Indie Squid Kid

In 2007, my friend Stuart (aka, Flickr user TheKingInYellow) toured the Japanese island of Kyūshū. While there, he visited the town of Kabejima  (pronounced “Kabeshima”) in Saga prefecture, which is apparently renowned for its squid.

Here are a few squiddy pictures from the trip:

"Welcome to Kabejima"

squid tank

Ika sashimi!

I don’t know what species of squid this is, but it’s pretty big…a good 1-1.5 feet long. At this particular restaurant, live squid are kept in tanks (shown above) and served, erm…just about as fresh as possible. Kind of gruesome, but I’m told it was quite delicious.

Mr. Sardonicus sent me this sighting of a super-detailed line of Japanese gashapon (aka capsule toys).

He says,

Produced by Takara/Tomy, the complete set includes 10 figures (3 octopi, 2 cuttlefish, 4 squid, and 1 “secret” argonaut) and runs upwards of $75, but it’s not too difficult to find individuals being sold on eBay for $10 or less.

I’ll definitely have to keep an eye out for these. Thanks Brian!

Via Pink Tentacle

The Ningyo-do Bunko Database is a huge online collection of watercolor paintings by Kawasaki Kyosen (1877-1942). The collection consists of over 5,000 still-life images of antique toys and folk crafts from across Japan, including a few lovely octopus-themed items.

Paper octopus balloon (1930)

Roly-poly toy and bell/whistle, Aichi prefecture (1932)

See more at Pink Tentacle!