October 12. 2004 20:59

Wagashi excursion and afterwards

My elbow is almost healed now. There're just two tiny nicks left, they should be gone in two days time. Phew, no need to worry about that anymore.

Well well, I bought some manga today. A collection of Takahashi Rumiko's short stories, which are a bit old but have all the characteristics of Takahashi's newer works. I got it second hand from the people that come sell their stuff over at the cafeteria in school every lunch hour. I also got a very nice blue jeans skirt I think I'll be wearing tomorrow. Today I was wearing a long skirt and a jacket on top of my T-shirt, and that turned out to be way too much. Now that the rain has stopped again it's very hot.

Today we went to an excursion to a wagashi museum with our Script Writing research group. As I have told, we're doing some research on wagashi, Japanese sweets, and we'll be doing a manga about them during this semester. The museum was very interesting, but not much use (at least to Dion and me who couldn't understand the guide), because they only had some pretty candies and supplies on display. Me and Dion were supposed to take pictures, but it was forbidden inside the museum, so it wasn't much use. Dion took some pics under his hands anyway, but as he had to do it in secret they weren't that good. So all I got from there were some ideas for different scripts.

The shop downstairs from the museum was a lot more interesting, as we could take as many pictures as we wanted. I think I covered every set that was displayed, even though they also had a pamphlet showing pictures of most of the products. Well, too many pics isn't gonna kill us. Since we were in a candy shop that sold good Kyoto candy boxes, I bought one to take to my parents when they arrive. I haven't tasted all of the candies in the assortment, so we'll get to share them and test how they taste.

Since the museum took only about an hour and we just talked a little about what we would do next for the research (we're going to see how sweets are made in two weeks), the day was still young when we were ready to part. I decided that since I was near downtown anyway, I could hunt down the nearest Vodafone shop and buy a mobile phone, at last. I went to see if Ken-san still had the one he showed me last week, but he had already passed it on, so I had to buy a new one. No prob, really, just had to get to a Vodafone shop for that, and here I was facing the time to do it.

We were up at Imadegawa, where the little museum was, so I could either take the subway to Karasuma Oike and pay 200 yen for that, or I could walk the few kilometers. I decided to save my money and walk, even if I knew it would take a while. Excersice is good for you. So I went on my way, enjoyed strolling through the Imperial Park (which is enormous, I have to say, to Finnish standards) and found a range of craft and antiques stores along Teramachi, south from Marutamachi street. I window-shopped some calligraphy brushes (this is where I'm gonna get mine) and tried to find good-looking geta (wooden Japanese shoes), but they were all the wrong colour. There's a wide selection, though, so if one needs traditional crafts or clothes and the downtown turist shops aren't enough, I recommend trying that street.

I ran into a nice little furnishing shop, too, and found just adorable smiling dessert forks and spoons there. I have a bad habit of thinking "oh, I really want these, but hmm, maybe I should leave them here now and come back later", which is a silly way of thinking. If I really want them, why would I have to wait? If I leave them there, I might never end up returning there, or they might be gone when I come back. Some Japanese shops tend to change their contents weekly, so there's a large possibility I wouldn't have found them later. So I banged some sense into myself and bought a set of six spoons and forks.

And then I was already downtown. On the way to the Vodafone shop I went past a store called Angers ("Vivre sa vie", fashion and household items), which I had laughed at before, and I just had to go and buy something there. I don't know if they really mean to be so aggressive with the name, or if they meant for it to be Angels, which would make more sense. But the stuff inside was pretty nice, even if the name sounds silly. I found these lovely hairpins from the first floor and bought them, but I had to go check the upper floors as well.

When I got to the kitchenware, it turned out that Angers specializes in Scandinavian design. There were Arabia plates and Iittala glasses and what looked like Hackmann tableware. Seeing "Made in Finland" all around me produced a wide grin on my face. And then I saw a postcard, advertising an anniversary they had some months ago, and featuring a photograph of a road sing to Iittala lasikeskus in Finland. I just couldn't leave the store without getting one! I asked the salesgirl if they had any left and she sent someone to get a few, and when I told I wanted them because I came from Finland a smile spread on her face as well. A group from the store had visited Finland some time ago and the photo in the postcard was taken by one of them. They gave me three cards and I thanked them with a set of bows and a very wide smile.

Then I got to the Vodafone shop. The prettier ones were too expensive, so I didn't really care what kind of a phone they'd sell me, as long as it worked. I would've wanted a bilingual one so I wouldn't have to use it in Japanese, but they only had the Japanese ones in the store at the moment so I had to settle with one of them. I haven't dared to make a call or send a message with it yet, I need to go talk to a Japanese tutor first so I can get the menus translated... But it's there, right beside me and ready to be used. Waai! ^__^ *fusses around* And now I have my Cinnamoroll hanger hanging from it, too ^__^ Next I'm gonna try and find out how it works...

Oh! And I tried the local fast food shop, Hot Box. It sells many kinds of lunch boxes, the fast food of Japan. Chinese belongs in a restaurant menu ^_^ The box I got was pretty nice, and cheap for a set of so many different snacks, so I'm very happy with today's dinner. Tomorrow it's home cooking again, I might finish that pasta in my cupboard. And I've been thinking out different meals I could make, so I'll have a shopping list ready for the next time I'll go to the convenient store. I have a bad habit of forgetting how to cook when I get there, so I can't think of what I could need... Now I have a few lists of ingredients I can put together, so I hope shopping will be easier from now on ^_^