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Phebruary Photopost Part N - Kanazawa Seaside, and my trip to Costco
No, not the Kanazawa that's in Ishikawa prefecture, the one that's in Kanagawa prefecture; it's a city ward of Yokohama that's off by Tokyo Bay.
I actually went there to go to Costco and buy a ton of chocolate for Valentine's Day week -- and I did, indeed, spend $40 on chocolate if you count the 75-pack box of Swiss Miss cocoa I bought -- but, in addition to seeing a new Costco I also managed to see another part of Tokyo Bay and ride a new train line, the Kanazawa Seaside Line.
I wouldn't say that I've gotten entirely better from being sick, but I was at least well enough to go sit on a train for almost 2 hours each way without sniffling much, AND walk the mile to the beach and the half-mile back to the train afterwards carrying about 10 pounds of chocolate and so on, so eh.
First, yeah, let me explain where I went:
As you can see, this one was almost twice as far away as the Tamasakai Costco that I went to last time, about 30-35 miles from my house in all, two prefectures away.
Here's the Google map image of the immediate area, plus the walking route I took. Even before I went there I knew I had to investigate the water and the baseball field in addition to the Costco itself, so it's a good thing I got to do that.
Wonderful display of Engrish on the way into the Seaside Line.
I sat way the hell up front in the car. It's automatically operated so there isn't even a conductor in the seat up there, which means I could look out at the upcoming tracks the whole time and take pictures. People looked at me weird but I didn't really care.
There's a big highway that runs along the same place as the tracks. In case you are wondering, apparently this is how people get in/out of those walled highways...
View of the tunnel and Costco and all, from the station.
This is the path I had to take to get over to the other side of that highway.
Namiki-chuo station. Seaside Line trains are only 3 cars each so the stations are tiny too!
Map of the surrounding area, inside the station. Costco is not mentioned on it.
But once you get across that big walkway, there IS a big Costco map at the end of it. In English, too, which gives you an idea of who their target audience is.
You had to walk around this big train repair place to get there. Cute Danger signs.
Biggest Family Mart convenience store I have ever seen in my entire time here. Also you had to turn left when you reach it.
Oh look Costco.
But more importantly, water! And lots of people fishing. And there were even fish! I saw them! And starfish that had been flung up on the side and died, too.
I had to take a picture of myself to prove I was there, even though I still look sick and tired.
Climbed up the walkway to the "Rizune" or whatever it was, to get a better view of the area.
And I saw the baseball field which I'd seen on the map! And it was even in use!
Better view of the baseball field from the Costco parking lot, though I still have no clue what team was playing there.
These are what I *didn't* buy. I got Hershey's kisses and some candy bar miniatures, basically.
The things that made me sad on this visit were, though:
- having to wait like 15 minutes for raisin bagels... seriously... I could see that they were baked and sitting on a cart in the bakery, but nobody was bringing them out!
- not many free food samples. Probably due to being there at 5pm instead of 1pm? I dunno.
- when I was waiting at the cash register some manager came over and talked to the cashier for like 5 minutes and started fiddling with things on the machine and didn't even apologize to all of us for holding us up in line. WTF? This is in the country where if you have to wait 30 seconds in line at a convenience store they greet you with "Sorry for making you wait"?
- they didn't have salads at the snack bar, so if I'd wanted to buy a salad I would have had to go all the way back through the store to get one. No thanks.
- the Coke machines didn't seem to work for me (but they worked for everyone else) so I ended up with a big cup of unflavored soda water rather than actual Coke. It tasted awful.
- while sitting there eating my Costco pepperoni pizza (WHICH TASTES LIKE AMERICA!!!!), this rather large blonde American woman, her two very blonde daughters, and a Japanese female friend of theirs, sat down at the table next to me and all started loudly talking to each other in English. I was already grumpy because of the Coke, and then this made me more grumpy because I knew she was going to try to talk to me and then I'd be in for another episode of "All Gaijin Know Each Other", which I really didn't feel like playing.
I managed to stare off into space and grumpily avoid eye contact the whole time, but then when I was leaving, this lady finally manages to start a conversation with me with, and I am not making this up, "Oh my god, that bag is so cool, where did you get it?"
(I was carrying my stuff home in A BIG PLASTIC COSTCO SHOPPING BAG.) So I replied in Japanese, "It's a Costco bag. I bought it at COSTCO." Blank look. I repeat in English. "They sell them here, you know. I brought this one with me from last time."
"Oh, gosh, we didn't bring any bags with us," she said.
"You must have a car here?"
She nods, smiling with her Japanese friend.
"I have to take this all home on the train for two hours. So, if you'll excuse me, I have a long walk ahead of me."
Yeah, I was pretty rude, but I really simply didn't feel like chatting, partially due to being annoyed at Costco, partially due to the fact that my throat is still sore and talking still hurts a bit. If I'd felt like chatting, I'm sure there would have been some obvious signs of it. You know, like not staring in the entire direction pretending their group didn't exist. I was almost waiting for a "So, where ya from?" to which I was going to reply in a deadpan, "Saitama."
After I got home I had a pretty good evening of mostly watching TV, though.
My Monday night TV routine has made me inordinately happy. I think it's weird because I never watched TV in America for the most part, but here I can justify it for two reasons: one, living alone, it's nicer than silence; two, it's great Japanese practice wheeee!
Anyway, I mostly ignored Bara no Nai Hanaya because it's just kind of not my style of show, plus I was doing laundry at the time. So naturally they had Shaku Yumiko and Terajima Susumu as guests on SMAP x SMAP, but it's ok because I saw them both together in Himitsu no Hanazono a year ago. Bistro SMAP turned out to be a little boring anyway, the requests were "hand-type food and nabe", which is understandably difficult to combine. BUT then they had a "Valentine Special" where basically all of the characters from the various SMAPxSMAP skits were linked together in a really weird crossover plot involving a heart-shaped box of chocolates. And I think the most disturbing part, for me, was that I actually knew who the hell all the characters were, which means I have been watching WAY too much SMAPxSMAP.
And it gets even better. Freaking Kylie Minogue was a musical guest so they basically had SMAP singing a medley of her songs with her. It was... great. Frightening, but great.
The show lasted later than normal and then Ainori started at like 11:10pm.
First, they seem to have noticed that aside from the Ryo-Remi plot, this particular gang doesn't have a lot of chemistry in general. I mean, they get along, but there aren't a lot of interest arrows to draw. So after concocting the Danny-Momo fake link last week, they also seem to be going for a Miya-Momo link this week. I get the feeling the producers are going to tell Ryo to confess and get his ass off the show soon. Which is dumb because if anything they just shouldn't have put Seiji on in the first place. I think another guy could really spice things up though, and it's pretty obvious none of the girls are particularly interested in any of the guys right now (although maybe Remi will come around to Ryo, and, gosh, MAYBE Momo will decide she likes Danny? He was giving her a leg massage on the bus which was really funny. He still doesn't know that the ice cream stunt was fake.)
Second, Remi's birthday party ruled, although I have no clue when they must have been filming this particular part, because.. the guys are going around without shirts on and then they're all going swimming? In Germany? That gives you a decent idea of how delayed this show must be, and also makes me wonder, WHAT IS CARBONARA UP TO NOW? Because now his entire story has surely come out, and given that he was from the inaka (Shiga Prefecture), it's unlikely people wouldn't recognize him, right?
I actually went there to go to Costco and buy a ton of chocolate for Valentine's Day week -- and I did, indeed, spend $40 on chocolate if you count the 75-pack box of Swiss Miss cocoa I bought -- but, in addition to seeing a new Costco I also managed to see another part of Tokyo Bay and ride a new train line, the Kanazawa Seaside Line.
I wouldn't say that I've gotten entirely better from being sick, but I was at least well enough to go sit on a train for almost 2 hours each way without sniffling much, AND walk the mile to the beach and the half-mile back to the train afterwards carrying about 10 pounds of chocolate and so on, so eh.
First, yeah, let me explain where I went:
As you can see, this one was almost twice as far away as the Tamasakai Costco that I went to last time, about 30-35 miles from my house in all, two prefectures away.
Here's the Google map image of the immediate area, plus the walking route I took. Even before I went there I knew I had to investigate the water and the baseball field in addition to the Costco itself, so it's a good thing I got to do that.
Wonderful display of Engrish on the way into the Seaside Line.
I sat way the hell up front in the car. It's automatically operated so there isn't even a conductor in the seat up there, which means I could look out at the upcoming tracks the whole time and take pictures. People looked at me weird but I didn't really care.
There's a big highway that runs along the same place as the tracks. In case you are wondering, apparently this is how people get in/out of those walled highways...
View of the tunnel and Costco and all, from the station.
This is the path I had to take to get over to the other side of that highway.
Namiki-chuo station. Seaside Line trains are only 3 cars each so the stations are tiny too!
Map of the surrounding area, inside the station. Costco is not mentioned on it.
But once you get across that big walkway, there IS a big Costco map at the end of it. In English, too, which gives you an idea of who their target audience is.
You had to walk around this big train repair place to get there. Cute Danger signs.
Biggest Family Mart convenience store I have ever seen in my entire time here. Also you had to turn left when you reach it.
Oh look Costco.
But more importantly, water! And lots of people fishing. And there were even fish! I saw them! And starfish that had been flung up on the side and died, too.
I had to take a picture of myself to prove I was there, even though I still look sick and tired.
Climbed up the walkway to the "Rizune" or whatever it was, to get a better view of the area.
And I saw the baseball field which I'd seen on the map! And it was even in use!
Better view of the baseball field from the Costco parking lot, though I still have no clue what team was playing there.
These are what I *didn't* buy. I got Hershey's kisses and some candy bar miniatures, basically.
The things that made me sad on this visit were, though:
- having to wait like 15 minutes for raisin bagels... seriously... I could see that they were baked and sitting on a cart in the bakery, but nobody was bringing them out!
- not many free food samples. Probably due to being there at 5pm instead of 1pm? I dunno.
- when I was waiting at the cash register some manager came over and talked to the cashier for like 5 minutes and started fiddling with things on the machine and didn't even apologize to all of us for holding us up in line. WTF? This is in the country where if you have to wait 30 seconds in line at a convenience store they greet you with "Sorry for making you wait"?
- they didn't have salads at the snack bar, so if I'd wanted to buy a salad I would have had to go all the way back through the store to get one. No thanks.
- the Coke machines didn't seem to work for me (but they worked for everyone else) so I ended up with a big cup of unflavored soda water rather than actual Coke. It tasted awful.
- while sitting there eating my Costco pepperoni pizza (WHICH TASTES LIKE AMERICA!!!!), this rather large blonde American woman, her two very blonde daughters, and a Japanese female friend of theirs, sat down at the table next to me and all started loudly talking to each other in English. I was already grumpy because of the Coke, and then this made me more grumpy because I knew she was going to try to talk to me and then I'd be in for another episode of "All Gaijin Know Each Other", which I really didn't feel like playing.
I managed to stare off into space and grumpily avoid eye contact the whole time, but then when I was leaving, this lady finally manages to start a conversation with me with, and I am not making this up, "Oh my god, that bag is so cool, where did you get it?"
(I was carrying my stuff home in A BIG PLASTIC COSTCO SHOPPING BAG.) So I replied in Japanese, "It's a Costco bag. I bought it at COSTCO." Blank look. I repeat in English. "They sell them here, you know. I brought this one with me from last time."
"Oh, gosh, we didn't bring any bags with us," she said.
"You must have a car here?"
She nods, smiling with her Japanese friend.
"I have to take this all home on the train for two hours. So, if you'll excuse me, I have a long walk ahead of me."
Yeah, I was pretty rude, but I really simply didn't feel like chatting, partially due to being annoyed at Costco, partially due to the fact that my throat is still sore and talking still hurts a bit. If I'd felt like chatting, I'm sure there would have been some obvious signs of it. You know, like not staring in the entire direction pretending their group didn't exist. I was almost waiting for a "So, where ya from?" to which I was going to reply in a deadpan, "Saitama."
After I got home I had a pretty good evening of mostly watching TV, though.
My Monday night TV routine has made me inordinately happy. I think it's weird because I never watched TV in America for the most part, but here I can justify it for two reasons: one, living alone, it's nicer than silence; two, it's great Japanese practice wheeee!
Anyway, I mostly ignored Bara no Nai Hanaya because it's just kind of not my style of show, plus I was doing laundry at the time. So naturally they had Shaku Yumiko and Terajima Susumu as guests on SMAP x SMAP, but it's ok because I saw them both together in Himitsu no Hanazono a year ago. Bistro SMAP turned out to be a little boring anyway, the requests were "hand-type food and nabe", which is understandably difficult to combine. BUT then they had a "Valentine Special" where basically all of the characters from the various SMAPxSMAP skits were linked together in a really weird crossover plot involving a heart-shaped box of chocolates. And I think the most disturbing part, for me, was that I actually knew who the hell all the characters were, which means I have been watching WAY too much SMAPxSMAP.
And it gets even better. Freaking Kylie Minogue was a musical guest so they basically had SMAP singing a medley of her songs with her. It was... great. Frightening, but great.
The show lasted later than normal and then Ainori started at like 11:10pm.
First, they seem to have noticed that aside from the Ryo-Remi plot, this particular gang doesn't have a lot of chemistry in general. I mean, they get along, but there aren't a lot of interest arrows to draw. So after concocting the Danny-Momo fake link last week, they also seem to be going for a Miya-Momo link this week. I get the feeling the producers are going to tell Ryo to confess and get his ass off the show soon. Which is dumb because if anything they just shouldn't have put Seiji on in the first place. I think another guy could really spice things up though, and it's pretty obvious none of the girls are particularly interested in any of the guys right now (although maybe Remi will come around to Ryo, and, gosh, MAYBE Momo will decide she likes Danny? He was giving her a leg massage on the bus which was really funny. He still doesn't know that the ice cream stunt was fake.)
Second, Remi's birthday party ruled, although I have no clue when they must have been filming this particular part, because.. the guys are going around without shirts on and then they're all going swimming? In Germany? That gives you a decent idea of how delayed this show must be, and also makes me wonder, WHAT IS CARBONARA UP TO NOW? Because now his entire story has surely come out, and given that he was from the inaka (Shiga Prefecture), it's unlikely people wouldn't recognize him, right?
no subject
You are now starting to think like a true Gaijedi, young Skywarkel.
However, answering "where ya from?" with [name of current domicile] will usually worsen the situation because any Japanese accompanying the questioner will likely laugh as if you'd told the Funniest Joke in the World. In that case the only remaining course of action is to convince them that you were, in fact, born and raised here hahahahahahaha. I actually succeeded once.
no subject
That tastes like america!
On an unrelated note, Linnea and I will be in Tokyo from march 17-27. Hope to see you there!