Towada Nameko Hunt

Although Towada completely missed the boat with the first batch of "Nameko Snack" (chocolate-flavoured Caramel Corn), it's been no problem finding the latest version--this time a Nameko-shaped chocolate-flavoured snack.It comes in a Nameko-decorated package and includes a Nameko sticker inside.

1st gen. Nameko Snack

2nd gen. Nameko Snack

For the first version, I had to ask my friend in Sendai to get it for me when the Nameko Ichiba pop-up store went to there. (It was in Sendai while I was in Canada, otherwise I would have gone to get it myself.) This time the snacks are all over Towada! Here are the places I've found it so far:

• Towada Aeon: 98yen
• Daiso (at both the location across from Powers U and the one in Towada Aeon): 105yen
• Mini-Stop (Daigaku Dori and across from the Bunka Center): 128yen

Nameko Candy are also available at the Universe grocery store.One bag has a mix of four flavours: strawberry, green apple, orange, and...nameko!! Yes, they actually included a mushroom-flavoured candy. My "game" is that whoever wants a candy has to pick one out of the bag without looking and what they get is what they get. So far I haven't managed to get a nameko-flavoured one, but two of the five other people who have played Nameko Candy "roulette" with me have gotten "lucky". =P

Right now there's also a Nameko Minna no Kuji. You buy a 600yen ticket, draw a card out of a box and open the card to reveal the prize letter. There are 8 different types of items ranked from A to H, with the A prize being the biggest and best and the H prize being the smallest and most ordinary.

The last time (October 2012) there was such a promotion, I got really lucky and scored two of the bigger prizes. (In total I probably tried about 8 times.)

big stuffed toy and smaller prizes

2nd big prize!

This time there aren't a lot of prizes that I'm particularly interested in so I've been trying to resist buying the kuji, but after just one week I caved today and bought two tickets--just to see if I could get another big prize. Guess I used up most of my luck last time since all I got was two G prizes--Nameko figures. At least both of the figures were different ones (you can't tell what's inside when you pick the box).

Kuji tickets seem to be selling really fast. I visited three of the four stores in Towada selling them and some stores have very few prizes left (as of noon today):

• Tsutaya: very limited selection, a few A's, one D, a couple of E's, one F, three Gs and one H.
• WonderGoo: very limited selection, mostly G's and H's with a few D;s, a couple of E's and maybe (?) a couple of F's
• Mini-Stop (Daigaku Dori): quite a lot still there, only missing A and C prizes, I believe

They only went on sale last week, and at this rate I think Tsutaya could be sold out by the end of this (long) weekend! Nice to know I'm not the only Nameko-obsessed person in Towada, I guess?