I Skyped with my family this morning and heard about their upcoming move. They are packing up the last few rooms and will be out by the end of this week. I cannot believe how quickly time is going by. I am really looking forward to visiting them in August.
Orio Station
This afternoon I headed out to AEON Shopping Plaza. I took the train from Orio Station to Futajima Station and found my way just fine.
Onigiri with kombu from Family Mart 112 yen.
I'm slowly starting to get the hang of traveling around. I wear my sneakers most of the time because everyone walks everywhere here. While I was at AEON I browsed through the shoe department and scoped out a few potential options for summer sandals. It's going to be uncomfortably hot here soon and I want to make sure I'm prepared. They have so many cute comfortable options I don't think I'll have trouble.
*Side note: my heart ached walking through the shoe department when I saw the rainboots I atually wanted. They're just like the ones I bought at SunLive expect they're all green. They also had a pair of tall green United Colors of Benetton rain boots. I walked away quickly ...
The goal of today's trip to AEON was to buy some work tops. I have exhausted my options for school outfits and I needed a few new pieces to interchange. I walked the entire mall once, just browsing and comparing prices. I then did another lap and picked out what I thought would work best. I ended up buying pieces from HusHusH and AEON's in house brands. It was a success!
Starbucks at Futajima AEON Shopping Plaza
Grande Soy Latte
Since I was able to check train times using Starbucks wifi, I avoided arriving too early to the station and having to wait for a train. The picture below is of a Wish Tree that is used to celebrate Tanabata. People write their wishes and hopes on pieces of colorful paper and hang them from bamboo trees. I think there is a festival that happens in July --- I need to research and find out because I would like to go.
Futajima Station
When I got back to my apartment I unpacked my bags and indulged in the donut I picked up while shopping. The brand Mister Donut is extremely popular in Japan and I eye their display every time I pass one. I finally got to purchase my first donut and I chose a matcha cake donut. Nom nom nom.
Mister Donut - Matcha Cake Donut
I changed into one of my new outfits and headed out to do some grocery shopping.
My outfit matched my Starbucks cup.
Tonight I did my grocery shopping at Hallo Day. On my way there I did a little exploring. I walked down the side streets scoping out restaurants and bars for next weekend. It turns out that there a quite a few restaurants around my apartment ... bad news is, they look for traditional and very Japanese. I'm going to have to practice my new phrases if I want to even have a chance at getting seated.
So after 23 days of being in Japan I finally caved. I made myself a cup of hot chocolate; served myself a slice of matcha roll cake; and logged into Netflix to watch Suits.
3 weeks, 2 days -- Netflix wins.
