#77 駐車券事件

Biting a Parking Ticket Peeled the Entire Roof of Her Mouth

Ponpoko has carried a habit since childhood: when her hands are full, she instinctively clamps paper between her teeth. She traces the origin to a kind of performative coolness she practiced alone as a kid — and the tic eventually followed her into public.

Leaving a car park one day, she gripped the steering wheel with the parking ticket held in her mouth. The ticket was there for only five to eight seconds. Her mouth happened to be extremely dry at the time, and the paper wicked up all available moisture in an instant. When she pulled it free, the entire inner skin of her upper palate tore away with it, sending a jolt of sharp pain through her mouth. The back of the ticket was coated in oral tissue. In the days that followed she developed multiple mouth ulcers that made every meal an ordeal. She turned to ChatGPT for first aid, which told her to press something clean against the wound for ten minutes. She swore a solemn oath never to bite paper again — but now confessed that every time something approaches her mouth, the trauma floods back.

First Time Using Parcel Locker PUDO: "So Much Easier Than the Depot"

This week Ponpoko used PUDO (プドウ) for the first time. PUDO is a network of green parcel lockers installed in supermarkets and other everyday locations around Japan, operated primarily in partnership with Yamato Transport. The process is straightforward: register your parcel details in the Yamato member app, designate a PUDO station as the drop-off point, then hold a QR code up to the locker and place the package inside. Payment is calculated by size and charged afterward. Ponpoko declared it "overwhelmingly faster than carrying things to the depot" and announced she would use it regularly whenever one is nearby. Peanuts-kun had not heard of PUDO, but when shown a photo he recognised it immediately.

Coin Laundry Dramas Are Everywhere — and So Are Unusual Photo Booths in Korea

Ponpoko is currently watching the Netflix drama *T-shatsu ga Kawakumade* (Tシャツが革くまで), starring Matsuyama Kenichi, which begins in a coin laundry. She binge-watched it in one sitting. The mention sparked a broader conversation about the apparent surge in dramas using coin laundries as a setting, which led the two hosts to reminisce about their own coin-laundry adventure on the final day of a trip to Amsterdam. They burst in just before closing and ended up huddled with a group of fellow travellers, collectively debating which button started drying and which started washing — an inexplicable moment of solidarity with strangers.

The episode also touched on a peculiar photo-booth trend in Korean coin laundries: machines set up so you can pose peering into a washing machine drum, playing on the chic aesthetic of the space. Another format got a mention too — booths themed around airport security trays, where you arrange your favourite small items in a tray, shoot straight down from above, and receive the finished print in a passport-case style sleeve.

Supreme Class Coming to the Shinkansen, and Ponpoko Finally Joins JRE Point

The Smart EX app for Tokaido Shinkansen reservations is being updated, and from October a Supreme Class option will appear on the seat-selection screen. Both hosts said they were curious and wanted to ride it at least once. They also noted that Tokaido Shinkansen reservations run through Smart EX while the Tohoku Shinkansen and other JR East lines use Eki-net — a split that initially caused them some confusion.

On another long-deferred matter: Ponpoko describes herself as a self-confessed "points addict" who diligently collects Rakuten Points and Amazon Points, yet has somehow never signed up for JRE Point, reasoning that it was irrelevant to someone shuttling between Osaka and Tokyo. After being handed a card application form at Lumine and Lucua too many times to count, she made a formal declaration on the podcast: she will finally join JRE Point.

3D Printer Obsession Enters Week Three, and Peanuts-kun's Swimming Books Contradict Each Other

Ponpoko is now more than two weeks deep into her 3D-printer phase. Items printed in that time include a light-switch cover, shelf-divider parts, a travel case for an electric toothbrush, a small bin, and a laptop accessory tray. She also produced a slim wallet for Peanuts-kun — push a lever and cards pop out — but received the feedback that it was "a bit inconvenient" and it went unused. Undeterred, she is now arguing for a second machine on the grounds that with two printers she could run one job while the other was still printing. Peanuts-kun was visibly baffled.

Peanuts-kun updated everyone on his swimming progress: he has been swimming 500 metres in a 25-metre pool, taking about 30 minutes per session. After previously recommending an adult swimming class, he started reading a new Kindle Unlimited book called *Nagaku Raku ni Oyogitai* (長く楽に泳ぎたい) — only to discover that its breathing instructions are the exact opposite of those in the earlier book. He described the realisation as being struck by lightning.