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 I like shopping and in Japan it's even more fun. There's so much cute stuff everywhere! And the clothing fits me better here! The picture above is the result of a morning shopping in Hamamatsu. The shirt in the bottom left corner is just a boring work shirt (at least it is pink though!), but the other is a super cute top from Cecil McBee. I couldn't resist! The magazine came with a really cute Liz Lisa case (I thought I had taken a picture, but I can't find it). Many magazines here come with "free" things like that. The bowl, fork (Rilakkuma design!), and cup (Little Twin Stars!) all came from Kiddyland. The book is the first volume of the Yotsubato manga. I found a study guide for it online so I can use it to study Japanese. I would have bought a newer one that's not available in the US yet, but I think I'll start with the first one so I can use a study guide.


The other night my boyfriend and I met up in Hamamatsu after work and ate at Freshness Burger in the station. After that we went upstairs to a few stores. In Kiddyland I looked at a super cute Rilakkuma pillow. I was planning on buying it after my first paycheck. We then went to Loft and while I was buying a little puzzle my boyfriend went to Kiddyland to buy the Rilakkuma pillow for me. So sweet!


It was wrapped because the cashier asked him if it was a present and he said yes because he didn't want them to think it was for himself, haha.

This evening I found a store with really cute bedding! I bought a Rilakkuma sheet to go over my futon cover.



I bought this cute clip a couple weeks ago. It was only 105 yen. It didn't come from a 100 yen store (105 with tax), but I've bought a lot of stuff from 100 yen stores. There are three all in the same area near here and it only takes me a few minutes to drive there. 100 yen stores are really nice especially when setting up an apartment. They're so much better than American dollar stores!

The rest of these pictures are of things I've gotten from 100 yen stores.


Hello Kitty hair catch drain cover (I had one just like this in Toi), a garbage can, and foil


magazine holder, some clip things for drying socks and underwear, strainer, nail polish remover, hangers, and plates


I didn't actually buy these hooks (Jonathan did), but I like that the package says "Shiny Laundry Time."


organizing box, scissors, paper towels, bank for 500 yen coins, food tray, glass, storage container, slotted spoon, page protectors, hangers, suction cup hooks, tape, cutting board, s-hooks (I used them to hang up my Hello Kitty banners!), knife, washcloth, and permanent marker to write my name on my trash bags

100 yen stores often have banks that are meant for 500 yen coins and they can only be opened with a can opener. It's a bit sad because it's a cute Minnie Mouse bank. :( But I like the idea of saving 500 yen coins. I did that last time to have money for when my boyfriend visited me. 500 yen coins add up really fast! This bank said that when it's full it equals 100,000 yen, which is roughly $1,000. Crazy!


bag that I use to carry stuff to class in, Hamtaro origami paper, Mameshiba origami paper, laundry nets (to keep the washing machine from tangling up all my clothes and stretching them), Downy, flip flops. pencils, mug, organizing trays and basket, cute mold that I'll use for resin crafts, Hello Kitty spoon, chopstick rest, notepad, and folders


"kirakira" means "sparkle" in Japanese. I want to go to "that Kirakira and the shining world!"


Are you sure you want to become a big strawberry tart? Lol.



The bathroom floor gets really wet when I shower so if I need to go back in after my shower my feet get all wet. So I bought these flip flops to solve that. 


pretty chopstick rest!
 

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went to Hamamatsu Flower Park. Before heading out, we ate lunch at McDonald's. I had Chicken McNuggets with Ume Sauce, which is plum sauce. It was nice and tangy! I still prefer barbeque, but it was a good change.




We drove past this place on the way to the flower park. What does that even mean??? Lol.

Hamamatsu Flower Park is on the western side of Hamamatsu. We could have taken a bus from Hamamatsu Station, but it would have been about 1100 yen per person to get there and back so it was cheaper to drive.

I took the expressway for the first time in Japan and it was actually pretty easy, except that I went the wrong direction at first even though it was clearly marked. So we got off at the next exit to turn around but we couldn't actually get off at that exit because it was ETC only. It's a toll road and you can install things in your car to electronically make automatic payments at the tolls. I don't have that so I couldn't use that exit. So we got back on the expressway and continued going the wrong direction until the next exit. We didn't go too far out of the way so it was mostly annoying because I had to pay extra for going the wrong way. Toll roads are pretty expensive here. I think it was 300 yen to get from Iwata to western Hamamatsu, which isn't very far at all. 300 yen isn't much, but if I drove to Tokyo (which I don't plan on doing) it would cost about 4000 yen.

It was a really nice road though! It was nice to drive on a road with wide lanes and clearly marked exits. Much better than most roads! I have gotten used to driving on the left, but I still don't really like the narrow roads here. Most roads don't have names either and even when they do sometimes have a number or something they aren't usually marked. But even though I don't like the roads here I'm still glad to have a car. It's very convenient!



 We used the GPS on Jonathan's phone to get to the flower park.  I had just hit a random point in the flower park as the destination though so it took us to a weird area behind the park that was a bunch of greenhouses and stuff I for growing stuff for the flower park I think. It took us on crazy "roads" like this:

 

It was kind of fun driving out in the middle or nowhere though, haha. But eventually we made it to the flower park. Yay! Here are a bunch of pictures:
 







Creepy face! Ugh!



The balloon-shaped things floated on the water and moved around a bit. Cute!


Sakura ice cream! :)







 Most of the sakura around here have already lost their flowers, but many of the trees at the park were still super pretty!





They had cute drinks in the vending machine. They also had a vending with duck/koi food! So we bought some of course. The ducks made cute squeaky noises!





There were some trails through the park that went off the main path and were more like short hiking trails.





What's at the top of the stairs???? This!!!


A dinosaur! Ahhhhh!!!!


Really really weird. There was a whole area for kids with some rides and stuff, but there was hardly anyone there so it just seemed kind of creepy and sad.




The wooded areas had a bunch of these flowers. I have no clue what they were, but they were super pretty. :)







This was some sort of glow in the dark moss stuff or something. 


After the flower park we drove to a nearby ropeway. We didn't take the ropeway because we weren't sure if it was running or not (later we did see a couple people ride it), but we found an overlook area and some trails heading down to the shore. It was a really nice area!



There's a sort of sad small amusement park at the other end of the ropeway. Maybe it's busier when the weather is warmer.


 


On the way back home we stopped at a 7-11 for snacks. This was next to it. There was a Betty Boop statue and like a carousel horse and random junk. 

 
       
I start school tomorrow so I'm probably going to spend most of my day preparing for possible classes tomorrow. I don't know for sure what I'm doing tomorrow, but I should be prepared. Hopefully I'll find some time to post some stuff this week though!