Japan 2014 - How about we go to the movies again this year?

Tuesday, 29

Looking back I think my mother in law was starting to show some concerns regarding us not having a clue about how we are going to spend these days in Japan and so we actually decided to go to the movies that day while they did their errands with Mari.

My inlaws left us in the nearest cinema, a place where my husband had worked before when he was still living here, in the nearby town of Oji.

I like going to the movies in Japan, the quality is quite good and everything is so organized and everyone so polite and well behaved i never have to worry about people making noise and whatnot.

I was very disappointed though because they had no sweet popcorn, just salty popcorn and another odd option, barbecue flavored popcorn (what?) so I got a pepsi and that was it. That wasn't a bad idea considering how expensive tickets are, we paid around 3.800yen for both tickets which is around 28 euros.

Pepsi, tickets and freebies, all advertisment but also a food menu for the cinema which is convenient.

 

From the movies available it wasn'thard to pick, (no, of course not the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu one!) Omoide no Marnie. When Marnie was there is the newest movie from the Ghibli studios and another one without Miyazaki's or Takahata's names in the credits. So basically it shows what the studios will be up to in the future.

Without wanting to spoil it I'll just say I loved it, I cried as I usually do when I am moved by something and I relate to its characters. I am also usually surprised when I watch something with no subs and I understand 90%+ of it because my japanese isn't great but it is a movie for younger audiences as well which helps. I loved it so much I got goodies as souveniers.

 

A postcard set that tells the whole story and has ridiculous quality... a lovely cameo which is used to make our bags pretty and a lovely pin. Spent less than we did on two movie tickets but I still felt like a spender.

Accross the Aeon movie complex there's a supermarket with some stores and since we had time we went for a walk, I love spending time in the kid's section... i love the trains, the licca stuff, the cute looking dolls, even the baby sort ones which i find scary in my own country, Japanese people just make everything look so cute... i am looking forward for Mari to grow up playing with these ones!

 

We found a small café type place with affordable lunch menus (700yen (5 euro) for the dish, a side serving of rice, miso soup and coffee (cold or hot)) and went for it.

My husband caught washing his hands with the hot towel provided.

A very odd mix for me: 3 fried shrimp with mayo, two different pasta (one with mayo, one with ketchup?) na omelete, cucumber, I forgot the name of that brown looking tube thing, and a piece of banana and Orange as dessert). It was marvelous and super fresh though.

 

I tend to go for iced coffee in the summer. It comes with cream and the syrup which substitutes for sugar.

And for those of you who have not been to Japan, they also provide with free water or tea and keep refilling it for you if its not on the table.
 

It was a lovely place, it felt like the sort of place whereyou become friends with the people running it, it had books (a lot of manga), movie posters as well as food descriptions on the walls, two very clean fishtanks and the clientele was varied, older man Reading and flicking their cigarettes as if they had all the time in the world, working ladies in their break, young loner looking types and 3 kids jumping around and 3 ladies keeping them company. I really liked that... the feeling that everyone was welcome there.

 

We left soon after and the idea was to take the bus to the Oji train station but I asked if we could go walking because I felt like it despite the fact that is hot and humid outsider. My husband, to my surprise, said yes instead of "are you nuts woman?" so off we went holding hands, laughing and chatting. Felt nice even though people stare a bit from the confort of being hidden in their cars.

On the way to it there's a big shoe retail store where my inlaws took me to buy sneakers in the past and since I got all those blisters and am still planning on jogging I went there and got some.

Yes the red thing with the big shoes kanji, Not obvious enough for ya?

 Unfortunately there were no Nike as cheap as last year and I wanted to be safe and order appropriate running shoes and not just some sneakers so I spent another "movie ticket" amount on shoes which look super boring.

 

Paid for them and got a drink from the vending outside (it was cheap, they have apparently increased a lot of prices including vending machine drinks): which proves we have not been out much because I am addicted to them and cannot believe we only got 1 so far!

 

We then continued walking for a while untill reaching the train station area, this is what Oji looks like, a bit more lively than where we live even though its just the next stop in the train line.

Normal places in Japan look like this, people just think Japan is the land of perfection but its a normal place.

Spotted this fella, love this photo.

Koi fish in a regular river

Oji traffic

 We went to the local 100yen store, Seria which is a store i love in Japan and where i get my stationary from. I sort of overspent there and got like 10 euros of stuff for myself, my dolls etc.

 

I also stepped by the local bookstore to get the new Muchacha bag, a copy of Kera (they do not sell Gothic Lolita Bible there even though its not a small bookstore and I got a cheap Miku x Milk colab notebook because it was cute even though I have never watched or read anything vocaloid related ever.

We then got on the next train and walked home. My mother inlaw fixed us dinner which was amazing! Japanese meat is heaven, its like butter! You have no idea...

Meat heaven <3

And Mari's meal because its adorable <3

And dessert: Matcha icecream, yes I am spoiled here, so happy

To finish here are pics of the things I got that cannot be uploaded to my Poupéegirl account. I will post more relevant things one wears here but the small irrelevante ones i'll just post there so if you are nosey like me, go there. haha 

KERA magazine, its gotten me severely hooked on Angelic Pretty's Cameo Window series which I'm sure i'd get if the JSK with the full shirring was not already sold out in wine. I hope i can resist the brown and ivory because nnng.... its so pretty!

Miku now looks appealing, she had to get rid of the ugly uniform and dress like a normal person. haha

MUCHACHA ACHACHUMU's new box, small bunny bag + postcard set

Seria stuff for my dolls: their own playing car, a open/closed sign, a staircase for the garden and a small brush set just because.

Seria card, letter set and random bunny&cat decorations I want to put on a beret or make rosette's with.

 And then we slept like babies. No jogging still because I still have the blisters but i made up for it by walking and being more active, i guess.

Hope you liked reading.
Love,
Jo