Parappa the Rapper is one of my favorite games because the songs and humor are so dang
catchy.  You can find out more about it at http://www.sony.co.jp.
  If you can’t deal with the Japanese then you can find some info about it at http://www.videogamespot.com.  It should be
out in America soon.  Until then you’ll have to get the Japanese version.

Below is a bunch of sounds, icons and backgrounds suitable for use as a Desktop Theme.
  They are all copyright Sony.

Here’s a Parappa doll I found in a game store in Japan.  There are actually quite
a few Parappa merchandise.

Click here to download my Parappa Theme files.

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Um Jammer Lammy

Um
Jammer Lammy is the sequel to Parappa the Rapper.  It’s arguable
whether or not it’s as good as the original.  The songs are not as
funny (except for maybe stage 3) but I will say that the game grew on
me.  It’s got 7 stages instead of 6.  If you finish those 7 you
get to play 6 of them again as Parappa, usually with new music. 
There are also 2 player cooperative modes and competitive modes as
well.  Overall I’ve grown quite fond if it.

On a recent trip to Japan I saw (and bought) lots of Parappa and Lammy merchandise.

This is a guitar I saw at Yokohama Worldporter, a new mall in Yokohama Japan.  Next to it there was also a Hello Kitty guitar.  For those of you that can’t convert yen to dollars the easiest way is to think of yen and cents so the guitar here is 30600 cents or about $306.00

This is a flashing PJ Berry that would go on a key chain or phone strap.

Here are some pens and mechanical pencils.  Ewe, Ahhh, Cool.

These are celphone covers.  I find it kind of strange that in Japan there are hundreds of styles of celphones or keitai denwa and yet clearly these covers would only match a certain model. Keitai means portable. Denwa means phone.

These are metal pins.

These are phone straps.  In Japan, every celphone has
a place to attach a strap.  There are thousands of straps to pick from
as well as tons of other celphone accessories like antennas with LEDs in
them so that they flash when you are making or receiving a call.  Also
various items that can sense when the phone is receiving a call and act
based on that.  For example there are Doraemon, Pikachu and Hello Kitty
stuffed animals that you set your phone in a pocket on their stomachs and
when the phone rings the stuffed animal rocks and sings.

What I don’t understand is why this hasn’t happened in
the USA?  You’d think it’s a business opportunity waiting to
happen.  One problem is that the celphone companies don’t put the
little notch on the phones so that you could attach a strap.  I
suppose another problem is that U.S. phones have been so large that most
people wouldn’t use a strap with them.  In Japan, most of the phones
are very small and are practically seen as a fashion statement.

The things on the right above snap on to the
strap.  Here’s an example from the phone I got on my last trip.

Note that if you visit Japan and you would like a phone,
go to the nearest Tu-Ka office.  (pronounced Tsu-Ka)  Ask for a
"pre paid" phone.  You need no ID etc. As of early 2000 the
phones cost 4800yen (or about $48)  Note that you have no choices in
models.  One of my friend believes that this service is their way of
getting rid of old models as models more than 6 months old are out of
fashion.  Some simple English instructions will come with the
phone.  Anyway, you also need to buy "pre paid" service
cards.  They are 3000yen each (about $30) and give you 30 minutes of
service.  To activate one dial 1400 (to dial, type the number and
press the button that looks like a phone with the handset up)  When
you hear the recording press 1.  Type in the number on the card and
press #.  The number will be repeated in Japanese.  Press #
again to verify and you will now have 30 minutes of service.  The
cards are only good for 60 days from the time of purchase and if you don’t
use the phone for more than 120 days they will cancel it and you’ll have
to buy another.  Still it’s a pretty cheap way to get a phone in
Japan for connecting with friends.

Here are some plastic toys. Clearly they are Fun, not
boring

Here is my nephew, Ricky, playing the new Um Jammer
Lammy game just released by Namco.  It’s basically the same game as
the home game except instead of a playstation controller you use a
guitar.  X, O, Square and Triangle are in the middle.  On the
neck is a slider that acts as L1 and near the bottom is a scratch disc
that acts like R1.  The patterns in the game have been changed so as
not to make it too hard to play with the guitar controller.

A few other things I picked up.  I did find the
soundtrack to the Um Jammer Lammy game.

Note that there are at least 4 Parappa / Lammy related music CD
available.  The Parappa Game soundtrack has a cover similar to the
Japanese version of the game (see picture at top).  The first Lammy CD
out is the CD on the left.  Unfortunately it is Milkcan doing all the
songs from the game.  Not what I was looking for.  The next CD,
"I Scream. PJ & Parappa" is a collection of songs based on the
games but sung by PJ and Parappa.  The actual Lammy game soundtrack is
the right most CD.  It includes all the Parappa versions of the Lammy
songs including the Chop Chop Master Onion song with Parappa which I have
not actually found in the game.  Personally I think the Lammy version
of the songs could have had the guitar parts mixed a little higher but still
overall they’re pretty good.

For Christmas my friend Scott got me this clock.  It’s similar to many of the character clocks in Japan.  When the alarm goes of it plays a digital recording.  This one plays the Um Jammer Lammy theme from the title of the game.  When you turn the alarm off she says one of three things.  Either "Okay", "Thank You" or "All Right!"

I did see quite a few other things like Lammy dolls, Lammy pillows, Lammy
mouse pads, T-shirts (all too small for me)

2000/05/18:

Many people have asked me where you can get this stuff.  Other
than going to Japan and getting it yourself (you can go round trip to
Japan for under $600)  I was told by TokyoPop
that they will pretty much special order anything for you.  They
would like you to have a model number or IPC number but otherwise they
said they can find things even without that information.  I have not
used them but if you have good luck with them please tell me.  You
can find their website at http://www.tokyopop.com.

2000/12/15:

I’m back in Japan and I found a few more things.

These are "Mousepet Sets".  Each set comes with 2
items.  The item on the left clips to your mouse cable near the mouse
and wiggles around as you use your mouse.  The item on the right sits
on the top edge of your monitor.  The PJ Berry one can hold a card in
his hands.

2001/08/01:

Well if you didn’t know, starting last May a Parappa TV cartoon series
started and with it lots of new merchandise hit the stores. I posted some
links here.

Well this month, on August 28th the new Playstaion 2 game comes out and
so there is/was a big promotion going on at McDonalds in Japan where I
picked up the following stuff for you Parappa fans. 

I had never seen an EXTRA LARGE size drink in Japan before
but now along with this promotion McDonalds now has super sized
drinks.  I think this is one of the signs that Japan will follow
America into obeseness.

These are 2 of the happy meal toys (or happy set as they are
called in Japan). I would guess they are meant to clip on your belt. 
On Parappa you can pull the strap and he waves his arms as the strap
recoils.  The Piposaru monkey’s hat light lights up if you press it.

The promotion is actually not just Parappa.  On July
8th Piposaru (Saru
Getchu 2 : Ape Escape 2) came out and later this year Tororo
to Kyuujitsu (My Day off with Tororo) comes out.  Sorry to burst
all you Parappa fans bubbles but Tororo the Cat from Dokodemo Isshou
(Everywhere Together) is way more popular than Parappa and all his toys sold
out in the first couple of days.

There were also several toys you could just buy.  No
other purchase required.  About $3 each. These are phone buddies (for
lack of a better word).  You pick one (or two) and with the strap in
the middle they attach to your cell phone. (see above for
earlier examples)

Here are two nurigurumi (stuffed animals) I also picked
up.  The Piposaru has *grasping hands*.  Papappa doesn’t do
anything except sniff the fries and look cute.  Dang that monkey is
ugly.  The big deal with Piposaru is that in the game you chase the
monkeys with a vacuum cleaner and you suck their pants off.  I guess
that’s supposed to be funny.  I don’t think it sold well.

Finally McDonalds was also running a card game kind of like
Pokemon cards or Magic the Gathering cards.  For each meal you’d get a
pack of cards.  Each pack had like 2 game cards and 1 prize card. 
The prize being like if you got 3 of the same prize cards you got what’s on
them like a free hamburger.  Here’s the backs of the game cards.

The pictures on the cards are from their respective PS2
games.  I’ve got to admit I’m curious about the new Tororo game but I
will definitely get Parappa 2 in a couple of weeks.

As for you Parappa fans there is also a flashed
out website here.

2001/08/30:

Parappa 2
came out for Playstation 2.  No idea if it’s supposed to be released in
the states.  Of course I picked it up.

Being a Parappa fan I love it but honestly it’s just more of the same so
if you didn’t like the original or Lammy then you probably won’t like this
one.

I totally dig the music and for those of you than don’t know De La Soul
is featured on the soundtrack and there’s a Party Mix CD coming out next
week.  I’m digging the music this time.  Not that I didn’t love
most of the songs on the other games.  Maybe it’s just these are
fresh.  Here’s a sample I whipped up.

I finished the game in about 3 hours.  I only failed level 5 once
and level 8 (the last) about 10 times before I finished.  No idea if
there is more.  No special options appeared though Parappa’s hat turned
blue.  Maybe I have to go for "awesome" rating on all levels
if that’s possible in this version.

There’s a bonus game if you do well on any level.  It’s always the
same came though where you smash things with Chop Chop Master Onion and his
Ko-tamanegis. (Kow, rhymes with mow, tama rhymes with mama, negis would
rhyme with keg then keys.  It means Little Onion’s in Japanese)

Some things which took a little getting used to.  Before each level
(clearly stuck in as an after thought) you get a boombox that comes up on
the screen, kisses you and then makes you practice before you can
continue.  It’s probably a good thing making it easy to pass the levels
but it’s also kind of not so cool in a way.

Another is that when you mess up and go down (or up) a level.  Like
from "Good" to "Bad" or "Bad" to
"Awful" the music stops, the character you are rapping with says
something like "Getting Worse" and then the music picks up in a
different spot.  As far as I can tell each time that happens 2 measures
get added to the song (or you could look at it as going back 2
measures).  This gives you a chance to recover from your mistake but
it’s disconcerting because of the major interruption in the flow of the
music.

More stuff has come out since then.

These cookies came out each with a toy inside.  They
pretty much sold out immediately.  My friend, Junko, who’s also into
Parappa, called me and told me to about them and that they would be sold out
quick.  I went to 6 different convenience stores until I found a
supply.

The cookies have little prints on them.  I ate them
all.  I wonder if they are singing in my stomach.

Here are the toys as printed on the back of the box.

I
picked up 1, 5, 7 and 8.

There is also another set of toys out.  They are only
$1.50 each if you can find them.

 A free one came with the game but I
suspect that’s a "until supplies last" kind of thing.

On other thing my friends Junko was able to scam is a
Parappa Uchiwa (a fan).  Pretty cool.

2002/02/20:

A few more things I picked up recently.

This is a set of post-it notes.  They are each about
1×1 inch.  Pretty small.  You can see from the holes on the left
this set is meant to go into an organizer.

This set of itty-bitty stationary is also meant to go into
an organizer.  I guess when you really need to write that secret letter
since they are too small to actually mail.

Small stickers for letters and envelopes are very popular in
Japan.  I suppose stickers are popular in the states too as there are
sticker shops here and there but it feels like it’s a bigger thing here.

You might notice some of these characters are not from the
games.  Instead they are from the TV cartoon series.

Here’s a close-up of a few of the stickers.