05. 01. Wednesday

My pretty tablet *__*

It’s here~~~

05. 01. Wednesday
By Wednesday I was okay again. Not to mention my tablet I ordered during the weekend arrived too! I was afraid I wouldn’t get it till after Golden Week, but I did~~~ I still don’t have a credit card here (too complicated), so I was paying with cash on delivery for 315 yen extra, but it was still totally worth it. I got an Acer A700 for the full HD at a great discount and much cheaper than in Hungary, and I have to say I’m very satisfied with it. I use it mainly for reading and as a dictionary (well, that was one of the reasons I got this, and with the additional options it was more worth than an electrical dictionary which costs almost the same), but it was my map in Osaka since then as well, and it’s useful in many ways. I love this baby, and I think tablets are really necessary in this time and age – well, if you don’t have a smartphone, of course.

Pretty clouds and an eagle at Demachiyanagi

A refreshing momo cider

But actually this day I didn’t stay at home to play with my new toy – well, I did, but I don’t have wifi in the room, and I had to put the tablet on charger first, which took too long, so I couldn’t go to the uni to use the wifi there for installing the necessary apps. Actually I tried to turn my laptop into a wifi hotspot, which is easy, but it didn’t work out. Upon reading my contract again it seems it’s not allowed to divide the net between more applications, so maybe it’s even blocked. Too bad, really, but okay, since then I’m using the wifi at both KyoDai and Seika, so it’s okay.

Kyoto Tower again – still planning to go

Aeon Mall

So in the end I went to the Kyoto Station once again, mainly for buying the Western-style plates I saw at the Daiso there, because I just couldn’t find such plates anywhere else. I was running around quite a lot last time, but now with some experience and more studying of the map I managed a lot better. After I arrived I headed to the Book Off in the area – I just couldn’t not go, despite knowing there would be discounts coming up over Golden Week ^^; On the way you have to pass the Aeon Mall, which I thought was a large department store, so I just decided to check it out for reference – and it turned out to be a good decision. The Aeon Mall is a huge plaza with all kinds of shops, but not a high-end one like Takashimaya and Marui in the shopping district I visited before. At the first floor I saw a big grocery shop, bakery and such, and I discovered a shop called Stone Market. It’s a shop with all kinds of jewelry and accessory with gems and stones, and not even that expensive. I was eying some silver necklaces with amethyst medal, but I have brought enough stuff with me to Japan, so maybe later. By the way I seriously need to get a jewelry box, because every morning is the pure chaos, not to mention my necklaces get all tangled too :/

Huge Mutta

After arriving to the second floor I knew it was a good decision to come here – maybe even fate. Because there I found a small exhibition corner for the Uchuu Kyoudai anime! By accident! Just how high are the chances for that?! It seems they are doing all kinds of promotion for the anime, now that it has been moved to a different time slot, and part of it was an exhibition at Aeon Mall. By the time I came to senses from the surprise I already had a flier and two sheets of Uchuu Kyoudai stickers in my hands, and after making a few photos there I realized it wasn’t even the main event. There was a model of the closed box, the statue of Mutta, tons of merchandise, but the main exhibition was on the 4th floor – which I had to see of course.

The model with the rest in the background

Inside the box

Event on the 4th floor!

Kutsushita Nyanko – ain’t it cute?!

Sneaking a pic in the Aeon Mall bookstore. I like the hanging previews.

But first I took a look at the other shops in the plaza, they really have everything from furniture and goods for your home to clothes and toys. I got a Kutsushita Nyanko clear file at the stationary corner for the flier and stickers, and I spent a short time at the huge book shop. It’s really big and they have tons of stuff – a good place to go to for stuff that won’t show up in the second-hand shops and collector items, and I also decided to come back here to get some stuff. Then on the fourth floor I found tons of character goods in different shops! At one of them there were tons of cute Rilakkuma notes and such, and I was totally taken in by the Sumikko gurashi goods. Somehow I resisted buying, since I didn’t actually need notes now, but my will wasn’t that strong, as it turned out later ^^; The other shop looked like a joke shop first, but then it turned out they also have all kinds of character goods from the Pink Panther through Spiderman to the Care Bears – and Totoro! A good place for “useless junk” XD The fun thing, there was also a 100 yen Daiso, just like at the Avanti where I wanted to go for plates, and even bigger. I got a few things like and usb cable for my phone and household goods, but strangely they didn’t have any plates, so I had to go to Avanti as well. Another strange thing, the usb cable for my phone turned out to be for charging only, which is weird! Not to mention I haven’t seen any other cables for data transfer… I don’t dare to try this cable for transferring data (although I think it should be able to, cause why not?!), because I’m afraid I will kill my phone and then I have to pay a lot for getting a new one, but okay, the charger is useful too and I rarely need to get data off the phone – and for that I can use an SD card.

The Uchuu Kyoudai set

Anyway, after these side trips I arrived to the Uchuu Kyoudai exhibition. I will post pics on the day they were made (cause there are enough others for this one), because actually at this time I didn’t dare to take any pics and didn’t ask if I could – yes, I know ^^;;; The exhibition started with a big Hibito statue and then showed the most important moments of the series till after Hibito’s accident and Mutta being chosen as an astronaut candidate. There were character plans, huge pics of the main characters, and while the exhibit was free, for an extra fee you could take the “astronaut exam” – good idea for kids. At the end there was the merchandise corner with Uchuu Kyoudai space food, clothes and tons of other stuff. In the end I got a clear file as a keepsake ^^

Fruits and tea – was okay, I guess?

Manga with bookcovers

After this I went to the Book Off, got a few things, and headed to Avanti and the Daiso there. Finally I got some plates, and another big cup for my morning coffee. I realized in the Avanti there also has a huge stationary and book shop area at another floor, so I took a look at it, while I was there. The stationary part was great again, and apart from some tempting Moomin goods I finally found the stamps! I love stamps (though I never use any) and here in Japan they have so many great ones, and now I found a stationary shop that carries them. I might end up buying one later, but I should get one I can use as well. Actually one of my teachers is using a Doraemon “Mimashita” stamp when returning our writings to us, which is very cute, I think ^^ In the end I just got something I need at the uni, and headed to the books. That part is quite big as well, and in the end I got there the two volumes I was eying – two recent re-releases of old Hagio Moto oneshots – Lulu to Mimi and 10-gatsu no Shoujotachi – both for my research and my reading pleasure :D An interesting thing, they were offering to put book covers on the volumes at the counter, and totally perplexed I said yes just to see what it means. They were putting paper covers on the books, which is a great idea~

Cutting up a Camembert and packing it separately is no good sign

By the time I got out it was very late already, but this time I managed to find my way to the bus station easily – I just took the wrong turn the last time. On the other hand it took a long time to find the bus I needed, not to mention the trip itself was long too, so I arrived home quite late. As I was hungry I tried the camembert I bought before, but while it wasn’t bad, Japanese cheese is a hopeless case I guess. So may long day ended with the realization.