Day 6 - Tuesday, November 22

More shopping.

[Sorry for the gap in posting these reports.  It's progress report time and I'm behind on grading.  I've done all I can for tonight - the rest is at school - so will add a day.  Thanks for being patient.]

Today's adventure was to trek up the street to Aeon, a department store.  I don't know if this is typical of Japanese Department stores, but this one is more like a mall in one building.  Different businesses have their "shops" within the store and conduct business separately.

For example,

this Baskin Robbins shared the floor with a number of different businesses including a grocery store, bakery, tea shop, sandwich shop and so on.  I got such a kick out of this 31 Flavors.  First was the Japanese name sign (at least I assume that's what they were; I guess I should have asked my DIL to make sure).  But the biggest kick came from ordering our ice cream.  I asked my DIL to order (although I had my yen out to pay).  She named my flavor in English - Rocky Road.  I guess, though, that the saleswoman didn't recognize the words because she grabbed the picture chart and had us point to the one we wanted.  I was ready to have to point to foods I wanted because I didn't read or speak Japanese, but it didn't occur to me that I would have to point to the English version for the workers.

I have to conclude that the Japanes are - in the happiest of ways - baby- and child-crazy.  My evidence is the kiddie heaven upstairs in the children's department.  It easily covered 1/3 of the floor.  I didn't even try to count all the video games.  Huge play area.  Quiet area to sit and have a snack.  And the best part was a baby area with comfortable benches, and draped cubicles each with a comfortable chair and changing table.  There was even a special "no smells" receptacle with plastic bags for soiled diapers.

I had the delightful duty of sitting with the baby in the Christmas area where I could listen to Jingle Bells and stare at my grandson while my DIL did some solo errands.  I wish I'd found a Japanese recording of the Christmas music; it had a slight accent.

Which reminds me, the crows caw in a different dialect here.  Honest.

On the way home we detoured to that favorite shopping street of mine for some steaks.  I had promised to enjoy Japanese steaks at least once while I was here and was happy to treat us.  I did not take a picture of the steaks, but they were similar to these:

They were about the size of a good-sized rib-eye steak here in the states, only these were about 1/4" thick.  For a good article about the beneficial attributes of Japanese beef, check out this site.  I can say they were absolutely sweet and delicious.

A real treat for dinner on a real treat of a day.