Welcome to my grimy little corner. A corner of a disused section of an all-but-unknown website devoted to an arcane sub-unit of the hobby of toy collecting. Give me your sick, your tired, your socially-marginal; my little dungeon's devoted to collecting-with-conscience. No room for mindless accumulation here; this is the study of Japan through their toy-leavings.

Yes, my brain is here to serve your needs. When I'm not using it for other things, I cordially invite you, the reader, to submit questions, queries, and witty repartee to it. Need a quick translation of that instruction manual or caption from Hobby Japan? Sure! It SPEAKS JAPANESE! (It even lived there for a while!) Howzabout some quick background on the toys of "Sasuraiger"? Or the name of that monster from the fifteenth episode of Ultraseven? Fine! It's got DETAILED FILES on that subject! The name and directions to that used toy store in South Chiba, Tokyo? Maybe. I dunno, try it! Stump me! Go ahead! I dare you. Think of Eau De Alt as the "Dear Abby" of toy-collecting. Hey, somebody's got to do it!

To "prime your pump," as it were, I've provided you with a little food for thought. Eau de Alt will serve as a sort of evil doppelganger to Alen's Ramble. The Translations Branch, which is a net-wide first, will serve as a repository for those things I think the well-informed-but-linguistically-crippled toy collector would find of interest. Translated snippets from original Japanese source materials that may prove a bit handy, as it were. This month is a legally-marginal translation of the interview with Go Nagai from the book THE Chogokin. More to follow from prison. And the Annals of the Unrespected? Well, that's just how it's always been. A repository for those toys that collectors just love to dis. And reading through all of this, maybe, just hopefully, we'll be able to take a bit of a look at the culture that spawned this parasitic hobby that's got your soul in a vice-like grip.

Now send in your Japanese toy-related questions and comments before Alen and I have to forge a bunch. Don't make me have to come over there.

--M.A.