Win What You Want

Flutterscape (if you haven’t figured it out by now) is a site that sells Japanese goods… with a twist. Regular people in Japan take pictures of items in their local area (at stores, and such), and then they put those pictures up on Flutterscape with a description, price, and so on. They buy the product from their local store when you pay for the item (your money goes to Flutterscape and is kept safe until Flutterscape gets the item to ship to you), and then you get the product a little bit later. Because of this business model, there are a ton of fun things on the site… which makes it hard for me to choose what I want to giveaway, and why I want you to choose for me.

Everyone has different things that they want, and everyone wants something ridiculous from Japan, so now’s your chance. You can choose ~$200 worth of goods from Flutterscape.com and win it (then get it shipped to your home).

How The Contest Works

This is a pretty high-prize contest, so the contest rules are a little more difficult (compared the the previous two).

You do have two choices, though. You can either write a blog post somewhere (I like WordPress, if you don’t have a blog right now and want to create one), or you can create a video and upload it to YouTube. Both have equal weight in terms of scoring, so choose the one you like most. Here’s how the contest works:

1. Go to Flutterscape.com and find approximately $200 worth of things you’d want to win. It can be whatever you want as long as it’s found on Flutterscape.
2. Write a blog post or make a video telling me why you want/deserve these things you picked out. Be creative!
3. In the blog post / in the YouTube description section, link to the items you talk about / want to win, so I can make sure they exist and you’re not making stuff up.
4. Send your entry to contests@tofugu.com. Contest ends July 21, 2010.

Scoring system is a combination of random and preference. I’m going to take my favorite blog posts and my favorite videos, and then I’ll probably amidakuji them to pick a random winner out of my favorite 6-8 entries.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra7BBV8CRGE 590]

There you have it. ANYTHING YOU WANT. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you want. Feel free to link to your entries in the comments as well! Okay! Go ahead, get started! Questions? Pop them in the comments. So, what do you want to win?

P.S. If you like funny Japanese products, you should follow @flutterscape on Twitter.

Nara-City, the capitol city of Nara prefecture, is known for it’s beautiful temples and overly aggressive biting deer monsters. This year, Nara Heijo-Kyo Capitol is celebrating its 1300th year anniversary, and will be holding a big a event. Usually when this kind of thing happens, whoever is running the event comes up with an over the top mascot that cutes you into coming. This year, the Association for Commemorative Events seems to be taking the opposite approach.

Perhaps the event is expecting too many people, and Nara is too small to support them, so they are trying to scare visitors away? What’s he doing with his hand? Trying to touch you in inappropriate places? He kind of looks like Buddha…except for the fact that he has antlers coming out of his head. I would never spend any time alone with this guy. In fact, I wonder how he eats, because no restaurant I know of would let someone with no shoes and no shirt in, even if summers do get warm. Also, I know what the thing on his forehead is supposed to be, but honestly, it just looks like a third nipple (actually, his only nipple from the looks of things) smack dab between his eyes. Nara Association of Commemorative Events, what were you thinking?

The entirety of Japan also feels like Chester (I’ve named him Chester, don’t ask) is a bit on the ugly side. When the Events board asked for suggestions on what to name him (Please pick mine!), they instead got a ton of people complaining about how ugly it was. Still, I’m interested to find out what his name ends up being. I mean, come on, he has antlers coming out of his head…

Winning a Prize (it’s a contest!)

When I saw this deer-Buddha-man, I thought: “Hey, I bet there’s someone out there who can come up with something better.” That’s when I took to drawing my own mascot.

The Monk looked up from copying Sutras. It had been three days since he had last eaten, so he thought the rumbling must be in his stomach. He went back to work, ignoring the vibrations.

Outside, a giant deer was blowing toxic green slime all over the city. When he came across a building, he would trample it with his feet, made completely of diamonds. When a building was too tall, he would simply swing his head forward and cut them in half with his kick-ass katana antlers. There was nothing this deer could not overwhelm with its sheer might and skill.

The Japanese government knew they had to call on Godzilla, which sucked because he would always destroy Tokyo before helping with anything else. After flattening the Ginza area, Godzilla was coaxed into going to Nara, where he roundhouse kicked the deer in the stomach. The deer threw up some of its radioactive slime from the impact and then sliced Godzilla in the face with his katana antlers.

This is where you come in. You have two choices (as well as two prizes). Here they are:

1) Draw your own Nara Mascot:

Prize: Japanese text book fit to your level of Japanese
Deadline: Monday, March 24, 2008 Wednesday, April 9. 12:00 noon Pacific Standard Time.

The rules are as follows. Not following the rules could make your entry less winnable:

• Must be an original drawing of some sort. Hand drawn, computer drawn, anything is okay. Just don’t steal some other mascot and put it up here.
• Has to somehow be related to either deer, a buddha, a temple, a shrine, or Nara (in some way). Basically, it has to relate to Nara in some way.
• The funnier it is, the more likely it will win.
• I will pick my favorites and then put them up in a future post for you all to vote on (to pick the final winner).

The winner of the “draw your own Nara mascot contest” will win a Japanese textbook of my choice. It really depends on what level you are, so if you win, we’ll figure it out together. I’ve got favorite text books up and down the level curve, so all people studying Japanese should apply! Just send me your image by the deadline!

2) Finish the Story

Prize: Mystery Prize worth $20+ somehow related to Japanese
Deadline: Monday, March 24, 2008 Wednesday, April 9. 12:00 noon Pacific Standard Time.

Everyone see the story underneath the image of my awesome slime-spewing deer? All you have to do is finish the story and send it in to me. Please don’t write more than two pages, single spaced. I’ll pick the ones I like the most and post them up on the 25th, as well as choose the winner for it. I can’t tell you what the prize is, but know that it’s pretty sweet. If I don’t like any of them, then I suppose it is possibe that nobody can win.

There you have it. Any questions? Please contact me. I’m really looking forward to seeing your submissions!