The blue sleighs were packed. Well, that was what I called our four giant suitcases. Santa has it easy…no concerns over jet fuel costs or how green his carbon footprint is on his annual trek. Snacks are provided regularly. No restrictions on when you can get up and walk around. And given his bags large girth (not to mention his own), thankfully no weight restrictions. We seemed to be loaded with an unusual number of gifts this year. Apparently all those articles I read about insatiable US desires for bits of Japanese culture are true, as we had a number of requests for Japanese gifts from friends and family. I had suggested giving everyone a pair of chop 
sticks and a white eraser. I mean what is more Japanese than chopsticks (the Japanese versions are different from the Chinese version by the way- and HEY LOOK!!!! You can accessorize with them too! For the record, its very trendy in Japan now to carry your own chopsticks – tucking them in a pocket in your bra is optional – around with you so as not to have to use the disposable ones in restaurants. ) and a white block eraser (Japanese pencils don’t have erasers on the ends so every child has their own white eraser – about the size of a Hershey mini candy bar. Do I need to tell you that this picture is way more exciting than a picture of a white eraser?). Pam threatened to call me Grinch and Scrooge; so I gave in.
We have our usual haunts for gifts. But two dear friends emailed asking if we could PLEASE find some Bakugan Battle Brawlers. I have no idea what these are or what they do or why a six year old would want some. I do know that they were hugely popular on the boys’ want lists this year. So popular that stores and gasp, even Amazon, couldn’t keep up with demand. Given that I am always happy to have an excuse to go to a toy store I set off on my usual rounds: the small toy store on the fifth floor of the OIOI building in Kita Senju; the Toys-R-Us outside of Tokyo on the Sobu line; the seven-story funky novelty toy store in Ueno; the gonzo toy store on the sixth floor of the new Yodobashi Camera (electronics heaven) store in Akihabara; the gonzo-sized Toy-R-Us out by the Rainbow bridge in a western style mall on reclaimed land that sits out in Tokyo harbor. For those of you unfamiliar with Tokyo geography, that is all four corners of Tokyo. How many bloody Bakugan Battle Brawlers did I find? None. Nil. Zip. Nada. Zilch Zero. Did this deter me or my wife? OH NO! As God is my witness, I will never let a relative or friend’s child go without a piece of trendy plastic again. (Gosh, Scarlet’s version of that quote sounds better.) Anyway, we kept looking.
We began by looking for more Toy-R-Us stores. Which led us to Ikebukuro. Yes Ikebukuro. Can you believe it? 
Probably not since you aren’t familiar with Tokyo geography. Ikebukuro is just around the corner basically (you know, the way a place in a city with a gazillion people can be around the corner.) Just five stops away on the Yamanote sen…about ten minutes. This Toy-R-Us was not only loaded with toys but with hip employees sporting trendy coifs and impeccable toy knowledge. It was here that we learned that Bakugan Battle Brawler were currently very popular overseas. (OK, technically we already knew that.) And, that they had been hugely popular in Japan. HAD. As in THREE years ago. Toys-R-Us is all about the here and now. They no longer carried Bakugan Battle Brawlers. Did this deter me or my wife? OH NO! As God is my witness, I will never let a relative or friend’s child go without a piece of trendy plastic again. (Yea, I know it didn’t work the first time, but I felt sure it would funnier this time. Eh, not so much. Sorry.) Anyway, we kept looking.
We went high tech this time. Amazon.com was sold out…no problem. We went to Amazon.co.jp. Nothing. We went to the Sega website; the Japanese version of the website. Nothing. We called in reinforcements. When in doubt throw yourself on the mercy of your friends and put aside those false Faulkneresque notions of not being beholding to no one. We had Ueda-san, Pam’s friend and work cohort check out the Sega website. Ueda-san, cut from similar cloth (She is a good Southern girl after all; Southern Japan mind you but Southern none the less.) was more than happy to help. Nothing on the site? No problem. She called the Sega Headquarters in Japan. It was then that we got the sad information: Bakugan Battle Brawlers had been defeated by unacceptable sale quotas in Japan and were now being forced to work in mercenary roles overseas.
Not to worry, I know where we can get chop sticks and white erasers.