Day 2 Japan

Today was a national holiday so Jim didn't have to go in to work and when we went to see our local temple there was a sign in front of closed doors that must have said "Closed for the holiday". It is SO strange to be illiterate. Suddenly even the most mundane signs seem very alluring...Jim and I are taking to making up what the signs say which can be pretty amusing. For example, in our first Japanese department store today there was a bin that had a cat and dog with an X over them. Jim then remarked, "That sign says that we can't put our dogs and cats in there."

Fortunately most food stores and shops were open since it wasn't really a big holiday. (Jim's professor said it was not a big holiday, just a government one.) So...more shopping for us! I am quickly realizing that shopping could easily be my main pastime if I don't get a job. Uh oh. We did manage to find the big mall about a 20 min walk from our apartment. There is a Starbucks, McDonald's and Body Shop in it which is so odd since everything else is so Japanese. There was also an international food shop that my Italian friend from yesterday was telling me about. Of course, this was also full of Japanese food as well and we were the only non-Japanese in the shop, but still--we found peanut butter, more cereal, herbal teas, Hellman's mayo (that was my splurge Southern girl that I am), cheap pasta, pasta sauce, and even snickers and M&M's! The most surprising thing was that most things were really reasonably priced, comparable to home prices even though they were imports. This means that we actually WILL shop there. Yay! (Don't worry folks, I promise we won't only be eating "our" food. It's just that a taste of home now and then is really comforting.)

Tonight we ate at our first ramen noodle shop. We were trying to chose from the many little tiny restaurants and noodle shops on our walk home from the mall and we ended up picking one that had a bit of a line outside. (We figured the locals knew where to go.) It wasn't as good as Pho, but pretty tasty and very cheap! I am relieved to know that we can actually afford to eat here. Everyone had told me over and over how ridiculously expensive Japan was, so I have been pleasantly surprised--no relieved--to see that it isn't too bad. In fact, a number of things cost less here than in the US. And, what's more, the fast food is really good and healthy (aka Sarah edible) unlike fast food in the States. :)

I also had my first Japanese public toilet experience. I visited that necessary place in the department store and met the non-Western squat toilets. Fortunately, after two years of pit latrines in Africa I am an expert squatter, so no problem there. I was a little perplexed as to how to flush since everything was written in characters. I pushed one button but it only made a flush sound (so one can cover up uncomely noises perhaps?) but the second button I tried did the job.

Thankfully no major misadventures were had today aside from the ever awkward feeling of not being able to converse with people. Oh, I did almost get run over by a man on a bicycle. It was totally my fault as I was blocking the narrow path caused by a long line outside a donut store we were passing. He made a funny "uuooh" utterance just as I scurried out of the way and everyone in the donut line turned around in response to his proclamation. Dumb white girl...

Everyone seems to ride bikes in Kyoto. Bikes are absolutely everywhere!! In fact, Jim and I were looking at bike stores today since we plan on purchasing our own bikes and we were heading across the street to one such store before we realized that it was just bike parking out front, not a bike store. The most amazing part of this bike culture: NO ONE LOCKS THEIR BIKE. Yes, that's right. In a city of 1.5 million people, no one locks their bike. All the bikes are the cruising kind with kickstands and everyone of them are simply parked out in front stores, completely unattended. Amazing...