Chaos and Kanji is the blog where I write about my adventures through Japan!

Want Lists are located here. NPB Baseball Want List is located here.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

It's Been a Month...

I haven't posted in a little more than month! I've been too busy or too tired to post. I know, it's no excuse. But sometimes there are other things that come first.

Let's see... the new school year started in Japan, and while I seem to have fewer actual classes I'm still pretty tired at the end of the day.

I spent most of March cleaning my apartment thoroughly and have used some of my free time to complete my spring cleaning. I'm still not done - there are some things I need to dispose of, not an easy task in Japan.

This morning, I returned from my Golden Week vacation trip. I didn't catch any games, but I did visit one Japanese baseball stadium, the site of an older stadium, and several card shops. Planning out this trip was a bit more difficult than usual because I was in a different town every day; I could spend multiple nights in a few places but over 11 nights I had seven beds (three of those were actually bus seats). Logistics is one of my strong points but it's still time consuming.

I have been rebuilding my inventory spreadsheets for my type collection, which now includes some database functions. I'm going to apply the same basic system for my other collections; I have too many spreadsheets and I'd like to reduce them down to something more manageable.

And I have still been collecting! Buck Farmer has popped up in Topps, Donruss, Bowman, and Diamond Kings this year, and the chase is still on for many of the parallels in those issues. I've bought or built a few sets, too - Gypsy Queen's base is done but I need inserts, and I have already met one of my goals this year to get six "flagship" sets from prior years. And Japanese cards are still slowly being added to my collection.

Meanwhile, this came up in my video feed. Remember how I used to post videos all the time? (No? Has it been that long?) Well, here's one for today:
I loved Ferrell's impressions of Caray on SNL, so it was pretty fun to watch him make an appearance on Letterman again.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

First Pitch, Japan Style

Welcome to another baseball season! As all the celebrities show up this year to toss out the first pitch, keep this group in mind.
World Order is a Japanese music group that's more known for their in-sync moves than the music itself, but you have to admit it's pretty cool to watch. They threw out the first pitch at a Golden Eagles game a few days ago up in Sendai, and I have to say it was pretty cool!
Now if only they can get a good image of that pitch on cardboard...

Sunday, March 29, 2015

A Look at and Checklists for Kellogg's MLB Japanese Issues

From 2007-2010, Kellogg's issued small sets featuring MLB stars. These were included with the company's food products, which as far as I've seen here would mean mostly cereal. Of course, the checklists focused heavily on Japanese stars in the MLB, but it's not exclusively for former NPB players.

The sets all feature the Kellogg's logo on front and back as well as the manufacturer's logo. Upper Deck issued the 2007-2009 sets, with Topps taking over in 2010 after Upper Deck lost their license.

With very small checklists, collecting full sets shouldn't be too hard, and is a project I am considering. On the other hand, singles usually aren't cheap. I should note that my checklists (including spelling) are based mostly on the SCF database. 
 The 2007 set has 10 cards, with three Japanese players:

  1. Hideki Matsui
  2. Kenji Johjima
  3. Tadahito Iguchi
  4. Ryan Howard
  5. David Wright
  6. David Ortiz
  7. Ivan Rodriguez
  8. Alex Rodriguez
  9. Albert Pujols
  10. Justin Verlander

 2008 again has 10 cards, and three Japanese players. Note that the SCF database is incorrect; based on a bit of research the below list should be accurate.

  1. Daisuke Matsuzaka
  2. Hideki Matsui
  3. Takashi Saito
  4. Jimmy Rollins
  5. Vladimir Guerrero
  6. Manny Ramirez
  7. Joe Mauer
  8. Josh Beckett
  9. Grady Sizemore
  10. Jose Reyes

I don't have any 2009s yet to check the design, or to even verify the manufacturer. The SCF database lists a checklist of six players:

  1. Akinori Iwamura
  2. Daisuke Matsuzaka
  3. Kosuke Fukudome
  4. Alfonso Soriano
  5. Alex Rodriguez
  6. Josh Hamilton 


The last year of issue was 2010, with Topps taking over due to Upper Deck's loss of licensing with MLB Properties.

  1. Hideki Matsui
  2. Akinori Iwamura
  3. Hideki Okajima
  4. Chase Utley
  5. David Wright
  6. CC Sabathia
All in all, a total of 32 cards seem to have been issued. The key cards will definitely be the Matsuis for a set builder.