That day we decided to go downtown to do some shopping. After getting here and experiencing the heat first hand I realized most of my shirts were to hot. And I really needed sandals. So on what should have been a 30min walk to the station turned into about a 2 hour walk because everytime we went around a corner I would find something exciting.
The first stop I had been waiting to make was to go to a Japanese 7/11!! It was everything I hoped it would be. Unlike ours where you are treated to a bunch of degenerate, drop out, gross looking staff, here you get a bunch of well dressed, friendly people greeting you as you walk in. Instead of the premade frightening looking meals you can get at ours, you find a ton of delicious looking bento boxes, sushi and other treats. The only downside was no slushies.... However I had to get something, so decided on a single piece of chicken karage (Japanese KFC). It was just as good as any restaurant here can serve.
After that we went into a store kind of like London Drugs. I love how in Japan they have alcohol everywhere. Naomi tells me they still have to get a liqueur licence though. They also had some great store signs too, very in your face. We were treated to many loud "Irashaimase!!!" Some in VERY weird high pitched voices. It's like every staff member has their own style.
After that we got sidetracked by a big media store. Kind of a combo of HMV and Chapters and Blockbuster. First floor all stuff for sale and also had a library. Second floor was a rental floor. Full of great stuff and I managed to find a couple of WW2 books on Japan for me, full of photos. I was quite happy with that. Was also funny to see about 15 Japanese guys all hanging around the magazine rack looking at dirty magazines. They really don't seem to care about it lol.
Then it was back on the road, where I found my first weird Japanese business logo in English.
It was *BE FREEK*. I don't really know what they were wanting to say, I thought Be Free would suit it a lot better..but alas Naomi persuaded me to not go and tell them, since they already have their business licence.
Once we got downtown we found our first two minis! One old and one new!
Along the way I found a bunch of places I was dying to eat at as well. The first is a Japanese curry restaurant. The other a Gyudon store (like beef stir fry) which is one of my favourite foods at work. Only $2.50 for a full bowl!!! Thats like $8 in Canada. They are both chain restaurants.
Pretty soon we made it to the mall. First thing we thought we should do was grab some lunch, so after walking around in the *Restaurant Dining* hallway. Basically a hallway and along it on each side are various Japanese restaurants.
We decided one place and had a very nice meal for cheap. We got Tako Karage (Japanese Octopus KFC) for starters, then I got a pork teriyaki combo which came with a huge rice bowl and bottomless miso and a big piece of cold tofu. Naomi got the "western combo" (my name, not theirs) which was a hamburger and spaghetti. I guess they think thats what we whities like to eat. It also came with miso and rice and the cold tofu. The restaurant looks like what would be a fancy place back home, but is actually quite cheap. Like white spot or something.
It was all very good! As usual.
I realize now this was a long day. I will post part 2 later tomorrow hopefully!
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