driving in Japan + shopping + future travel plans
as i think i mentioned in my last entry, i've been lucky enough to have a 4 day weekend my first week here...! well, the first three days have been great and i figure i should update now before the week gets underway and i forget. :P
at someone's suggestion, i checked out one of the school's cares for the weekend so i could explore the city and practice driving. the car that i ended up checking out is Guppy (yes, school cars have names) which is a really old ('89??), teeny tiny red car whose make i cannot remember at present. it runs really well for it's age, but i still think it's a funny little 100% japanese kinda car lol.
anyway, thursday i decided to drive around a bit shopping for some things that i really needed. i went to a Daiso that was the strangest Daiso i've been to yet. it's location in a tin building that very much looks like a dinky warehouse, which is a very different image/feeling than Daiso usually trys to convey in its stores. driving to Daiso was mostly uneventful except navigating very small streets is tricky and i noticed for the first time that everyone here (in Hitachinaka? in Ibaraki?) reverse parks (parks backwards) EVERYWHERE. even little old obaa-chans (old ladies) whip their cars backwards into parking spaces as if it's nothing.
WHY??? i felt like such a noob and i continued to feel like a noob throughout the weekend as i kept seeing people skillfully maneuver their cars in ways that i can only hope to achieve one day.
anyway, i also drove out to the CRAZY AWESOME shopping area by Hitachinaka Kaihinkouen/Seaside Park. i think i'll dub this area 金奪えランド or Money Stealing Land because you can't go there and leave with money still in your pockets. D; in addition to there being a very large, western-style shopping mail there is also two HUGE electronics stores, the largest Tsutaya Shoten (bookstore) i've been in yet with a HUGE english language & JLPT section, Tokyo Interior (housewares), Joyful Honda (DIY, crafts), Kaldi (imported foodstuff) and more. needless to say, i should stay away from the place but already i've spent like 9 hours there in the past 3 days. ;(
friday i spent the day with A-chan, who is a really interesting person whom i may talk more about in a private entry. suffice it to say that since day 1 of me being here A-chan has actively shown an interest in wanting to get to know me. it's like i've gained a BFF without even trying, which in this case is cool because A-chan is a really cool person and is probably the best BFF i could have right now.
but anyway...! she took me to a scone & tea cafe called La Table de Izumi , which was really nice. it's always interesting seeing Japanese cuisine fused with other cuisine and this cafe had great atmosphere and food. i mean come on, all you can eat scones, 15 different teas and Japanese/French food? hell yes, i'm going back there!
after lunch she drove me on a tour of the coastline from Hitachinaka down south to Oarai and the scenery was awesome. unlike in Kochi where the water is too rough for you to go near, the coast of Ibaraki is full of white, sandy beaches that are popular among families and locals in general. best of all, the road that runs along the coast is totally perfect for cycling! A-chan was doing a really good job of planting all kinds of future cycling trips and foodie destinations in my head the entire way lol.
god, i wish i could go and buy a bicycle already...!!
actually, Hitachinaka in general is like a prime place for distance cycling or for cycling in general. in fact, i've already come across at least THREE pro cycling shops which, given the city's small size, suggests that Hitachinaka is full of people who love cycling. :) thanks to Tsutaya Shoten, i've already amassed a collection of two books and one magazine dedicated to weekend trips by bike, 輪行 and cyclotouring which i intend to pour over during winter so i can be out cycling by the time the weather starts warming up.
anyway, yeah. the coast was beautiful. without a doubt i will be taking lots of photos along it and throughout Ibaraki in general in the coming months. i even have a book on recommended day trips by car in Ibaraki. D;
back on topic, after A-chan showed me the coast we went to Fashion Cruise, the western-style mall in 金奪えランド so i could get some indoor only shoes for work and house shoes for home. i also explore Kaldi and Joyful 2 (DIY/crafts store) while i was there and oh my god... D; thankfully i left without spending too much. A-chan was even nice enough to buy me some candied buntan because we came across it at random after me telling her how much i loved buntan (a citrus fruit) in Kochi and hoped it could find it here. apparently she's never seen buntan before.... [/insert sound of hopes shattering]
today all i did was spend hours at Tsutaya Shoten... D; i swear, that store will be the death of me with it's impressive assortment of books, manga, magazines, stationary.... ugh. i picked up 日本語単語スピードマスター, which is a book for quickly mastering vocabulary for the N2 of the JLPT. while i've already passed 2級 of the JLPT in 2009, i feel like i've forgotten a lot of vocab and kanji during my 3 years in Australia so i'm hoping to get back to where i was vocab wise with this book. figures crossed! maybe in the future i'll shoot for N1...
the only other noteworthy thing about today is that i decided to practice reverse parking so i can stop feeling like such a noob! i swear it is no exaggeration to say that 75% of cars in any given parking lot here are reverse parked and I WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO IT TOO, DAMNIT. D; oh, peer pressure....
anyway, i found a mostly empty corner in Tsutaya Shoten's parking lot and tried reverse parking a few times.... the first two times it took a few trys to get it right, but the next two tries i succeeded on the first try! :DD and then when i stopped by the grocery store on the way home i decided to try again and i did it perfectly on the first try! :DDDD
w00t!!!! progress!
by the time i leave Hitachinaka i'll be reverse DRIVING like a Boss. D;
Posted via m.livejournal.com.
at someone's suggestion, i checked out one of the school's cares for the weekend so i could explore the city and practice driving. the car that i ended up checking out is Guppy (yes, school cars have names) which is a really old ('89??), teeny tiny red car whose make i cannot remember at present. it runs really well for it's age, but i still think it's a funny little 100% japanese kinda car lol.
anyway, thursday i decided to drive around a bit shopping for some things that i really needed. i went to a Daiso that was the strangest Daiso i've been to yet. it's location in a tin building that very much looks like a dinky warehouse, which is a very different image/feeling than Daiso usually trys to convey in its stores. driving to Daiso was mostly uneventful except navigating very small streets is tricky and i noticed for the first time that everyone here (in Hitachinaka? in Ibaraki?) reverse parks (parks backwards) EVERYWHERE. even little old obaa-chans (old ladies) whip their cars backwards into parking spaces as if it's nothing.
WHY??? i felt like such a noob and i continued to feel like a noob throughout the weekend as i kept seeing people skillfully maneuver their cars in ways that i can only hope to achieve one day.
anyway, i also drove out to the CRAZY AWESOME shopping area by Hitachinaka Kaihinkouen/Seaside Park. i think i'll dub this area 金奪えランド or Money Stealing Land because you can't go there and leave with money still in your pockets. D; in addition to there being a very large, western-style shopping mail there is also two HUGE electronics stores, the largest Tsutaya Shoten (bookstore) i've been in yet with a HUGE english language & JLPT section, Tokyo Interior (housewares), Joyful Honda (DIY, crafts), Kaldi (imported foodstuff) and more. needless to say, i should stay away from the place but already i've spent like 9 hours there in the past 3 days. ;(
friday i spent the day with A-chan, who is a really interesting person whom i may talk more about in a private entry. suffice it to say that since day 1 of me being here A-chan has actively shown an interest in wanting to get to know me. it's like i've gained a BFF without even trying, which in this case is cool because A-chan is a really cool person and is probably the best BFF i could have right now.
but anyway...! she took me to a scone & tea cafe called La Table de Izumi , which was really nice. it's always interesting seeing Japanese cuisine fused with other cuisine and this cafe had great atmosphere and food. i mean come on, all you can eat scones, 15 different teas and Japanese/French food? hell yes, i'm going back there!
after lunch she drove me on a tour of the coastline from Hitachinaka down south to Oarai and the scenery was awesome. unlike in Kochi where the water is too rough for you to go near, the coast of Ibaraki is full of white, sandy beaches that are popular among families and locals in general. best of all, the road that runs along the coast is totally perfect for cycling! A-chan was doing a really good job of planting all kinds of future cycling trips and foodie destinations in my head the entire way lol.
god, i wish i could go and buy a bicycle already...!!
actually, Hitachinaka in general is like a prime place for distance cycling or for cycling in general. in fact, i've already come across at least THREE pro cycling shops which, given the city's small size, suggests that Hitachinaka is full of people who love cycling. :) thanks to Tsutaya Shoten, i've already amassed a collection of two books and one magazine dedicated to weekend trips by bike, 輪行 and cyclotouring which i intend to pour over during winter so i can be out cycling by the time the weather starts warming up.
anyway, yeah. the coast was beautiful. without a doubt i will be taking lots of photos along it and throughout Ibaraki in general in the coming months. i even have a book on recommended day trips by car in Ibaraki. D;
back on topic, after A-chan showed me the coast we went to Fashion Cruise, the western-style mall in 金奪えランド so i could get some indoor only shoes for work and house shoes for home. i also explore Kaldi and Joyful 2 (DIY/crafts store) while i was there and oh my god... D; thankfully i left without spending too much. A-chan was even nice enough to buy me some candied buntan because we came across it at random after me telling her how much i loved buntan (a citrus fruit) in Kochi and hoped it could find it here. apparently she's never seen buntan before.... [/insert sound of hopes shattering]
today all i did was spend hours at Tsutaya Shoten... D; i swear, that store will be the death of me with it's impressive assortment of books, manga, magazines, stationary.... ugh. i picked up 日本語単語スピードマスター, which is a book for quickly mastering vocabulary for the N2 of the JLPT. while i've already passed 2級 of the JLPT in 2009, i feel like i've forgotten a lot of vocab and kanji during my 3 years in Australia so i'm hoping to get back to where i was vocab wise with this book. figures crossed! maybe in the future i'll shoot for N1...
the only other noteworthy thing about today is that i decided to practice reverse parking so i can stop feeling like such a noob! i swear it is no exaggeration to say that 75% of cars in any given parking lot here are reverse parked and I WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO IT TOO, DAMNIT. D; oh, peer pressure....
anyway, i found a mostly empty corner in Tsutaya Shoten's parking lot and tried reverse parking a few times.... the first two times it took a few trys to get it right, but the next two tries i succeeded on the first try! :DD and then when i stopped by the grocery store on the way home i decided to try again and i did it perfectly on the first try! :DDDD
w00t!!!! progress!
by the time i leave Hitachinaka i'll be reverse DRIVING like a Boss. D;
Posted via m.livejournal.com.