The Apartment and Ohanami

I took some time to go through my apartment on my own.  Besides the larger appliances, some other things were left behind as well...

A jar of change.  This actually proved to be very useful. 

A Japanese Collector's Edition of The Lost World.
Not as useful, but I'll probably watch it. 

This funky postcard of a hungry cat and a kayaker united beneath a rainbow.
Definitely not useful, but highly amusing.

The washing machine is super tiny.
Looks like I'll be drying my clothes on a line.

I'm set on dishes, cups, and silverware.
I'm gonna need a step stool, though.  It's hard to reach all the way up.

Conventional oven, microwave, and a random assortment of snacks.

The toilet seat is heated! That's gonna spoil me. 

The shower/sink area is pretty tiny.  Not a lot of space to put toiletries.

There was also an iron and ironing board, some laundry baskets, laundry detergent, a portable heater, a vacuum, an electric rug, some exercise and outdoor equipment, and a remote to the heater and AC unit that I couldn't read.


Saturday, April 11

I met up with Taylor for the day.  He introduced me to some of the department stores inside Mito Station (such as Excel) and what sorts of commodities can be found there.  Besides the usual fashion and appliances, there are plenty of food places within and around the station and even at the higher levels of department buildings.  Convenience stores can be found at either exit of the station.  There's a grocery store down in Excel's lower level.  Mito Station is my central hub for pretty much anything I need.  Besides Bradley Collier (the AET consultant) and Taylor, I'm the closest AET to the station.

Mito Station's South Exit

A Ghibli store inside Excel

Adorable Snoopy and Belle cake at Baskin Robbins

After exploring the station for a little while, Taylor invited me to a lunch that a friend of his was putting together--an ohanami, or "flower-watching" picnic.  During cherry blossom season, a popular activity is to eat lunch beneath the sakura trees and admire and enjoy the blossoms.  Despite the last few days of gloom and rain, it looked like sun was on the forecast for the afternoon.  

The two of us made our way out of Mito Station's North exit and walked towards City Hall.  

Every city seems to have their own unique manhole covers.

Pale pink sakura blossoms could be found almost everywhere.
Taylor said that we only had a few more days left to enjoy them.  

I became very good friends with Noriko (in the yellow scarf) and Mie (center).  

My first taste of Japanese beer.  It was actually pretty good.

Homemade apple pie!

I gave Taylor's friend, Chisato (in the beige turtleneck) a California Adventure pin as a thank-you gift.

After the ohanami was done, a few of us decided to go karaoke for a few hours.  Round after round of drinks made it a very entertaining session.  My voice decided to be kind to me for once and I managed to belt out a few songs after I had warmed up.  I knew I was scoring some points when I was requested to sing the Titanic theme song.  

My karaoke fan club.  These guys were great.

Near the end of the evening, takoyaki was ordered.  Normally I wouldn't have given much thought to that, or the fact that there were 15 pieces of takoyaki on the plate.  This ended up being a game.  There are usually only 12 pieces of takoyaki in this situation.  The extra three had wasabi in them.  I was fortunate enough not to pick any of those.  Taylor ended up with one, but he downed it like a champ (he also likes wasabi, so that worked out in his favor).