Action men

The kids in the apartment block have a game I like to call “lets see how much stuff we can cram into Dan’s letterbox before he notices” which recently has seen an escalation in the stakes. It started off with single toys (an action figure here, a partially disassembled gun there) and the odd table tennis ball or dead bug. When I came across these little gifts, I’d try and put the figures in amusing positions on the ground underneath my box. So then they started putting the figures in amusing positions inside my letter box. So I started taking the heads off the figurines as testament to the horrors any action man crazy enough to venture inside my letter box would have to endure. This stopped them for a day or two, probably as they plotted their next move. Monday saw a toy shuriken; an ominous warning for what was to come.

Today I found a plastic bucket filled with toys, none with heads. These weren’t battle hardened action men. These were innocents: women, children and monster-robot hybrids. I’d upped the ante and they’d responded with horrific result.

I’m at a loss. I need to withdraw, reconsider, draw up plans for the upcoming battle. I’ll need all my wits about me.

Posted in Japan on Tuesday July 19, 2005.