Shopping for a bike – Oct 1st

Well, I’ve finally caught this damned journal up to date, just in time for school to start. Tomorrow I get to see how my classes turn out. I’m anxious to see how things work out, but I’m not too anxious for school to start. I’m learning so much out of the classroom, it almost seems like the schoolwork is going to get in the way of my real education.

So although I’m able to ride the mama-chari, I’ve gotten a hankering for a real bicycle, or at least one that fits me properly. Yukiko and Okaasan have offered to take me shopping for bikes and stuff. First we went to Olympic, a local (kind of) sports store. There was a pretty nice 6-speed mama-chari that was my size for about 12,800 yen. There are other stores to see, so we just wrote down the info and moved on, after picking up some workout shirts for myself. Check out the shoe brand I found… not very descriptive, is it?

The next stop was further out, called Viva Home. This was kind of a mix between Wal-Mart and Home Depot, with a pet store tucked inside. The animals were all cute, but I felt sorry for them. There’s a major pet problem here in Japan, as well as most of the world; people don’t know how to properly take care of their pets, or think of them more as an accessory than as a living, breathing creature. Young, cute animals sell, but those who are in the store too long are considered unsellable and are thrown out like garbage. The pet shelters are ill-prepared for the massive influx of pets, and many animals are needlessly put down. I’ve been thinking about talking about this for my speech, if I choose to give one (sorry Brian, no donuts this time).

Well, enough of that tangent. I found a mountain bike that looks surprisingly good for the price—only 17,800 yen ($150). If I decide to buy a bike, it’ll probably be this one. My only worry is that it’ll get stolen; mountain bikes kind of stand out in a sea of mama-chari. Well, I’ll ride mom’s bike around for a while and see if I really feel the need for a real bike.

On the way home, we got hungry, and stopped at a Denny’s. As I’ve said before, the Denny’s in Japan is totally different from America. Walking in, it seems like much the same diner, but when you look at the menu, the first thing that comes to mind is “where the fuck are the pancakes?!” That’s right, Denny’s is just another fami-resu, like BLDY or Saizeriya: a bunch of Italian-esque and Japanese food with bloated prices. I ordered a club sandwich (I couldn’t bring myself to order soba at a Denny’s. The sandwich was pretty good, but I still want pancakes.

On the way home, we stopped at a supermarket and picked up some goodies. Once home, I went back to work on this ridiculous blog, and in short time, a wondrous spread of kimchi nabe (hotpot), hanpen, sunomono and Japanese black beans lay in front of me. How I’ve managed to actually lose weight since getting here, I don’t know.