Yesterday, both Haley and I were free in the afternoon. So, since Haley wanted to get a cellphone and I wanted to go to the bank, we went to Hirakata Station (basically, the center of Hirakata city). From Kansai Gaidai, to take the bus to Hirakata is only like, 10 minutes. We got off in Hirakata, and headed towards Sumitomo Bank. I then had somehow to communicate that i wanted to deposit some Traveler's checks, without knowing any banking terms whatsoever in Japanese. Fortunately on the second floor there was a "Foreign Exchange" desk which I had to take a number for and wait. The lady barely spoke any English, but it wasn't that hard - I give her the traveler's checks, and she went back somewhere and turned it into cash. I had to fill out a couple of forms too, and write my name all in caps, exactly as it appears on my Alien Registration card. It's a funny thing - I don't know if I explained it before, but since the bankers can't read English, when you write your name it has to be exactly as it appears on previous documentation in order for them to verify it. My name must just look like a series of weird pictograms to them, and if I wrote it any differently (like using lowercase letters) then they might think it was someone else's name. In any case, it all went smoothly and she gave me the cash, which I then deposited using the ATM. ATMs are crazy, maybe I'll do an expose on them later. But at least the money got in there. Yay.
Then Haley and I went to the cell phone store (keitai denwa). They have special plans for foreign students that aren't so bad. Free phone, $17 a month, and $25 cancellation fee for when I return. For the three months I would use it, that'd be a total of $76. That's not bad, considering the benefits of being able to instantly communicate with my friends. So I think I'm going to get one. Haley also was going to get one, but they wouldn't let her because she doesn't have her registration card yet. I think that it's strange that I'm the only one who has one - everyone else's city hall must be slow. I could have got a cell phone right then and there, but I decided to wait so Haley and I can go back together and get them. Then I'll be like a real Japanese person! I'll talk more about cell phones when I get one..
After that, we wandered around Hirakatashi for a while. There was an open raised walkway that went all the way around the plaza in front of the station, so we walked on that. We decided to go in some random department store (Kintetsu) and looked at all the expensive clothes in tiny sizes. Japanese stores may not be wide, but boy are they tall! This one store covered 7 floors - I couldn't believe it. However, the square footage of each level was relatively small. I'd have to say it was kinda like Filene's. There were some floors where everything was a "bargain" and we saw some shoes that Haley might want to consider getting because she needs sneakers. Then we went all the way down to the basement, and it was kinda like an underground mall.
The basement floor of this place was filled with gourmet food vendors, as is quite common here. One floor always seems to be filled with glass cases and women in maid outfits bowing at you for just glancing at their wares. I took a couple of pics:
Here's some stuff for the upcoming Hina Matsuri (Dolls Day)
Then we made our way to the surface, and figured out that we had crossed under the street by being in the underground mall place. After that, we went to Baskin and Robbins (they call them "31" here, because of the 31 flavors thing) and I had azuki flavored ice cream, or the traditional red bean. It was pretty good. Haley had chocolate (chicken!) Then we both went home.
For dinner, my okaasan made takoyaki! I had actually been wanting to try these for a while, but I didnt' think that it was possible to make them at home. I always thought you could only get them from street vendors...Let me explain what they are. Takoyaki (γγηΌγ) means "baked octopus" and it is essentially that. But i think of them as "octopus balls" because they are balls with some octopus in them. I'll let these videos do the explaining for me.
Making of Takoyaki Part 1
Making of Takoyaki Part 2
Making of Takoyaki Part 3
I've wanted to eat takoyaki for a long time, since I've seen them in anime. And no, you can't really taste the octopus. It just adds texture.
Takoyaki in Anime:
And with that we had rice and miso soup and something green that was alot like spinach. Refer to wikipedia for some more info on takoyaki:
Nothing important happened today. But tomorrow I'll do a nice cultural update, like I did for Valentine's Day. Look forward to it! (Tanoshimi!)
