wednesday in japan

I finally slept yesterday until after the sun was up.  When I woke, I heard a clunk and noticed the remote to the heater on the floor with the battery out.  I popped that baby back in and pressed the big yellow button and………….hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……….was the heat working?  39 degrees outside.  Katie had warned me, do NOT press any other buttons.  Oh mannnnnnnn.  I studied the house manual.  Oh good grief!  So I messaged the host.  Turn it off and on again haha!  I did and now the display said 5+, whereas it has said 30 since I arrived.  Seemed like it was heating a little, but I thought about something Katie had said:  Everything is harder here.  Here’s a pic in case anyone can assist 🙂  Oh and I included in the t.v. remote since someone asked if I can get English subtitles–hard to tell and I’m not touching anything!

Ok, so it was 39 degrees and Katie’s day off.  She has been an amazing hostess, tour guide, tech support specialist, and overall great daughter.  I had told her on Tuesday to plan to do what she wanted or needed to do on Wednesday, that I was fine.   So we made dinner plans which gave me a day to regroup.

I was really continuing to worry about where I was going to live.  I had booked 10 more days because I found an apartment that was still near Katie, but that place was booked thereafter.  So I started to search AirBnb pretty thoroughly.  In hindsight, I think I should have done this sooner, like before I left Orlando.  The prices are higher now with fewer choices.  I am guessing that April and May are popular times of the year in Japan, with the promise of cherry blossoms and warmer weather.  I began my search in earnest, feeling a little anxious.  Some of the places had poor ratings, or no ratings.  Several had comments from guests about seeing notices posted at condos indicating no AirBnbs were allowed.  Okkkkkkkk…..I slid that pricing filter up higher and expanded my search area.  If I couldn’t be near Katie, I would be near a train station 1 or 2 stops away.  I don’t need a big space, in fact Katie’s 300 square feet apartment is fine.  If possible I wanted a TV again, since it’s almost like having company sometimes, and I’m really enjoying watching the very different shows. (More about TV later except to say that as I’m writing, the main news channel is showing a long video of fish swimming in the giant aquarium with peaceful music.  This at 11 a.m. when Americans are watching Ellen.)

Ok, time out.  I was now looking at apartments costing over $2,200 a month–double my budget.

So I did what I often do in this situation:  I searched for a place to live in the USA that was within my budget.  If my Retirement Experiment goes belly up, I need a plan, a parachute, a place to land that feels like home but doesn’t require any furniture since I don’t have anyyyyy……

I’m still having trouble with my wifi.  It’s like it works but only for low-data things, like texting.  My host sent me a new network to try, but I couldn’t find my pen to write down the username and password.  So I ate KitKats and talked to my brother in Michigan and my sister and nephew and a girlfriend in Florida.  Trying to learn from my data mistake, we spoke on the phone instead of video chat, since Todd had explained that  the phone uses a lot less data (“Mom, you’re streaming live video halfway around the world….”  He left out the Duh!)

Then I went back to AirBnb.  Too expensive–close the link.  No TV–close.  Host canceled the last reservation with no additional comments–close.  15 minute walk to the train station–close.  Too far from Katie–close.  I read and reread one in Namba.  It claimed to be 3 minutes from the Namba Station, which is one stop from Daikokoucho.  There were remarks about feeling anxious due to the no AirBnb signs, but the host had continued to rent and one comment said they just wanted people to be quiet.  $1,627 for a whole month, including fees.  I hovered my cursor over the “Book” button.  “Strict” cancellation fee, so there was no going back.  What if Katie and I go to Tokyo?  What if I decide to……………what?  Leave?  I didn’t want to be anywhere but around the corner from Katie, but Namba was the area I felt most comfortable in and it really isn’t that far………..time to cut the apron strings or whatever is the opposite of that!

Click.

I always have a little Click Here to Approve anxiety, but this is definitely at another level.  But it’s done.  I ate more KitKats.

I debated exploring a little but decided a day in when it is 45 degrees is not a bad idea.  I still had the weights I lugged over from Katie’s so believe it or not I did a 25 minute workout.  Not only did I feel better afterwards, I was warmer.

I confess that the night before, I bought a hairbrush to straighten my hair.  I know what your’e thinking, I probably should tried dreds first, haha.  I’m sure the wind makes it worse, but my hair is everywhere!  I just didn’t feel cute and I wanna feel cute in Japan!  Even though I didn’t have everything I needed, I used the hair dryer in the apartment to straighten it.  Since I didn’t have my flat iron, it wasn’t super straight but it was ok.  I decided to wrap my hair in my black fur 100 yen scarf to help and walked around my apartment like a Russian lady in a balaclava 🙂  This morning it is a little frizzy, but not the giant wiry frizzy puff I’ve been dealing with!

Dinner was planned for around 6 p.m., so by 4 p.m. I decided to go outside, even if briefly.  I set my map to Closest Starbucks and started out.  It’s not really the Bux or even the coffee that I look for, it’s more a destination where I know at the end if I want it I can point to a menu and know what I will get.  Familiarity.  Half the time I find a Bux I don’t even get anything.  But yesterday was very chilly.  The sun seemed thin and cooler, so I thought I might get something hot.  My map was looking weird, almost like you couldn’t get there from here.  When I got closer I realized it was because you had to double back and take an escalator that was outside without even a cover!  I had wondered what the building was I was seeing from my apartment window.  Turns out that LABI is a 5 story appliance store:

Who knew that this amazing area called Namba Parks was just 11 minutes walk from my apartment!  When I got inside I realized it was, yet again, another mall.  But this one was open to the outside, more like walking around Waterford Lakes, but all in one area.  Now I found the other movie theatre the kids had told me about with more movies in English.

If you look through the glass windows, you can see those are actually escalators.  The place is 7 stories high.  Will I ever get used to this?

Starbucks was crowded but there was one seat at the window.  Katie had shown me that people put their coats on a chair to save it, so I wandered over and did just that.  I wanted to get on wifi to help save data and found a network listed called OsakaFreeWifi.  It was easy to register and soon I was playing Words with Friends with no worry!

I noticed that the Sakura Frappucino was still Sold Out.  Apparently I had missed my opportunity and it wasn’t coming back until next year.  I decided to try the Sakura Latte, just to say I did really.  It was hot, sweet, and delicious, with a definite cherry flavor, covered with little pink rice flakes.

The word Chocolate on a sign caught my attention.  I notice they do this a lot:  put a word in English, then the description in Japanese, leaving us gaijin to wonder.  One the other day simply said:  Food.  Then under is was a squiggly explanation of what I was missing.

5:45 p.m.  Time to go home and get ready to meet Katie and friends.  This time, I would not look at the map at all unless it really got dark.  I noticed a British looking store that I had seen the night before, and a bar called Jack & Queen.  Then I saw the Arrow gambling place–I knew I was close.  Young men pulling suitcases passed me, no doubt away for a guys weekend playing Pachinko.  I turned and there was my apartment!  I had gone one block too far, but I considered it a success.

Katie texted me “Meet you by the theatre.”  Okkkkkkkk…..I confirmed she meant the theatre where we saw Black Panther, not the one I just left.  With confidence I texted, “Ok, meet you at Namba Station. Which exit?”  “18.”  Ok, I got this and she must think I did too.

Now it was really cold and windy, so I added gloves.  I found my train on the Midosuji line at the Daikokouchu Station and walked straight to the Women Only car like the regular I was becoming.  I rode one stop to Namba and followed the signs to………….what the heck, they were pointing everywhere!  The yellow circled numbers were the exit signs.  1,3 8-10 this way…..7, 14-19 that way, 20-27 who knows…..oh for crying out loud!  And then, there was Katie, my girl looking so cute in the haircut she had gotten with her girlfriend <3 (BTW, the guy was so confused by her semi-curly hair he straightened her hair and then cut it!)

We met her 2 coworkers I had met before.  We went into OI OI, a giant department store pronounced Oy Oy.  At the top was the theatre and on floor 7 was a small restaurant where you could eat at a table or on a bed!  We opted for a bed, like a queen size maybe.  You take off your shoes and everyone crawls on.  It was just so fun!

Fortunately the menu had pictures, because I hadn’t a clue!  Her friend had been there, so she helped us order.  The waitress had no English at all.  You can see in the photo the amazing variety of food, all of which was delicious!  I had sushi rice, which had amazing flavors I had never experienced.  The sides included tempura shrimp with broccoli, soup which tasted like beef.  There were ginger flavored….I don’t know what they were but you can see the purple things in the picture–her friends thought they were radishes.  Then some type of spinach with tofu that had a peanut flavor.

We started walking home and her friends peeled off to go their directions.  Katie and I stopped at Family Mart for beer.  Katie had to press a screen, acknowledging she was 20 years old.  No i.d. needed because, as Katie said, “No one would lie.”  In rapid Japanese, the clerk rattled off something about our receipt.  It looked like there was a coupon at the bottom.  Instead, the clerk cut off the bottom, wandered to the beer case, and grabbed us a free beer!

So we went back to Katie’s and used the cleansing face masks Katie had purchased for us.  It’s a thing here to get masks that are like actual masks.  So she was the Pokemon Squirtle and I wore Wonder Woman haha!  We sat there drinking a beer through our masks, looking funny with Katie playing Zelda until nearly midnight–all in all a great day!

Photo:  Dinner on a bed at Chano-ma Restaurant in Namba