Mihara Shinmei-ichi Daruma Festival 2019

The Mihara Shinmei-ichi Daruma Festival, in Hiroshima, is one of the largest festivals in Japan celebrating the tradition of the Daruma. It has to do with Shinto mythology of sorts. I won't explain too deeply but people basically buy these brightly colored dolls and make wishes or goals. Once they accomplish one goal or wish they paint one eye in. They then make a second eye for the other. They will bring their doll to the festival to burn it and then buy a new one.

I am fortunate enough to have a Japanese friend who lives in Hiroshima. I asked him to share some photos with me of the festival. I hope you enjoy these snapshots of Mihara.

I will put some caption above the photos as he has explained to me.

This is the Mihara Harbor Port.

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Mihara Castle

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Gyro Food Stall/ Castella Food Stall / Toppogi Korean Food Stall

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Super Ball Sukui 

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Ball Ire (I'm told if you get three in a row or more you get a good prize!! )

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Some sort of Hybrid Orange Fruit Tree

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Weird Cherry Apple Tree ( If you know what it is tell me please)

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Mountain Grape Tree

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Taiyaki Shop

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Check out the crowd! Candy Apple Stall/ Doraemon Baby Custard

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50/50 Game An Pan Man

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Gifts to the God

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Haunted House

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Maze House

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Air Cork Gun Game

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Fortune Papers by Birthdate

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My friend's Fortune ^__^

I hope you enjoyed all the photos and please feel free to leave a comment or if you have any questions please feel free to ask and I'll answer them to my best ability. 

Permission to publish photos on my blog was granted by my Japanese friend. I'll respect his name privacy and not add it here, thanks!!

Manga Art by Mark Crilley

Sometimes I come across little gems of books to review and I couldn't help but to take a closer look at this one. I love anime and I love drawing so I figured this one would be right up my alley. I'm the type of person who NEEDS inspiration to come up with my own drawings. I have a hard time drawing straight from my mind a lot of the time. This is great for people are just like me.

Mark Crilley is just a fantastic artist and proves it in this book. There's just so many different types of styles he shows you. If you're looking to make your own fan art of shows, video games, movies or just about any type of entertainment then this would be very helpful. He goes into detail on how he mixes different media together to create something special.

I really like how he engages you as the reader with his personal stories within most of the pages. It's fun to read and great to reference. I will also say that he does reference the Wacom tablet quite a bit along with Adobe Photoshop. These are two important tools to have at your disposal if you want to really get into it. You should also have a quality scanner to transfer your paper/line work to the software program to color it.

Let's face it. If you love anime/manga then you need this book in your life. Trust me when I say that the whimsical nature of this book will engage you wholeheartedly. I loved the book so much and will keep it with my art supplies for reference in my own artwork.

My new Circle Contact Lenses from LensCircle.com + Red Anime Contact Lenses for Cosplay Fashion Purposes

I got to try out these amazing circle contact lenses from LensCircle.com and they are so much fun! LensCircle.com provides a bunch of crazy cool contact lenses for your personal tastes. They make your eyes look bigger and prettier. It's a lot more prevalent in the asian community but just about anyone can pull them off as long as you get the right color for your face. I tend to try and go for a more natural look so I went with a light brown color since my eyes are dark brown.

Look at all the cool extras I got. They came with a case for them and a cute furry zebra and spotted cow carrying case. The contacts themselves were really easy to put on and felt absolutely comfortable. It's funny because I just recently went to the eye doctor to get prescribed contacts. I can tell you that these fashion contacts made in Korea feel a whole lot better than the ones I was offered. For some reason the Acuvue's do not feel that great in my eyes plus they are so hard to take off. I only wish these Circle Lenses came in my prescription strength so I could wear them all the time. These contacts are good for normal wear but for all you Cosplay people out there these are it. Getting the right eye color when cosplaying your favorite anime/manga/video game character is pretty much that finishing touch that will make your character come to life.

For every two pairs of contact lenses you order you will get a random cute animal case for your lenses. I got the cute pink bunny case and I really do love it. You can see them all here: http://www.lenscircle.com/holiday_gift_set.html

I have gotten so many compliments on these lenses.These contacts are from the Cafe Series if you're interested in these. You can find them here: http://www.lenscircle.com/mimi_cafe_brown_macchiato_circle_lenses.html  . They are $29.95 but they are Quality lenses. I have tried different fashion lenses and they were so uncomfortable and hurt me so bad I had to take them out almost immediately. These are just perfect.

The red lenses are more for unnatural but meant to be for cosplay/anime or just Halloween costuming purposes. If you're into the Goth/Vampire scene this might work out for you as well. These are called the Red Anime Contact Lenses. You can find them here: http://www.lenscircle.com/exclusive_circle_lens_red_anime_color_contacts.html

They cost $29.95 as well. I did experience seeing a little bit of red out of the corners of my vision but it wasn't enough to discourage me from wearing them. I think this would be fine for a convention of sorts or a night of Halloween but that's about it.


This company is great and I would highly recommend them since they have high quality lenses. These are things you are putting into your eyes so you have to be careful to choose the right company.

What you need to know before you start Fostering cats or dogs and what you need

I wish I could find more information for myself when I first started fostering cats and dogs. I actually made an in depth video explaining everything. Check out my video on my Youtube channel below. It's about 13 minutes long but worth it if you are seriously considering fostering animals. Placement is EVERYTHING when it comes to animals. Plan ahead and everything will go smoothly for you and your foster cat /dog.

Also, if you are fostering a bigger dog then I do recommend having a large crate instead of a pen like this especially if they have a background of chewing or being rambunctious. This playpen only works if the animal is relatively calm or smaller.

I also want to take the time to thank Litter Genie for providing a Litter Genie pail system for my foster animals. It has been quite helpful. If you don't know what the Litter Genie is I shortly explain it in my video above. Feel free to view the photos below to see how I put it together.

A helpful tip is to pull the bag down a bunch so you don't have to cut it often. Believe me, I have about 3 days worth of waste from 1 adult cat and 5 kittens with no poo/pee smell whatsoever and I still haven't cut it off. I'll probably cut it off tomorrow and roll it down again.

It doesn't take up much space at all and I just have it standing up by the litter box. The kitties don't even touch it. I really like the black and grey neutral design it has on it now. I had the old one before and this one is definitely better looking for my preferences. (I remember the old one used to be plain white)

Thanks Litter Genie!

#StopCatLitterSmell  #Cat  #kitty  #Catlovers  #LitterGenie


Rescue I'm Fostering for (Just For Paws Animal Rescue) : https://www.facebook.com/JFPARPA/

Visit their social media sites below to learn more:

http://www.littergenie.com/
https://www.facebook.com/LitterGenie/
https://www.instagram.com/littergenie/
http://www.twitter.com/littergenie

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