our other favorite European comic book hero

D and I found The Tintin Shop of Tokyo by accident, while wandering down one of the quiet back streets that lead from the British School into Jingumae, toward posh Omotesando street, just a few short blocks from where our Japanese teacher has her studio. C takes a class on Friday afternoons, leaving D and I with an hour to explore, which we were doing when we suddenly spotted Snowy (Milu) on a sandwich board on the sidewalk in front of us.

It was such a beautiful day, in the 50s and sunny, and so for the first time I used a scooter to get back to school for dismissal. I actually saved time, because I took a short cut to avoid traffic and hills. Now I just have to summon the guts to try it with the boys, with all three of us on Razors...

The Tintin shop sells books in Japanese, French and English, as well as DVDs of the animated series based on the comic book series by Belgian artist Hergé. There are T-shirts and other collectibles, including a really nice watch. The website points out where Tintin stores elsewhere in the world (but not North America). There are five shops in Japan alone...At the home page, click SHOP and go from there. There's a Tintin club, apparently...