Our writer’s giant, flashing piece of hard candy is a triumph of the human spirit.

Let’s take a look at this thing here.

What you are seeing is a gigantic piece of strawberry-milk-flavored hard candy lit up like a pinball machine.

But it wasn’t always like this. This glammed-out candy was the milky fruit of one man’s labors, after having been brought to the pit of despair by an unscrupulous UFO catcher.

It all started last month when our writer Tasuku Egawa visited his local games center and thought about a certain machine offering a giant piece of strawberry milk hard candy.

This of course was just a package and inside was probably scores of regular-sized candies. However, it stood out among the other more fashionable prizes like One Piece figures and Pokémon dolls.

This machine was probably intended for little kids with a poor concept of money to tool around on and kill time. Because of that, it looked easy as all hell to get from its precarious perch, so Tasuku decided to give it a go, and 700 yen (US$6.50) later the huge candy was his.

Mind you, he isn’t an experienced UFO catcher player, so someone with the right skill set could probably have nabbed it for even less. Nevertheless, he was satisfied with his haul and looked forward to popping this bad boy open and rolling around in the sea of candies that would pour out of it.

However, once Tasuku lifted the lid on his giant capsule, his heart sank…

Inside was just two regular-sized bags of strawberry milk hard candy. The retail price was undoubtedly less than what he paid, but it wasn’t about the money. It was the fact that two bags which you’d see hanging in a supermarket were thoughtlessly tossed into a big plastic ball, Tasuku imagined, by some sweaty candy-factory-worker in an ill-fitting, yellowed T-shirt.

Our writer didn’t even like candy so much, but this so-called “prize” was so poorly made that he felt insulted to have received it. Clearly, the people behind this rip-off didn’t care about the kids who played their games, nor anyone else for that matter.

“But that’s the way the world is now; no one gives a damn about anyone else,” thought Tasuku, throwing his bag into a corner of the room. “If no one else cares, then why should I anymore?”

Weeks had passed and every day, after returning home from work, he was reminded of society’s erosion. That huge capsule, hollow like the empty promises of his fellow man, just sat there, mocking him.

Then, one day Tasuku realized that he couldn’t sit around waiting for other people to bring him happiness. If he wanted his dreams fulfilled, he would have to go out and do it himself. The first step was going out and buying a big one-kilogram bag of strawberry milk candies.

Then using this and the other two stupid bags he had won, our writer began to fill up the capsule with individual candies – the way it should have been done in the first place.

When all was said and done, he managed to get 311 pieces into the container while still being able to close it.

Finally, he put the original wrapper on it.

It was pretty awesome, and Tasuku felt good about righting that terrible wrong that had been done to him. However, as he stared at the large candy, he still didn’t feel truly happy…

His heart had been so frozen by that UFO catcher, that more needed to be done to pull him out of his funk.

So, he picked up some remote-controlled LED tape lights.

He then wrapped the lights around the capsule and secured it with some Scotch tape.

With some strategic wrapping, the lights were almost impossible to notice once complete.

But one simple flick of the switch, and it was PARTY TIME!

Now, whenever Tasuku returned home from a hard day’s work, he was no longer offended by a shell of lost innocence. He was now greeted by a ball of pure light, candy, and happiness.

It was quite likely the greatest piece of strawberry milk hard candy ever made.

Sure, it weighed way too much to be a real UFO catcher prize now. Also, because of the lights he could no longer open it to eat the candy, but this whole ordeal was never about the candy.

Tasuku had learned that when things didn’t work out his way, feeling angry or sad about it didn’t help at all. It wasn’t until he took matters into his own hands that his wildest candy-filled dreams could come true.

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