night puzzle, but my mum had a point: one puzzle at a time is best.
Even the pieces have stars!
Hopefully we get to come back, and by then I’m definitely hoping to grab that coke can puzzle—and another coke puzzle!
This one’s not a puzzle, but it sure is gorgeous.
After finishing the 1000 piece puzzle of the New York skyline that had been waiting for completion for about a year, I went and started on this magnificent Coke-ness—
This makes my second Coca Cola puzzle!
It’d take me a while, but it’ll get there! Also started assembling puzzles on thin cardboard and gluing the pieces down after I got enough of the border put together. Why didn’t I know of this earlier? When I used to do 1000-piece puzzles with my family after school almost every day? Tsk tsk.
Puzzle Mansion Bed and Breakfast
Address: Cuadra Street, Brgy Asisan, Tagaytay, 4120 Cavite, Philippines
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Early last April I came back from a trip to Japan with my family, and while the trip was short (2 and a half days!), it was utterly amazing and the experiences that were definitely worth repeating. Which I did, in a way–I came back to Japan in late April to enjoy it all over again with a few close friends! Best April ever.
While I got to explore the more cultural and otaku side of Japan with my friends, there were plenty of experiences I was able to enjoy with my family too. One of them was a visit to the kind of cafe I only ever read about, where you can play with amazingly fluffy fluffballs of purrfection.
That cafe was Shinjuku’s Calico Cat Cafe, the largest cat cafe in Tokyo!
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In Guertena’s gallery, Ib went up against artwork that pulled her in a creepy world, chased her around said creepy world, met an assortment of characters, and showed her that art can be a very dangerous—but intriguing—thing.
Not this museum though. Far from scary, this museum is full of exhibits that also pull you in—only in ways that let you live fantastic adventures and hilarious moments all in one building without the horror.
This magical, crazy place is Art in Island, a 3D art museum in Cubao that allows its visitors to interact with all of the art!
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When visiting, make sure you bring nice socks (you surrender your shoes before entering), a good camera, and a ton of imagination. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by all the artwork once you get inside.
Ideally, the best time to come so you can take it easy finding that perfect pose is on a weekday, but we came one Sunday morning and lucky us—we got to enjoy the art with fewer people than usual.
Most of the exhibits have examples for poses so you can get ideas for just the right pose or camera angle. There are also stickers on the floor that serve as guides for the best place to take photos from.
It can take a bit of a effort to pose yourself to look like you’re properly interacting with the murals, like taking care not to look at the walls and pretending to look at something ‘in front of you.’
After a while I stopped caring about how I looked while ‘expressing’ myself—and neither should you! Don’t worry about looking silly or downright stupid—no one will care how you look unless it was a pose they can use for inspiration!
Art in Island is all about unleashing your creativity and being one with the art.
Just kidding.
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It’s like taking a trip around the world, and then some. How would you resist stepping into places like an underwater paradise—
An ‘above water’ paradi—I mean adventure—
An ancient Egyptian escapade—
A drive to what might’ve been the original Caesar’s palace—
A literal storybook world—
And lovely places like Venice or Rome.
The place just takes adventure to new heights I tell you.
I even visited hell. This guy was very accommodating, but he needs to put on weight.
In ways that would make Dante (the poet, not the half-breed badass) proud, I also got to see heaven.
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Meet new friends
The characters you meet are fascinating on their own, too, and there were plenty to see!
Like the complete lack of dental cavities in this new friend–
A wildebeest who seems to love Coca Cola as much as I do–
I think I learned how to communicate with dragons perfectly, too.
I’m already a small person, I didn’t want this giant pointing it out.
I think this gorilla’s adoptive parents are happy he met a new friend, but I’m not so sure.
Who’s a good kitty? Who’s a good kitty?
Heck, I even met Santa Claus and told his reindeer I was a good girl this year. So far.
Totally good. Promise.
I mean, I may have visited hell—-
But my wings are totally clean.
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It’s all in the mind—err, eye.
Apart from clever angles and scenic views, Art in Island offers optical illusions that make you anywhere from larger than life—
Topsy-turvy—
And all kinds of trippy!
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How to make the most of your visit
Not gonna lie—getting the perfect pic with all these paintings can be really challenging, so don’t worry if you don’t get it right the first try. Every picture here was the result of multiple takes!
This may sound a little weird, but don’t just look at the paintings or the camera when you’re posing. Imagine yourself in whatever scene you’re in, and take note of how and where the objects you’re interacting with are located.
This makes the angles of your face cooperate with the illusion that you’re in a ‘real’ scene, and not just standing against a painting. It helps most especially when you’re ‘holding’ something, for example.
Unless you planned things really well and visited Art in Island on a day when no one else is around, you’re going to be waiting a lot for a picture with some of the exhibits. You can take this time to look for posted guide photos that show great ideas and examples of how to pose.
These photos are usually on an ordinary wall near the exhibit you want to pose in.
Wouldn’t it get boring if every picture you take is of you smiling—even when you’re about to be eaten by a giant anglerfish? Don’t be a smiley Bella Swan and keep the same face every time—play it up!
It’s a lot more interesting to show a whole range of what your face can do when reacting to different scenarios, so give that smile a break and practice looking terrified, sneaky, or maybe even downright evil.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then it’s easy to say that a picture’s capable of telling a story. If you’re stuck without a good pose, try to think up a nice little story/scenario to go with your picture to get you in the mood and have you react accordingly to whatever’s happening in the exhibit.
What’s more, it makes it easier for a group to be consistent—and adds an excellent touch of variety to boot!
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At the end of the exhibits, a long wall proudly displays the many palettes that the museum’s artists used to paint all the beautiful murals within the building.
It’s an amazing sight to see, especially when they offer a reminder that talented people are responsible for handpainting all that art for 120 days.
Is it worth a second visit? You bet.
I’m definitely coming back! There were so many installations that I wasn’t able to fully enjoy. Art in Island is a perfect place to take epic pictures of yourself, your family, and your friends, and all you need is P500 pesos, a good imagination—and the confidence to keep a pose for 5 seconds!
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Art in Island
Opening hours: Tuesdays to Sundays, 9:30 AM to 9:30 PM
Address: 175 15th Avenue, Brgy. Socorro, Cubao, Quezon City
Ticket price: P500 for adults, P400 for students, PWDs and senior citizens
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When my family scheduled a trip to Japan, I was beyond excited. Not only were we going to spend 3 whole days in Tokyo—we were going during the peak of cherry blossom season!
I admit that my otaku days have faded considerably since several years back, but there was no denying how Japan had so much more to offer than anime culture. We were determined to milk our experience there as much as we could.
Food, sights, a bit of shopping, and a chance to practice my incredibly rusty Japanese were all things we indulged in during our short but eventful stay. Considering it was me and my family’s first time too, there were several helpful things we learned that helped us get around. I’d love to share them for anyone who’s planning a Japan trip to Tokyo for the first time too!
Not (just) for surfing (though we did research on certain places on the spot and it was very useful) or even for posting on social media (which we also did—on the spot) but for the wondrous thing that is Google Maps.
While it can be argued that being lost is a great start of an adventure, we didn’t exactly have the time to wander around leisurely if we were aiming to make the most out of 3 days. Some of the places we wanted to get to weren’t easy to spot or even ask directions for, especially with the language barrier. That’s how Google Maps and its ultra helpful moving blue arrow saved us from doubling both our fatigue and searching time.
Number 1 catchphrase of the trip: “Is it moving?”
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By basic, I don’t just mean ‘my name is’ or ‘how are you’, or even ‘thank you’ and ‘good morning’.
Most people we met knew enough English for us to get by. When we did encounter friendly locals who didn’t speak much English though, the phrases I found to be the most useful were those relating to both English and directions.
In particular, the words and phrases I used the most (apart from arigatou gozaimasu and gomen nasai, which I use very, very liberally) and found very helpful were:
Where is _____? = _____ wa doko desu ka?
Where is here? = Koko wa doko desu ka? (great for knowing where you are on your printed map!)
Left = Hidari
Right = Migi
Wakaranai = I don’t understand
It also pays to know hiragana and katakana. Try to download a pic of these two alphabets for emergencies–like if you were trying to locate Don Quixote in Shinjuku to find an elusive cat cafe.
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Okay, so this last one applies to any place you’re traveling to, but it’s a good reminder all the same. We got to visit great restaurants that we wouldn’t have been able to find from just roaming around Ginza (where we stayed), and that’s because we did our research about these places beforehand.
You wouldn’t want to get tired and waste time wandering around new places, would you? Unless that was your plan all along. If not, save your feet, and plan ahead!
Besides, there’re so many things to see in Japan–and 3 days was definitely not enough, even if we managed our time pretty well.
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Make sure you don’t miss out! Our friends at Japanloverme created handy dandy (and really kawaii) infographics to help you sightsee and experience Japan to the fullest.
Save them to your phone for your next trip!
