Tuesday, 9/30/2014 Movies, Shopping, and Ramen

I set my alarm for 7:30am, but I didn’t get up until 7:40. I got ready as quickly as I could, demolished a banana, and speedwalked to the subway station, which I estimated was 30 minutes away. I left at about 8:05. At the elevator on my floor, a Japanese girl got off as I got on, so now I’ve seen one of my neighbors. I also brought my non-plastic trash outside to the cage. I got to the station by 8:30. The crowds out on the streets were very different at this time of day. Close to my apartment, middle-aged women in yellow vests stood at each intersection, and police officers stood at the biggest ones. Elementary school kids in yellow hats—baseball caps for boys, sun hats for girls that had a visor that went all the way around but was smaller in the back—yelled and chased each other as they walked to school. Middle schoolers in uniform and high schoolers in regular clothes (or vice versa?) rode their bikes along the roads and sidewalks. Salarymen and women going to work also rode their bikes. All the bike riders had intense expressions of concentration as they raced through the crowds of pedestrians and fellow bikers. The road was full of car as well. I got lots of stares.

At the train station, I had no trouble finding my station on the map, since there was only one line and therefore one set of platforms. I thought I was late, but I wasn’t going to run, and I couldn’t speed up the train. The train was very crowded when I got on; I was squeezed against the people next to me. But lots of people got off at every station until Sendai Station, so I had a seat for most of the ride.

At Nagamachi-minami Station, I looked at the local map on the wall to figure out what exit to take. I found the exit leading to the mall and went outside. A-san had told me that I would have to enter the mall through the parking lot if it was early, so I followed a random woman to the entrance. I was able to enter the mall, but all the stores had nets hung up in front of them. There were people sitting on benches waiting. It was about 8:40am, and most of the stores didn’t open until 10am, according to the sign I saw at the doorway. I asked a security guard standing in the hallway between 2 stores how to get to the movie theater. He said I had to go outside to the next building, since the connecting hallway between the two parts of the mall wasn’t open yet. I found the movie theatre MOVIX, which was on the 4^th floor of the 2^nd building. I went to the ticket counter, and since it was past 8:30am, which I thought was the starting time for the movie I wanted to see, I asked them which movies I could see right away. They pulled out a book of movie posters, and the fourth one they pointed to was “When There Was Marnie,” the movie I had planned to see. Apparently it actually started at 8:50am, so I was still in time. I was able to get the student discount (1,100 yen for a ticket) despite not having my student ID yet (which I emphasized, but for once they didn’t want proof).

I went to the concession stand and bought a bottle of water and a cup of iced Royal Milk Tea. The tea was horrifically sweet, so I was glad for the water. Later, the ice melted and watered it down, thankfully. I went to the bathroom, and then I went to the theatre. I had to ask the people at the desk since I wasn’t sure which theatre it was. There was about 4-5 other people watching the movie: 2 men and 3 women, I think.

The movie was enjoyable, if not a little strange. I understood almost everything. I found it appropriate to describe the way I’ve been feeling in Sendai so far. Like the main character Anna, people are nice to me, but I have no real friends. Like Anna, some of it is because I get nervous about interacting with people, and some of it is because I need someone to interact with me who is genuinely interested in being my friend. But it’s still early. I expect things to change once classes start tomorrow and I go to orientation on Thursday. And once I have consistent internet access.

I liked the song that played during the credits. It was an English song, and the singer described herself as a loner who enjoys reading books and spending time by herself, but sometimes she gets so lonely she cries and wonders if anyone would remember her if she died.

Everyone stayed in their seats until the credits ended and the lights came back on. I threw away my trash and went to the bathroom again. Then I checked my phone and saw it was 10:20am. I figured I might as well see another movie since it cost 300 yen ($3) to get to this mall, and I had all day. I bought a ticket for the 11:35am showing of the first Rurouni Kenshin movie. I didn’t know the exact title, so when I bought the ticket I asked to see “movie number one” and when they seemed unsure, “the first movie.” When I was watching the movie I wasn’t sure if it actually was the first, since they seemed to assume a lot at the beginning, but since it ended with a cliffhanger and showed the title of the next movie, I was reassured. The movie was very thrilling; it was packed full of fast-paced action scenes with skilled choreography. I understood the gist of the movie, although I didn’t understand the parts that went into history or philosophical reasoning.

Before I saw the Rurouni Kenshin movie, though, I was hungry. It was 10:50, so I had about 20-30 minutes to eat lunch. The restaurants on the floor below were all sitdown except for the Dotour coffee shop, so I rushed to the other building through the connecting hall and went down to the first floor food court. I bought a pork bun and a cinnamon roll from a bakery, and got a paper cup for water. The pork bun was crispy like a spring roll you get at Chinese restaurants in the States. The cinnamon roll was rather dry.

Then I rushed back to the movie theatre for the movie. After the movie, I took my time looking at the movie posters and flyers. Then I spent several hours wandering in circles around the two mall buildings. I went to Seiyu, as A-san had recommended to me. It was hard to figure out the physical division between Seiyu and the “specialty stores.” I looked for the red archways of Seiyu for guidance. At Seiyu I bought lint roller refills, sheets (they cost 980 yen each instead of the 3300 yen it costs at Daiei), and a towel. I looked at their futon set, but their 3-piece set, which only had the top and bottom futons and a pillow, cost the same as Daiei’s 6-piece set, which includes covers for each of those (and, I discovered when I bought it later that day, also includes free shipping). I looked at drying racks too, since I wasn’t comfortable with stretching a string across the room from the closet bar to the curtain rod and hanging all my laundry on it. I found the same racks that I saw at Daiei, for the same price. I suddenly wondered if perhaps F-sensei would happen to have a spare drying rack laying around. I tried calling him, but he didn’t understand the type of rack I was talking about, and suggested I buy one from the 100 yen store. I knew the 100 yen store carried the circular type that you hang and clip things to, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted something big enough to handle a lot of clothes. But I wasn’t able to express myself properly, and the store was too loud anyway, so I gave up and let F-sensei make plans to send me pictures of his tiny hanging rack for me to consider.

I also looked for fridges. They had one fridge that was smaller than the ones at Yodobashi and Labi, but still had separate sections for freezer and fridge. I need to look at the price and the measurements though, and compare.

When I was done shopping, I felt hungry again, so I went up to the top floor and ate a caramel cheesecake crepe, and drank oolong tea to wash it down. A bunch of middle school girls (15+) and sat in all the seats, so I squatted near the stairs to eat. When I finished eating, I found my way back to the subway station and took the train to Sendai Station so I could purchase the bed set at Daiei.

When I got to Sendai Station, I looked at the map. I spotted Loft, and realized I hadn’t been there yet. So I went there and wandered through the floors. The bottom two floors were pachinko. Strangely, there was a no-smoking sign on the escalator, but I could definitely smell cigarette smoke coming from the parlors.

Loft also had bedding and curtains and various other goods, but they were more expensive than Daiei and Seiyu. The number of stores that sell variations of the same things (that are not clothes) astonishes me. Bedding is for sale in Daiei, Seiyu, Loft, and a bunch of other specialty stores housed in the same buildings as these large stores. Depending on the store, prices can get pretty high. It’s also interesting because they sell bedding for both Japanese futon-style beds (on the floor) and Western-style beds (on stands with mattresses), although they use the word “futon” for certain types of bedding for both styles. Loft was also crowded with middle school and high schoolers.

I left Loft and walked briefly to SPAL to see what they sold, but I was getting tired, so I just went around one floor and back out onto the walkways by the station. I wanted to go to Daiei now, so I followed the walkway to Labi, and I took the escalator down into the basement to Daiso, the 100 yen store. I was looking for an exit, but I couldn’t see any from the escalator, and they weren’t labeled on the floor guides on the wall. I guessed that the exit was probably on Floor 1, so I went back up to Labi and exited into the shopping streets. After taking a moment to get oriented, I managed to find my way to Daiei. I went to the 6^th floor to buy the 6-piece bed set. When I brought it to the register, I wasn’t intending to deliver it; I wanted to ask about options (carrying it, taxi, delivery). However, the cashier immediately pulled out a delivery slip and asked if it would be okay if it arrived tomorrow. It didn’t seem to cost extra, so I didn’t ask further. What I did ask was whether this set actually contained all the items it said it did, since it was the same size or smaller than the bedding packs that only contained a top futon or a bottom futon. I didn’t know the word she used, but I assume her explanation meant that the bedding had been vacuum-packed, since she said that it would expand once I removed it from the packaging.

After purchasing the bedding, I went to look at the drying racks on the same floor. When I couldn’t find the type I was looking for, I realized the one I wanted was actually on the bottom floor. But in this section there were also large mirrors, which I had been wanting. The bathroom mirror in my room was small and inaccessible if the floor was wet; plus it had water stains that wouldn’t go away with cleaning. They had mirrors for about 2000 yen ($20). I decided to go to the mirror store I had spotted on the corner of one of the shopping streets, so I could compare prices and sizes. I knew that when I move out I’ll have to dispose of everything I buy, so I should take that into consideration.

I went to the mirror store, but I only walked in for brief second before walking out again. The cheapest mirror was 1500 yen ($15), but it was tiny. All the other mirrors were more in the ranger of 10,000 to 30,000 yen ($100-$300). I didn’t need a mirror as expensive as that. I gave up and started walking home.

I decided to eat at a ramen shop called Kakashiya I often passed on the way to the city center. I paced in front of the restaurant, staring at the posters picturing different types of ramen, as I debated whether or not to go in. From the view of the door, all the customers seemed to be men, and I hoped that this wasn’t one of those restaurants that caters mainly to (old) salarymen. Finally, I told myself, “You came all the way to Japan, and since it’s a restaurant they’ll definitely serve you food!” And I went in. I was immediately reassured because neither pair of customers were salarymen. One was a couple, and the other was a pair of men in their late 20s/early 30s. I stood awkwardly, not knowing where to sit. The man behind the counter noticed me and welcomed me. I asked if it was okay to sit anywhere, and he said sure, gesturing in a vague way that encouraged the bar more than the one table. I sat down at the bar. I stared up at the signs around the restaurant featuring various menu items until I noticed the menu on the table in front of me. I browsed the menu, but I didn’t see the item I had seen on one of the posters outside. I ordered it anyway. From my seat at the bar, I could see the cook preparing the ramen in front of me. I only paid slight attention though, getting lost in thought and drinking water from the pitcher next to me.

My assari ramen was delicious, although it definitely tasted of fish (which may be normal for assari ramen). The broth was very salty, so after I finished the noodles, I leisurely (meaning 15+ minutes) alternated drinking sips of broth and gulping down water. My stomach was hard and round by the time I finished, but my thirst was quenched. I probably drank 2L of liquid, between the soup and the water. I felt sleepy when I finished. I asked the waiter some questions about the menu, including what the name of the restaurant meant. Apparently it was created by taking one kanji character from the names of the master and the owner (2 separate people), and then adding the kanji for “house.” Finally, I paid my check and started slowly walking home. My full belly and the time sitting made my back feel better, but the added weight made my legs more tired, so I felt like a drunk person walking. Sheets are heavy.

I got home at around 8:40pm. I decided to organize all the papers piled on and next to my desk, since I had picked up more during the day. When I moved my desk chair, I noticed the wheels had left dents in the floor. I had slightly noticed it before, but even though the floor looked like a hardwood floor, it was strangely soft, sort of like memory foam but harder. Perhaps it was some sort of linoleum. I hope the dents aren’t permanent, because that could be expensive to fix. I guess I’ll have to look for some sort of floor cover, but I haven’t really seen anything except rugs.

By the time it was 9:30pm, my eyes were getting heavy, but I needed to write this. (I’ve been making lots of typing errors, such as typing “you” instead of “used” or writing the same word twice or skipping words.) The radio was playing; it hadn’t thumped so much because a pop song was playing when I turned it on. I noticed that the radio station had more talking than music; they never played any songs in a row, the songs sort of sounded like they might have faded off early, and the radio personas talked a lot about their personal lives and random stuff for long amounts of time in between songs and commercials (which did occur consecutively). Like with Japanese TV, there were barely any transitions between elements, if any: a song would fade away to an awkward pause that would be replaced by the radio persona talking, who would be abruptly cut off by a commercial, which would be abruptly cut off by the person. I was irritated because I wanted to hear music! If I wanted to hear words I would listen to the news station.

Writing these entries takes about 1-2 hours.