There are a lot of things that make me wonder when I’m in Japan. Why was the hotel restaurant full of Germans yesterday and Koreans today? Why, for chrissake, do Japanese men wear tan shoes with black suits? How did my old co-worker’s son spend $2000 in two months on his cell phone bill? And why the hell was this girl reading a “CSI:Miami” paperback on the train this morning?

I may have forgotten to mention that I had them change my room last night. I’m now facing the train station instead of a wall and while I don’t watch the trains go by all the time, it’s fun to look out the window when I want to. And there’s that building that seems to be missing its middle.

In any case, I went to visit my friends the Maedas today. They run Maeda Cycle with their grandpa and we went out to sushi for lunch.

To get there I took the train and walked a couple of miles, probably, past my old apartment and to their store. I asked directions several times and people kept telling me, in Japanese, “Boy, that’s a long way from here.” I guess nobody walks in Japan any more. My apartment was on the top floor, second from the left, and was kind of a dump.

After I left the Maedas it was time for some serious shopping. I went into the middle of Osaka, to Shinsaibashi, to get my mom a Lesportsac backpack with little octopi on it. It took me about an hour to get there and I think I realized I’d never actually been there before. It’s a foreigner’s paradise, and I never particularly wanted to hang out with foreigners when I was living here. In any case, that wasn’t nearly as tiring as looking for my sister’s pen order. The bookstore has racks of pens and it’s kind of hard to figure out what’s where. And geez, she wanted a specific pens like a “Uni-Ball Signo DX 0.38mm in normal colors (black or navy).” Turns out that pen didn’t actually exist even though three guys were checking the shelves and one of them even called the manufacturer. All for a two-dollar pen. The pen ordeal took me about an hour, the same as going four subway exits and down the shopping district to Lesportsac and back.

I bought my mom a shortwave radio at her request (her old one broke) and then I took a break for dinner at Mos Burger. I can’t believe I used to eat this along with fries and only weighed 145 pounds.

I suppose it’s all OK because after doing a little shopping for myself (I bought a couple of t-shirts) I had mochi filled with ice cream.

Time for some sleep!