Shelf O Gundams

POSTED BY DANNY CHOO On Wed 2006/01/18 18:43 JST in Gundam
These shelves are for my Fix Figuration collection but what with the release of Guncannon and Destiny, it looks like I'm going to need at least another two more shelves to the "Shelf O Gundams" for the rest of this year alone.
While you can buy shelves in Japan, I didnt realize just how uncommon they were. One of the reasons is that most people in Japan rent an apartment - and if you are renting then you are not allowed to make holes in the wall - or the wanker of a landlord is going to charge you something like 20000 yen from the 2 months rent deposit of yours that he has (I was charged 16000 yen for a small scrap of peeling wall paper in on of my previous apartments).
Now even if you do decide to make holes in the wall (and try to patch it up with toothpaste when you move out), the walls in some of the apartments to rent are so thin that it wont take the weight of the shelf. Apartments in Japan are generally built to below standard - from the landlords point of view - they just want to spend as little as possible on apartments but charge you an arm, leg and maybe a kidney too.
Folks with their own places with no lousy landlord to suck up to (Do I give the ever so slight impression that landlords get on my nut?), generally dont put up shelves and one of the main reasons is the earthquakes. If you go into a department store, you are most likely to find a Tai shin goods corner (耐震グッズ) or "Earthquake counter measure goods" - things like shock absorbing pads, belts to tie to the back of a TV or monitor, poles wedge between the top of a cabinet and the celling etc - all the stuff that not only costs a bomb but also makes your house look crap.
I just couldn't be bothered with all that - life is too short to live in fear of an earthquake all the time. But to tell you the truth - these shelves are one of the first things I think of when there is an earthquake ^^;