September 12. 2004 23:14

Shopping day

Thank goodness music is global. There was a program with classical music in the TV late at Saturday night, and watching it felt really relaxing, just like at home. The program was about this "thing", I'm not sure if it's a movie or what, with this very handsome guy in it. There were some scenes of what seemed like a romatic movie, so I'm guessing that's what it is. Anyway, it seems to be a big hit around here right now, because I've seen posters with that guy around and there was even a CD specially placed on the counter at the used CDs shop. I'm actually regretting a bit that I didn't get that CD, because if the music I just heard in the TV is from that then it's pretty nice, and there a pic of that handsome guy on the CD so it'd be nice to look at, too *^_^*

And thank goodness art is global, too. Music and art are the things that make me feel like home here, and the things I really want to spend my money in. CDs and artbooks. Yesterday, as I went downtown shopping, I spent an hour at the Book-Off again. It's a wonderful place. An hour isn't nearly enough, but I always end up going there last and then I'm in a hurry. This time I bought an RG Veda artbook set that looks amazing for just 650 yen, plus 3 CDs: Hysteric Blue's Baby Blue, Digi Charat Dejiko no sound message and an Oh! My Goddess box, the contents of which I'm not sure of. Some sort of collection, it seems. When I paid my things the clerk offered me a membership card at it, for 100 yen, so now I'm a member of Book-Off. I figured I'll be spending enough there that I'll benefit something from this membership, whatever it means.

Most of my shopping day I spent just wathing at stuff. I'm pretty self-concious about my money now that it's slowly running out and it'll take a while more to get the bank account ready. The good thing about being here for 5 months is that I don't necessarily have to buy everything I see right now. I found a very good-looking Chinese/Vietnamese style dress that I really want, but that'll have to wait until I get more money, because it was almost 10 000 yen. Then there were lots of souvenir-type things, some incense packets, jewelry and stuff like that that I looked at but thought I'll buy it all later. Then there were some things, like this little Miroku figure that goes together with the Sango figure I already have, and a set of Princess Maker collectable cards that I just had to have, and then this plastic card with a pic of "tear angels" that I wanted to decorate my room with. I found a 2000 yen version of that 6000 yen hat I fell in love with before, so that was on the "must get" list as well. The 100 yen store was very attractive with it's cheapness again, so I got a few necessities (like that calendar at last) and a few non-necessities (like a photo frame). I finally found the right kind of an adapter plug, too, so now that's done and I think I have nothing really urgent to buy anymore. (I just have to pay for the futon (bed) and the bike.)

While I was shopping, I checked out nearby hotels for my parents, who're coming for a visit in October. Some of them were so fancy that I felt insecure just going in and getting a leaflet. Some of them were nice and cozy, though. I also spent a while at the Vodafone shop asking about the dual-mode phones they have. Their website listed 5 phones that work both in Finland and in Japan, but apparently only two of them are sold here. The prettier and better designed one costs 29 800 yen + tax and the less practical looking one 4800 yen + tax. Vodafone's own "call package" comes with (costing about 4500 yen a month) and they're not compatible with the pre-paid cards. Phones that use pre-paid cards are totally separate from the sim card phones with monthly charge... Which is a shame. I like the Finnish system better, where a pre-paid card works just like a normal sim card. And to make the desicion even more hard, if I were to take a Vodafone mobile, it would probably have to be the more expensive model, because the cheaper one just seems so unpractical. I don't like the design with a sliding opening mechanism. But I took DoCoMo's and au's prochures, too, to check if they have any phones that support GSM. They're both in Japanese (because I was too stupid to ask for English ones :P), so I'll have to wait until I get to the Net (or a Japanese and English speaker...) to see what they really say.

The last time I went through the shopping streets I spotted a pizza place there, so I was determined to get a nice, big western meal to celebrate... well, having a nice day I guess. But I happened to walk past a hamburger steak house that looked quite delicious (and quite cheap), so I went there instead. Something and Donkey was the name. They served, well, hamburger steaks with different side-dishes. I took a cheese steak and a coke plus a tiramisu parfait as dessert. Originally I was planning on taking a big coke, which would probably have been just like any big coke in the west, but the waitress started explaining that it really was a really big coke, so I settled with the normal-sized one just to please her. The people here are really amazed by the western big appetite, especially if it's a female eating... Heidi's had numerous strange looks when she's ordered a big coffee and she had to spend quite a while until she could persuade a salesgirl to let her try on a pair of shoes that were size 40. I didn't think it was worth the fuss to get that bigger coke. She was already a bit dazzled as I wanted to take the coke with the meal, not before or after.

The steak was very good (especially the cheese, yum!), though a bit small as there were no potatoes to go with it. (Again, the small Japanese meals.) And the parfait was just delicious. Later I heard that the pizza place was actually quite awful, so I guess I was lucky, being that fickle. But really, I'll never get used to this Japanese habit of not paying at the table even in restaurants. Now remember everyone, if you come to Japan, always remember to pay at the counter after you've eaten. As I ate I absent-mindedly wondered if the high school boy and girl on the next table left without paying since they left no money at the table, and when I left, I just put the money with the receipt. The poor waitress ran after me and gave me my money and told me to pay at the counter, where I then went, thoroughly embarrassed. Ugh... I'm not gonna make that mistake twice.

I almost had the experience of being picked up that night, as well. Or at least I think that was the intention of the man in a suit that seemed to try and say something to me as I passed him on the bridge. But he was so quiet and discrete that I just passed him as if I didn't notice. Actually, being taken out for a dinner might've been quite nice, but you never know if they're up to something else that just showing off with a "pretty foreign girl" :P Haha, I'm just fooling around, really, but I've always been fascinated by those movies where people are just wondering around in the downtown nightlife and meeting people. I love downtown nightlife, I just never have anyone like-minded to share the experience with, someone that'd be the type to go with. With my boyfriend it seems too much like a date and none of the girls I know are that type.

When I was heading home I passed a bookstore that was open beyond nine, so I decided to drop in to see if I could get the third Harry Potter book, or find any English book in that matter. That store happened to have a big pile of Harry Potter franchise on a table near the counter, along with English versions of most of the books. The fifth book came out here just when I arrived, so it's been up lately. I flapped through a poster book that looked very nice (I almost felt like I wanted it) and bought the Prisoner of Azkaban with almost the last of the money I had with me. Today I've spent most of the day reading it. (I also made my first home-made dinner; this far I've mostly eaten half-made stuff or at restaurants. It came out nice but a bit spicy because I put in too much black pepper.) It might be because it's in English, but it seems like Rowling's getting better at writing by every volume. The first one was really boring, especially as I knew the plot by seeing the movie, but it's getting better. It might've been just a boring translation, though, as I read the first two books in Finnish, but it seems more likely that the text was just too simple. I guess it was the magical world that the readers fell in love with, since I didn't think that the first book was such a great reading experince. Which doesn't mean that I wouldn't be glued to the books as I read them and totally in love with the movies :P