May 4

Today was up and down. I started around 10:00, an hour after my normal alarm. At breakfast, okaasan brought the soy sauce packets I had left on the counter from my sushi to me and asked about them. She was wondering why I had left them there when she didn’t need them and why I hadn’t used them. I finally got my chance to tell her that I thought soy sauce was too strong and overcame the flavor of the food it is used on. Her reply was that my thinking was wrong (pretty much a literal translation) and that it makes the flavor better, as well as being good for your health. She said it’s fine if I don’t eat it if I don’t like it, but that it’s just like vinegar, miso, or salt in its ability to enhance flavor. In the end, the sauce was thrown away. I just can’t win...

She also pressured me to leave the house because it’s golden week. I still don’t know what my friends are up to now that I’m back in town, so I don’t really have anywhere to go. I told her I had homework to finish first and that I would probably go out after I had finished it. Okaasan herself left shortly after this. I figured I could spend the day cleaning my room, doing laundry, and other things to become orderly, but I figured it would be bad if okaasan came home and I hadn’t left, so after doing only about 10% of the cleaning work I wanted to (and making some sad-looking onigiri), I wrote a short note to let okaasan know and walked to Nisshin eki.

I had to wait for a long time for my train (it’s the weekend) so I called Mike to see when he was going to have yakiniku, because it would be ironic if I had a boring day by myself forced on me by my host mother when I could have a fun day with my friends. As it turns out, it won’t be for another week probably, so I went shopping instead.

First, I went to Hara, where I had previously found a thrift shop that sells kimonos as well as all sorts of other things. It is quite a walk from the eki, and despite having been there only once, I was able to find it again with no problem. I even got a new picture of the dealership that sells corvettes on the way. While I was shopping, I heard Hirabari on the intercom, which made me think the shop was closer to the Hirabari station than Hara. That being the case, I walked out of the store when I was finished and was going to ask directions to the Hirabari eki at the nearby convenience store, but once I got there, I saw the eki right there. The thrift shop is pretty much right outside the eki.

I decided I would check out Shiogamaguchi too (since I ride past that stop all the time but never get off there). My luck with Shiogamaguchi wasn’t so great. It didn’t seem like there was anything to see and I didn’t feel like walking as far as I had from Hara with the chance of finding nothing, so when I came to another entrance to the same station, I rode the train to Yagoto, where I knew there was a Jusco.

At Jusco, I checked out the stationary (I am going to buy a bit more before I return) first. With that exhausted, I looked around the clothing floor just to kill some more time. I went to the section that had the scarf I liked at the beginning of my stay here and to my surprise, it had been marked down significantly (since it’s no longer winter). I had to get it at that point. :D Afterward, I checked out a few jackets and dresses at the other clothing sections. Everything is fairly cheap, but I can’t bring myself to buy acrylic or polyester anymore with the quick demise of clothing made from those fabrics.

My train put me at home just before dinner and when I returned, I thought I heard Otousan talking to his granddaughter. It turned out he was talking about her or on the phone to her. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself though because last time she was around, she didn’t like me being around. Either way, it all ended with me going to the kitchen with okaasan for dinner.

We had sukiyaki and okaasan tried to get me to eat a lot because, having seen how much sushi I ate the night before, she thought I could eat a lot. She also thinks I’m not adventurous (as compared to boys) because I don’t want to eat raw eggs, but I told her I had eaten them before, which didn’t seem to reduce her opinion of me as “reserved.”

At dinner, otousan said he and okaasan would practice (“rehearsal”) going to the airport before my flight because okaasan had never driven there (and otousan can’t drive any more). There was some confusion about where I would be leaving from (Nagoya airport or Chubu airport) but I think we’re good now, having consulted NWA.com.

We had the okashi I had brought back from Nara as dessert. Otousan asked me where they came from and I told him, as well as explained that I wasn’t sure if it was Nara-esque or not. He seemed a bit amused. When I was washing the dishes later, okaasan showed me that there was pancake mix in the house. I’m excited to make them tomorrow. :D I will definitely have to make brownies for ryoushin now.

After dinner, I watched the news with okaasan where they were interviewing a Japanese astronaut at the international space station. It was really interesting to see him in the station and the earth from the window.