Current Excitement: Japanese Cans

When I began collecting, I told someone, "I'm only interested in contemporary cans from here," contemporary meaning aluminum cans from the last ten years and from here meaning from the United States. 

The first part of that statement to change was contemporary.  That changed when I found an eBay listing for 132 steel cans from the 70's and 80's.  I won the auction and thus began collecting "older" cans, meaning cans I was familiar with while growing up.

The second part of the statement to change was from here.  That also changed with an eBay auction when I received a few cans from Canada in a lot I bought from northern USA.  Canada may not be as exotic of a foreign land as India or China, but it is another country.

"You're getting sleepy... you want our cans..."

While perusing eBay listings earlier this week, I saw some cans from Japan.  In shape and size, the cans are familiar, but the alluring writing on the cans and the enticing pictures and the vivid colors were very appealing to me.  It wasn't long until I found a beer can collector in Kobe, Japan, selling some lots of "non beer" cans, including a set of twelve Ultraman soda cans.  And with his offer to combine shipping on multiple listings, I couldn't pass it up.  One listing was seven cans for $7.47, another was ten cans for $5, and the Ultraman 12-can set was $19.95 (but they're from Japan!!!)  One of the listings was ending very soon, so I quickly made my decision to buy all three.  He shipped them the next day, but who knows how long it will take to get here from Japan? 

So far, I've avoided cans of any alcoholic drinks.  And it's mainly for the fact that I have to draw boundaries somewhere for this collection and that's a real easy black-and-white line, either it's alcoholic or it's not.  But after doing research on the Japanese cans after I bought them, I discovered that by "not beer," he didn't mean "not alcoholic," but "not beer."  The non-Ultraman cans I bought are Chu-Hi which, from my understanding, is the Japanese equivalent of wine coolers or similar fruity low-alcohol content drinks.  Oops. But you know what?  The cans look really good to me and no one I know will be able to understand the label to know it's alcohol.

Where will I display these cans?  The two sets of shelves I built a few weeks ago are already full and I need more display space!  The immediate solution is to display the cans I think are the most impressive and box the rest. 

And so I wait...

Sayonara