February 7

It was an interesting day today. I woke up a little past nine. I think I hit the snooze on my alarm that I set for 8:50, because at 8:59, I was woken from a horrible dream (nightmare even). I went downstairs and made breakfast (fried eggs, for a change) and talked with my parents on skype for an hour.

Afterward, I left for Osu. The weather was pretty good and I finally got my shot of the Miata around the block! Unfortunately, I missed my train by about a minute (from not rushing), but I made it to Osu pretty early. This time around, I found tons of things I want to buy and a few good ideas for presents, though it wasn’t necessary to buy them right then and there. Osu was really interesting. First of all, I saw two girls fully dressed in gothic lolita garb. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t have the courage at the time to ask. Of course, there were tons of guys and girls with the leather motorcycle jacket I want to get. There were even stores carrying it, but there was always something holding me back; too expensive, not the right pattern/color, wrong size, not actually made from a cow, and so on. Japanese fashion is pretty easy to categorize right now. It consists mostly of a few particular clothing items/details; motorcycle jackets, pom-poms on sweater strings, furry hood lining, plaid, scarves (from what I see in the stores, all acrylic), and tall-ish boots.

I did end up buying a few things today, for a big change and surprise. I splurged a bit, but I’m guessing I won’t really do that too much and even this splurge wasn’t too bad. I got my bean-paste-filled donut (twice) of course, because I can’t go to Osu and not get one (so far). I also went into a toy store (It’s name is Spanky, but I think it’s supposed to be Spunky, because there was nothing creepy inside) and bought two cel-phone charms. They’re really cute dogs with pretty good Japanese phrases translated to English. One of them, can be interpreted badly if you really try hard, but knowing the slightest bit of Japanese, the intended message is completely cute and not bad.

I went back to the store which sells (really expensive) things made from kimono fabric, which I had gone to the last time I went to Osu. Since the floor is tatami in the shop, I asked if it was okay to keep my shoes on (even though we had asked before and it was alright), but I think the attendants thought I was asking what they thought of my shoes, so they all laughed when they said it was alright. Of course, I did make a complete fool of myself by wearing my shoes on the gold paper on the floor near the dressing room, so I’ll never go there again.

The real splurge came from the sweater I bought. It was a bit on the expensive side, but I really like it and it’s a lot like the great jacket I see the guy on the chikatetsu wear. It’s all black (of course) with five zipper pockets (of course) and two buckles at the collar (of course), it has a hood, and zips in the front (twice, because it looks like a sweater with another sweater inside), and there are buckles on the sleeves too. It doesn’t have a furry collar, but it probably cost a lot less than the one the guy on the train wears. I was surprised because it actually fit, after so many things being too small. Then again, it is a large....

When I get back to the States, I will wonder why America does not have as much selection as Japan in the way of individual items like clothes, bags, umbrellas, office supplies, etc. Everything comes in a million varieties, qualities, and cuteness factors. Japan also seems to have an amazing sense of style. I saw a sweater that I would otherwise overlook at a particular store in Osu, but it had a (really cheap) pin that made it really interesting. Enough about clothes...

I heard the White Stripes’ Black Math in an Osu store today and it made me think of one of my friends. I was really surprised to hear them since all of the Japanese girls I talked to in Japanese class said they hadn’t heard of them. Speaking of which, the last time I went to Jusco, I heard the Romeo country song and Hot ‘n Cold, which both reminded me of another friend. (Bonus points for guessing both of the friends correctly, and a hint for the one involving the White Stripes: I found a Haruhi Pinky Street figure in one of the toy shops)

I spent a lot of time looking for a pair of comfy boots to bring to Tokyo (since my shoes are killing the front of my right foot for a reason yet unknown). Japanese shoe sizes (or at least for the kind of shoe I was trying on) are S, M, L, and LL. I think I’m an L. All of the shops seemed to have the “this is the last one we have!” deal going. Of course, shoe buying is hard any time, and when faced with a deadline, doesn’t spell success. Okaasan kept trying to find her own pairs of shoes that would fit me, but my feet are just too wide. She didn’t seem to know what I was talking about when I mentioned shoe inserts as a way to solve my shoe problems. Another culture note; Japanese people use plastic “tongues” to hold up the back of their shoes while they put them on, so they don’t have to untie them.

Before I left Osu, I headed back to the stand to buy the second donut, and to my surprise, I had to wait in line. D: Culture note number something: the Japanese, just like Americans, often get into cases of human traffic jams, however, unlike Americans, despite having a lot of people in one space, Japanese people move quickly through the jam (especially through wickets and to get food). It’s really quite amazing. Afterward, I caught my chikatetsu (and had to stand with four uniformed high school boys who I couldn’t understand D:). It was alright though, and I got back fairly early. I even ran into Keily when I got off at Nisshin. She had gone with some of the other exchange students to the “naked men festival” which doesn’t actually entail naked men, but ill-clad men. It is an annual tradition (in Nagoya, and maybe nationally, I can’t remember) where men in the Japanese equivalent of loin cloths (in February) go into a lake somewhere. It’s pretty crazy (and there are tons of people in small areas) so I decided on Osu instead. Keily invited me to go to a bar (with a bunch of the other students) after, but it didn’t sound like my kind of thing (or cheap) so I kept with my plan of going home.

Once I got home, okaasan asked me about my shoe hunting and offered another pair of shoes. She also told me I didn’t have to rush and that she would keep my dinner waiting if I wanted to stay out later, but to be honest, I was getting to the tired point by the time I decided to go home. We had dinner early because okaasan had to go to a community meeting. She was really dreading it and saying so through dinner (which, for the first time, we had with the TV on). We ate linguini with dry curry (still delicous) and salad. Before okaasan (reluctantly) left for the meeting, otousan told her to ganbatte. Otousan and I ate dessert without okaasan because she had to go to the meeting by then. When okaasan got home, I was in my room, but I could hear her down the hall in a flustered voice, allegedly talking about the meeting.