Recently, I brought you a few cards from a magazine called Young Champion. That's not the only magazine that focuses on beautiful young ladies, though. It's hard not to miss what seems to be a third of the magazine rack at the convenience store full of pretty faces. What's actually inside those magazines I might never know, but I do find some of the premiums they offer, usually in the form of trading cards.
I had my annual health checkup last week, an adventure that included taking two poop samples, blood samples, and a urine sample, the usual blood pressure, eye check, etc, an EKG, chest X-ray, and even a barium meal X-ray to see my stomach. All of this work was done by Japanese-speaking nurses, and my Japanese skills aren't that good. But I made it through. While the full results won't be in for a few weeks, the first words out of my doctor's mouth at the end was "You must lose weight." But everything else looked good, so far.
Anyway, I had nothing else planned until the evening, so I headed out to Nakano Broadway. I'll be going back this weekend to pick up some things I passed on due to cash concerns, but I did make a few decent finds. I got two old Calbee card albums and two 1980 Calbee singles (those card images are now added to the 1980 Calbee post). One of the "box" stores had a couple card non-sport card lots I pulled the trigger on, and another had some cards from one of those girly magazines.
The first four cards are from Volume 27 and 28 of Girls! magazine, issued in 2009.
More pretty girls tomorrow...
Hope your test results turn out good. Sounds like they do some pretty thorough testing in Japan. I can't remember ever having to give a poop sample. Great group of ladies. Looking forward to seeing more tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteyou will in a few years, lol
DeleteYes, just you wait. It will happen eventually. As for the test results, nothing terribly surprising, other than maybe I'm healthier than I expected. I'm overweight (duh) and I have high cholesterol (though I need to actually see how high it is - all of the information is in Japanese and I left the results at work). High cholesterol isn't surprising thanks to all the McDs I've been eating lately and my frequent curry and fried chicken meal choices.
DeleteOh man. I could live on Japanese curry. Glad to hear that you're healthier than expected. I'm pretty sure I've read that people in Japan often live longer than most countries around the world.
DeleteThere are lots of reasons for that, of course. A healthier diet in general, though Japanese people are apparently getting fatter. Portion sizes are smaller, and junky foods are much more expensive meaning they're more luxuries. Fruit, even, is costly, let alone ice cream, popcorn, candy bars... People prefer tea to soda.
DeleteKids are encouraged very early on to participate in clubs. For some this is piano or other musical instruments, but for many it is dance or sports. And sports is a big part of school culture. A whole holiday is dedicated to sports, and all schools hold Sports Day events where all the students compete in events.
And thanks to the compactness of the country, Japanese people are at least a little more active. I don't have a car and I haven't driven in five years. Instead, I can walk to the nearest train station to go long distances, and instead of driving down the street I walk. I generally take the stairs or walk up/down the escalator instead of using an elevator or standing on the escalator, and that's thanks to Japanese culture.
It's just more balanced out here. Except for the work-life balance, but that's a whole other story.
Great post and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. I remember all those health checks mandated by the Japanese government when I was there. Same thing every time....lose weight even though my BMI(below 25) was healthy according to American standards. Ha!
ReplyDeleteTechnically, I can skip the health checks if I choose. I think the government mandates that businesses offer them. But they are free. And this one was an adventure of its own. The nurses weren't the friendliest but it wasn't horrible.
DeleteJapanese people are so skinny that I think your BMI needs to be below about 10 to be "healthy" here. Which would be classified as "dead" in many other countries. I am overweight though, that's not just Japanese math.
Yuko wins the post. she's yummy
ReplyDeleteI prefer Atsuko if we're comparing the above ladies. But my girl is Mayu Watanabe if we're doing AKB48, and Yuko Oshima if we're talking Japanese models. I think I need to find a new model though, since Yuko Oshima essentially retired before I got to Japan.
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