Sarah's Shopping Shenanigans

So, today was a very busy day for me. First off in the morning I had my Japanese Language Placement Test. The less said about the kanji portion, the better (I was never good at kanji... :( ). Then, after that, Mita and I went to the cafeteria, where I dined on katsudon (chicken rice bowl). It was delicious and cheap. Following that we took a tour around campus and we checked out the various clubs on campus. Unfortunately, the competitive ballroom dancing club is not accepting members at the time. I've decided to track down the president and plead my case, though. Wish me luck!

Lookit the ladybug!

Then Mita and I went to meet Mita's speaking partner, Yume. She was accompanied by her friend Yui, and together we decided to go to the downtown Hirakata center. I felt kinda awkward because my Japanese was so halting and broken, but Mita's Japanese was excellent and both Yume and Yui could speak English well, so we all managed to communicate with each other.

Mojibakeru packaging

First we went to the shopping center イズミ (Izumi). There were so many cute things there! However the things I got were a pink polka-dot umbrella (here everyone uses them to ward off both sun and rain) and a pocket watch. I got the little pocket watch because I do not have a watch. My lack of a watch is due to the fact that I used my cell phone at home, and I can't get a cell phone  in Japan until I turn twenty (which is only 6 days away, so I can wait). And the most

Zoe-chan

important thing I purchased: MOJIBAKERU!! This is a type of children's toy that starts off as a kanji and then transforms into what the character represents. My mojibakeru is an zou (elephant). She is adorable, and I call her Zoe-chan.

Me and my first palm tree!

From Izumi, we went down a couple of backstreets, up a hill, down another hill and across a bridge to Kiddy Land, a supermarket where I managed to track down the exact shade of nail polish from my manicure that got so chipped during my travels. It will be fixed tonight! I got a folder (something that surprisingly is hard to find in Japan) with kitties on it as well.

Then we were off to yet another department store. There were cute shoes on sale, the largest size (LL) didn't fit me, as both Yume and Yui squealed about how big my feet were. I took this in good humor, because I started this myself. 「このくつはかわいい、でも、私の足は大きいですが。」 ("Those shoes are cute, but my feet are so big!")

Yume, Mita, Yui, Me!

Then we went up to the top floor where we did a purikura photoshoot. Purikura is a type of picture taking in a photobooth, but the Japanese take it to the extreme. With this photobooth, it will automatically make your eyes look bigger and while you took your picture, you could

More of our purikura

choose different frames, backgrounds, and photoshop effects to happen to you. Then, after the pictures were taken, you left the photobooth and went into the adjoining booth where you could write on the photo, add all sorts of odd

backgrounds and clip art to the photo, and even change the color of your hair or eyes! Yume and Yui were extreme, hardcore purikura-ers, and thus most of our pictures look really full. I got to decorate one as well! In

Our only plain picture!

the pictures, we all wrote our names, ミタ (Mita)、サラ (Sarah)、ゆめ (Yume)、and ゆい (Yui). After a hard day's work of purikura and shopping,

The purikura I decorated

we went back to Izumi's food court for dinner. I had gyudon (beef rice bowl) which was filling and delicious as usual.
Then we went to--wait for it--Mister Doughnut, the doughnut shop. Readers who know me will be surprised, I have no qualms about expressing my dislike of doughnuts (oh the stories my family can tell...). Doughnuts are gross and disgusting and utterly inedible. But I decided to look past my stigma and pick up some sweet takoyaki doughnuts. For those of you who do not know Japanese cuisine that well, takoyaki is a dumpling with a piece of octopus in the center. Of course this doughnut  was not really takoyaki. It only used the takoyaki sauce on the top, which was pretty savory and yummy. However, I find doughnuts still not really edible, I'm sad to report.

But the care and effort put into its packing is something to write about! First the nice shop lady took my order and put it in a box. Thinking that was it, I reached for the box. How wrong I was. She pulled the box closer to her, as if she was a mother protecting her child. Confused, I strayed back. She then put the box in a striped paper bag and then the bag into a clear plastic bag. Following that, she positioned the bag so that it was centered in the other bag. Only then did she allow me to remove it from the counter. Oy vey!

Boxed

Bagged

Double bagged