Yukata for Everyone!

konnichiwa, friends,

one of the highlights of yesterday afternoon was spending a little time shopping with rob and aika. rob has been fairly adamant that i buy a yukata, or japanese robe, and enlisted aika's help in finding one.

she, like many japanese, is a diligent shopper, and within minutes of meeting up with her, we were rummaging through the racks in a yukata shop.

for those of you who do not know what one looks like, here is a photo:

mine is not as saucy as the one above and i clearly do not have the grace or charm to look as casual as she does (or, frankly, the ability to stand on one foot like that...), but it is beautiful purple (for liz!) with a grey/silver bow. the bow, by the way, is called an obi and the one i got is sort of like the japanese version of a clip-on tie. i had visions of me getting totally tangled up on the tying if i bought one that was not already, um, creased and bowed.

the acquisition was made all that more significant because aika noted that there was going to be a yukata party in town, to which rob replied, "great, a bunch of japanese women in yukatas and dirtbag gaijin trying to pick them up..." rad brothers, the bar we wound up at last night (see other post), was several doors down and sure enough, lots of drunken folks, wearing yukatas and being all western-y. funny.

we also spent some time buying sake, which was an adventure. i wanted to see if i could ship some, but couldn't quite make it work. hopefully, they won't break in transit and i'll be able to offer some of you some drinks one night in philly or chestertown.

the three of us ate on the 3rd floor of the TV tower, about which sapporans (i know that that is just not right...) are very proud. the meal, while uneventful, was highlighted by the weird pirate motif of the restaurant. i also found myself completely confusing the young waitress (who had to wear a very unfortunate uniform/costume).

i just spent a fair amount of time trying to find an image of the hokkaido mascot, which is so cute and silly. he's green and amorphous and sort of snail-like, without the shell. i may have to bring one back... however, since i can't find that image, i'll share a photo of one of my new favorite japanese items:

his name is yu darvish and he's the 18 year old iranian/japanese (go persians!) hotshot pitcher for the hokkaido nippon ham fighters. i'm not quite sure what a "ham fighter" is, but, let's be honest...who cares?

not quite sure what we're doing tomorrow -- rob wanted to "camp" on a beach, but we're not sure.

i'm feeling a little homesick for the girl and the house, and feel like i may be ready to head back. however, there is definitely another trip in my future...next stop -- tokyo!

hugs and kisses to all, especially to ms. krieg who chimed in to say that brian is recovering from the geekfest known as COMDEX in vegas, and to provide details on the barrymore nominations -- go PTC, as well as to mmmmmmmmary who is curious as to how she will survive without these postings from japan. to her, i say, honey, you need a hobby!

gotohellifyouhatefreedom,

volansake