Yesterday I went shopping for a dress for Yuka-chan's wedding. I went with Yuka-chan and her cousin Aya-chan who lives nearby. They took me to the shopping area in Kumamoto. A covered street lined with restaurants and shops - awesome! There were already many Christmas decorations up, and at KFC Colonel Sanders was dressed as Santa. Not to mention, Christmas carols are everywhere! It feels weird for a few reasons. One, because I haven't technically celebrated Thanksgiving and gotten into the swing of the holidays. Two, because it is a little chilly, but sunny and beautiful still! Three, because this is Japan...and it seems out of place in some way. And four, because I'm not home and with my family and preparing gifts and what not in my room like I always do. That's all okay though, there is still holiday spirit here!
First we went to a store called ZARA, which was similar to H&M I guess. I'm not a fashion expert so I can't really say what kind of store it was but there had many dresses that I looked at. However, most of them were a little sexy for a wedding so we went to another store called "Beams". I was really worried at first because all the dresses in the front of the store were like $200 or more, but we found some that were at a price I could afford. Here, it was only one size, so I was nervous but shocked when I fit into them! Yuka-chan brought me one to try on it fit perfectly and it was adorable. It looks like a white blouse with a black collar and a black skirt but it is a one piece. I bought it just like that! There was nothing wrong with it whatsoever so I was so relieved that I found it. Then we went to lunch, an Italian restaurant! We each ordered a pasta dish. Aya-chan ordered spicy shrimp spaghetti, Yuka-chan ordered creamy spaghetti and I ordered eggplant spaghetti. We also ordered a giant fried rice ball filled with cheese with red sauce to share. It's "Japanese Italian" food, so I wanted to try. It was yummy! I've never seen anything like it...it's amazing what people think of!
After lunch we went to the store where Yuka-chan is renting her and her husband's kimonos, suits and dresses from. It was incredible because many of the dresses were designed by the man who owns the place. It is famous for the very unique designs. I had never seen anything like it before! Some of the dresses were far from the traditional lacy white dress. There was one that was made with beige fabric and painted on with what could have been acrylic paint with greens, pinks, blues and in stripes and circles...these dresses are for people who don't want the traditional dress at all. They were gorgeous! I saw photos of people wearing them and they looked like dolls or crazy characters out of a fantasy movie. There was a Matrix outfit for the guys who wanted live their dream! Yuka-chan's husband will carry a katana for the wedding. I didn't completely understand but I think they were joking about how this is the chance that many men have to really have fun with their outfits (carrying katana, dressing like matrix character, carrying a staff even!). It's really unimaginable...I've never seen anything like it. I didn't see Yuka-chan in her dress, we decided to wait for the wedding and be in awe then:) I can't wait!
After that we went shoe hunting for me. We looked all over and I was starting to get worried. My shoe size is in between 24 and 25 cm depending on the shoe maker and 25 is the biggest size that all the stores carry. But if the shoe size is in S, M and L format, then the L doesn't fit me...it's too small. I found a shoe that I liked and asked if they had it in 25 cm. They didn't, only in 24 cm. But it didn't look outlandishly small so I decided well, I might as well try it on...so I did and OH MY it fit. I was so relieved because it was almost 5:00 and I needed shoes unless I was going to wear my boots to the wedding. So I bought them. Soooo happy. I can breath again!
Then we went into a department store, on the 6th floor they were having a Hokkaido Food Festival. We walked around and looked around at all the different things. There were fish, fish eggs, pastries, produce anything you can imagine and more...I saw the biggest suckers ever on a chunk of Octopus leg. And the had shaped the fish eggs and raw squid into like 8 inch tall towers in their dishes...I'm going to admit that it didn't all look really delicious. It was a little freaky at some moments even! But there were also many tasty looking things so it balances out.
We went home after that. Yes! Success!
At dinner we were watching a TV show about food (which isn't a surprise because like every show is about food) but they were going to different areas and finding really rare and expensive food. Some that I can remember: a 60 year aged umeboshi (pickled sour plum) that cost $30. A giant tofu block (giant as in like 2ftx1ftx1ft or so) that costs $700, one egg from a rare chicken that costs $5, a fish that sells from $60 a kg...you get the picture. What?? I was shocked. But it was fun to see...
This morning I went with Keiichan to get water from a spring near Aso. He goes once every couple weeks and fills up all these jugs and water bottles with the fresh spring water, they say that one is the tastiest. It is very common for people to do that because there are so many springs around there. When we got there there was one couple also collecting water. Keiichan said that it very rare, that normally there is a line of people waiting to fill their containers up. The water was beautiful and the little area was as well. The water flowed from pipes but there was a stone channel that guided the water to pools surrounded by moss and grass and little rocks and trees and it was beautiful. There was a shrine next to the spring and next to the shrine was the largest ginko tree I'd ever seen, it's leaves all golden. It was so beautiful! We talked to the couple and after a little while they got to the conversation of me being from the USA and they wife said oh my younger sister lives in the USA. We asked where and she said in OHIO! We were really surprised and Keiichan said to them that I was from Ohio too. What a coincidence! After we filled the jugs we went to a food market building. There were tons of fresh produce from local farms. Then I started looking at the prices, it was so cheap! A huge cabbage, bigger than my head, was only $1. I asked why it was so cheap and Keiichan explained that this produce is not from big farms that are trying to make a lot of money, rather from more elderly people who have a passion for farming and just want to provide food and aren't looking to make much money off of it. That's incredible, right? There was tons of food, but Keiichan said by the end of the day it will all be gone. People come from Kumamoto city all the way into the country near Aso to get this produce every Saturday...that's amazing!
Then we ate soba for lunch!
Tomorrow is the wedding...I'm really excited. It's going to be very interesting!
No comments:
Post a Comment