Yesterday everyone got together for the first TADDMUG in I think 21 months. Though in many ways it didn’t feel that way at all. We’d seen each other at weddings, Anime North, and other little get togethers in smaller groups. But also it felt like we were all able to just carry on as though the gap had never happened, which I think in itself says a lot about the group and how close everyone is.
We started the meetup a little later than usual as the first place we were going was a dessert place, Caffe Demetres in Don Mills. Bit of a reverse day, eating dessert for breakfast, at least for me. I ordered this Belgian waffle ice cream brownie thing that sounded delicious on the menu, and was delicious but oh my god it was made for more than one person. This surely is a place I’m supposed to take a date and share a dessert with, not try and eat it entirely by myself. I’ve eaten half of it in the photo below and you can’t even tell!
I believe 13 of us were there, though not everyone brought a doll, just 10 dolls, and some of us had brought more than one as well. I snapped a few photos of the dolls in the corner they were all stood up in, however that was it for photos. There were plans to visit a few places with everyone throughout the rest of the day and we were all so busy catching up anyway that we didn’t do much else. Add to that while we were at Demetres there was heavy rain, there wasn’t much of a chance for more photos.
After dessert we went to Oomomo which is a large Japanese dollar store/variety store with decent stuff at reasonable prices. I just bought some Japanese candy while there, specifically a bag of candy that has a story behind it. The short and quick of it: Last year I went to Japan, was waiting in a department store, an old Japanese couple approached me and asked if I was lost. I wasn’t, we talked about Canada and they told me Niagara Falls was small. Then gave me candy and left. The bag of candy I bought was the same type of candy they’d given me.
Once everyone had their fill of random Japanese items, we all headed to the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre as they were having an event with food and more things to buy. Due to the rain earlier the place was packed inside and there weren’t any stalls outside like usually was the case (I’m told). We hung out there for a while and everyone tried different foods, I tried some unknown food that had a soft smooth chewy texture. I tried Googling “soft smooth Japanese food” and got a lot of Japanese pussy. I’m fairly confident this is not what I ate. I also got a ramune because gimmick.
They had this neat diorama of a small Japanese coastal village, as well as some photo galleries by Japanese Canadians. One neat one depicted both the work as well as photos of the photographer over his entire life. So you saw both how he evolved, as well as how his photography evolved.
Also on display were various stories and items about Canada’s treatment of Japanese people during World War II and before. Canada placed Japanese-Canadians into internment camps, separating them from their communities, their possessions, and property. Then sold their property and possessions without consent. And before the war if I’m remembering the display correctly, there was also a 10 to 1 ratio of Japanese women to men allowed into Canada. Which seems like an odd thing to limit, definitely didn’t want families emigrating with rules like that. Sounded more like importing Japanese wives for Canadian men.
I found it quite interesting to read these stories even though they were just short snippets. I feel like when I was growing up we never learned about the bad things Canada did, or if we did it was glossed over. Anyway, this is a doll post, less serious.
The last place we all went was Archangeli’s and AlphaXOmega’s house where we all just continued to catch up in our now gender separated groups. The men talking about cars and more trips to Japan, and I wasn’t a part of the women’s group so I have no idea what they talked about. But assuredly it wasn’t cars.
I think I’m going to need to take Horo and Alice out for some photos when I get a chance. I wanted to show off Alice’s pants, but didn’t get to. Another time I guess!
