Playing pokemon outside the pokemon center

At the Pokemon center in Hakata, my friends experienced what happens when you decide to play pokemon right outside the store. A man who was probably 30+ who spoke no english came up to my friends asking to trade. All we could say was, we hope we don't end up like that when we are older. He was holding 2 DS's and had quite a few pokemon games with him for various trading purposes. Seriously, lets not become that. xD Anyway it was quite interesting trying to recognize which pokemon he wanted, since he obviously only knew the Japanese names.
How to figure out which Japanese pokemon you are talking about:
1. Type (like grass, water, etc)
2. color
3. shape
4. Pokedex
5. Show them the screen and hope that was the pokemon they were talking about
Anyway, that experience was entertaining and props to the guy to have the guts to break through a language barrier for trading pokemon.

Can I keep my melons?

New find at the lawson 100 yen store. The ice cream section had melon sherbert in very adorable melon shaped containers. Aside from the amusing appearance, the melon sherbert was pretty good! Now my only question is, can I keep my melons? The top can be opened and closed so I feel I should find a use for them. It's too entertaining to throw away.

Daiso, awesome 100 yen shops

I could spend hours just looking around Daiso, a 100 yen shop. Not to mention I would love to just buy the many random things they have in there. My trip today was to buy an eraser and cutting blade to make a name stamp in my next Shodo (japanese calligraphy) class. When looking for an eraser I stood in front of the erasers for a good 5 minutes before I picked one. I settled on the "king of keshigomu" (erasers). Look at that expression, you know you want an eraser with a mustache and that expression xD. Their selection was entertaining with cola scented, orange, and mint scented erasers. They had kid's erasers shaped like bentos and other foods, and other entertaining labels as well.

Another awesome find was a printed cloth tape with a nice shiny Japanese style pattern. And this was actually made in Japan and not china. I bought it because I liked the pattern and colors, but I'll probably give it away to someone when I get home. Or I'll just find a way to make earrings or something out of it.


Another favorite of mine is the paper lanterns. Though they are only as sturdy as a 100 yen paper lantern can be, they are still really nice to look at and make a nice little souvenir. The laterns come flatten and you insert the wire it comes with and it keeps the lantern open and allows you to hang it.
I'll post some more amusing finds in the future.

Sliding doors and laughs

Funny experience at the dry cleaning place. After standing in front of the door for a few seconds and with the dry cleaning guy staring at me and my friend confused, we realized the door was not automatic and you had to slide it open yourself. He laughed when we finally opened the door. He must have been confused, I really wonder what he must have thought.


The only explanation I can give as to that derp moment is that a lot of doors are automatic so I guess we just kind of expected the door to open. Also a lot of doors have a grey button on them saying automatic, please push. (picture to the left)
Lots of places have sliding doors you have to slide yourself, like some ramen shops. Luckily, I don't stand there waiting for them to open by themselves now. XD

Noko Island

Noko island was my first Natural world of Japan trip. It was only a short bus ride and ferry ride away. When you get off the ferry their is a small little square of places to buy some food and other things. I ended up buying an ocarina by the end of the trip. There was also a great burger place which was the first real burger I've had since I've been here. 450 yen for a delicious burger, totally worth it. Besides the food, Noko island is a really pretty beach perfect for just relaxing or sitting around sketching. Other than that there probably isn't much to do there.




































A note on Japanese buses. Did you know, when you get on the bus and not using a bus pass, you grab a little ticket stub so the bus driver has a count of how many people are on the bus. Yeah, our large group of foreigners didn't know that. The poor bus driver had to do more work and take a head count because of us. Also, you also pay when you get off the bus instead of when you get on.

Dazaifu

For my natural world of Japan class, we took a trip to Dazaifu. There are many souvenir shops along the road to Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine. A popular item is the umegae-mochi which is a hot, sweet, red bean paste filled mochi which we got at the shop in the picture on the left.


The Tenmangu Shrine is scared to the memory of the god of learning. A lot of students wrote their wishes for good grades on these wooden boards and hung them up.






For lunch a cheap 150 yen taiyaki. Taiyaki is a fish shaped snack made with batter and usually filled with bean paste. The taiyaki I ate was filled with egg, cabbage, and ham and of course the Japanese favorite, mayo. Although I dislike mayo, I won't let it stop me from eating delicious new foods.






Next is the national historic site of the site of Dazaifu government building. What remains now are a bunch of foundation stones of the original building (some of which are probably replica's according to my professor). Now that the weather has warmed,
the Sakura trees have finally begun blooming and the area is now a beautiful park. Since the cherry blossoms are blooming, it's almost time for some hanami! (flower viewing which is greatly enjoyed custom in Japan)