Last month, I had an super exciting new discovery I shared with you via the Yuri Network News Report:

Through my gracious and talented friend Komatsu-san, I have met the cheerful and talented Ransui-san of Fantastic Yuri Rhythm. The two of them were vendors at this past Winter Comiket (and they sold pretty well, I’m told. ^_^)

Well, in reading Ransui-san’s Comiket report, I see that she shared a table with SEINE, who did a lovely Yuri photography book. Red Zoo is SEINE’s website, with some of the pictures available as a slide show (Click “Photography Works” on the Homepage, then the cover of “Kimi no Te” (きみの手) to enjoy the photos.) I hope I’ll be able to get a copy of that book one day, the photos are great and a few of them made me smile before I even realized it. ^_^

In response to this, Komatsu-san once again dug into his bag of generosity, and sent me a copy of SEINE’s lovely Yuri Photo Collection, Kimi no Te  (きみの手).

And it is indeed lovely. The two models, Pettanko-san and Okayasu-san completely sell this photo essay of two girls in school falling for each other. Through shots of their hands and bodies, we are allowed to see the evolution of an incredibly sweet relationship.

The one thing that really made the collection work for me was that neither girl had model-pretty hands. Not that their hands were ugly or anything(!), just that they looked like actual human hands, not hand-model hands, if you know what I mean. Since the story is primarily told through those hands, their verisimilitude made a big difference.

This photo collection is available through Toranoana or Comic Zin, so if you can buy through either of those services, I highly recommend you get this book! It’s a ‘Story A’ Yuri photoessay. How cute is that?

Ratings:

Photography – 9
Story – 8
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

Thanks to SEINE for being kind enough to allow me to have a copy of Kimi no Te and many many thanks to Komatsu-san for sending it to me! This book is a joy from beginning to end. I hope to see more someday soon.

The Lucky Boxes have been claimed! Thank you everyone who helped me clean my home up, and I hope you enjoy all the stuff!

Fukubukuro, aka Lucky Bags, are a New Year’s staple in Japan. “Lucky bags” are grab bags which, for the price you pay, you get…whatever is inside of the bag. This could be anything from random goods at a home store to expensive shoe lucky bags. (Seriously, the very first lucky bags I ever saw were $100 blind bags at a shoe store. Can you imagine spending $100 and not knowing what the shoes you bought looked like?!?)

In this fine tradition – and because I am in the process of weeding my Yuri collection and I’d rather give you Yuri than give it to a used book store – I am offering 2 Yuri Lucky Boxes to start off the new year.

Here’s wishing you all a very Lucky 2013!

Click on the image for the full size and have fun guessing. ^_^ As usual, the bags on the left are full of the wife’s stickers and paper goods, which would be excruciating to unpack/repack.

I had every intention of writing posts to let you follow me on my most recent trip to Japan, but Google decided it would NOT let me sign in from a foreign country and I didn’t have the time or energy to fight them, so…sorry, for the blog silence.

We’re home and I’ll do my best to report on Maiden’s Garden, Comitia and our other adventures as the week progresses. In the meantime, here’s what we bought this time, not yet unboxed or unbagged. ^_^

I know that those of you not in the NY/NJ area of the world are pretty much over Hurricane Sandy. As this cold morning dawns, many in NY and NJ are still without food, heat, power. Some of these are folks who simply do not know how to get help, and wait to be rescued. Some will have no homes to return to.

The Far Rockaways, Staten Island and parts of the NJ shore will take years to recover and rebuild.

This is my home. I’ve lived in NJ my whole life and I love it passionately. This summer I saw fireworks from the boardwalks of Seaside, Point Pleasant and Asbury Park. They are all now destroyed or damaged.

If you are somewhere in the US where you have heat and light and a few extra dollars, please consider donating $10 to the Community Foodbank of NJ by texting FEEDNJ to 80888 or consider donating to a reputable relief org like the Red Cross.

More importantly, please teach your family how to get help! Kids learn the emergency response number in school. Drill them what to call when they have no power or food. Learn where to go to get warm in your town, where to get a meal. You are never alone, so just keep a list of people/orgs/places to reach out to.

Thank you.