Some New Finds for ¥100

I got my onigiri mold that I mentioned in my last entry. I cannot wait to make this tomorrow! While Keanna's at school I think Sydney and I are going to take a ride to the local grocery store and get some fish for the filling. I'm so excited!

Wow was today a fun day! We went to our usual playgroup this morning, then afterward come home, had a quick lunch and met up with Julie and Noah to go shopping. We went to Daiso, it's a ¥100 store (100 yen, think $1 store), but has other things that are more than ¥100. For you familiar with Big Lots or Ocean State Job lot it was like that, and for those in Hawaii it can be compared to Price Busters. The one we went to today was near the base and I had never been there before. We took the train and naturally the kids had fun. While we were waiting on the platform two older women (easily in their mid 70s) came up to the kids and hugged them and were talking to them. Julie picked up a little of what they were saying, I was pretty much clueless. But they were sweet and Keanna got a kick out of them...Sydney stuck close to me. When we got on the train they were waving at us, and the kids were waving back. Just another example of how sweet the Japanese people are to us.

We shopped for a little while and found some neat things...neither of us had our camera so we missed out on a few things, but I took pictures of what I bought when we got home from soccer practice. And speaking of soccer practice, when we got back from shopping Keanna changed from jeans into sweat pants. Julie laughed when she saw the two of us, and wanted to take a picture. I didn't realize it until she mentioned it...we're dressed in the same colors. And on our way out of soccer practice my new friend, Mel, gave me something I've never seen before but can't wait to try...Ritz Bits Sandwiches with Sweet Potato filling! What you see on the package is a Japanese sweet potato; they're white inside, not orange like we're used to. THANKS MEL!!!

So here's some of the stuff I bought...at least some of the interesting or funny stuff. Who knew Coke could be healthy and full of vitamins?! The other drinks there are Apple Iced Tea from Lipton and Peach Fanta. And for the thing that looks like chopsticks, it's not. Julie and I weren't sure what it was, I thought maybe for cleaning a pipe. Well when I was taking pictures of my loot, I noticed what it was...ummm, an ear pick!

Hello Kitty is all over the place here, but today I saw something I haven't seen before, a Hello Kitty sink strainer. My friend Sandy has a friend who is obsessed with Hello Kitty. When I told Julie this, she said, "I bettcha she doesn't have this!" So Sandy, I'll be sending you this to pass on to your friend. Susan bought sushi erasers in Hawaii, and has asked me to keep an eye out for any interesting or different ones here. Today I got these with Susan in mind. My youngest sister, Elyse, is an art teacher, and when Julie spotted this book I had to get it. I don't understand any of it, but there are blank pages, outlines of famous Japanese paintings, and pictures of famous paintings. So Elyse, I'll be sending this to you.

And this isn't funny, but I think it's the neatest find today...even tops the Hello Kitty sink strainer! Julie spotted these monkeys and immediately wanted to get a package. They're little things to hold condiments in, and when you want to spread it onto your sandwich, mayonaisse for example, open up the monkey and the banana acts as the handle on the spreader. Things like this are very common in bento boxes here. I set a quarter next to it so you can get an idea of the size.