july 7th . 7/7. Happy Tanabata Day. no, i didn't make a wish for teriyaki on a tanzaku, but. . . now it is time for my chicken teriyaki lunch (a late lunch) from Teriyaki Inn near Mitsuwa Market. more later on Tanabata and why i took two buses to get to Mitsuwa Market today, and of of course, two buses to get back.
oishikatta! おいしかった!
earlier today i found my Japan Rail pass that i bought back in March for my cherry blossom journey to Japan. it is only good for three months so i needed to get a refund for it. i only bought the 7 day rail pass but $280 is $280. (with my airline discount my airfare is less than the rail pass but i won't mention that) and since today was Tanabata Day, i thought that Mitsuwa Market might have some decorations and maybe even some kind of event. the JTB (Japan Travel Bureau) has an office inside the Mitsuwa Market or shall i call it Market Place because it is more than a grocery store. they have a book store, stationary shop, video/dvd rental shop as well as a food court. on the #8 Torrance bus i was checking to make sure i didn't forget the rail pass exchange order in my haste to get to the bus stop... i have done things like that before. the first thing i noticed was that i had the wrong receipt/invoice. for some reason the exchange order for this year's rail pass was with the receipt for last year's rail pass. not good. on the #3 bus, i noticed the last year's receipt said that a refund will only be given with the original receipt. not good part 2 but i kept going. i hoped that the nice people at the JTB office could make a copy from their computer records of this year's receipt. long story short, they could,they did, minus 10%.
they also checked on a flight to Osaka for me for september. the best deal is about $1000 on EVA Airlines (from Taiwan). not good part 3. i will seriously have to think if i want to try for the 3-month leave-of-absence since i cannot buy a discounted ticket when i am on a leave. anyways, my refund will be credited to my charge card with a few weeks. i stopped by the market to buy some tofu, tonkatsu sauce, gogo tea and frozen takoyaki. on my way to the favorite teriyaki cafe called Teriyaki Inn i passed by another teriyaki cafe. now is a good time to mention which two Hello Kitty towels i was carrying. in case you don't know or don't remember, i have a big big collection of the these little towels which are my usual omiyage (souvenir) when traveling around Japan. i use one HK towel to hold my little digital camera in when i am walking. and i usually use another to wipe the sweat off my brow when i am walking. there was a time when i used them on my runs to and along the beach but that is when i was a runner and that was about. . .7 years ago. everything changes. tonikaku, i also have quite a few given to me by friends who know i collect these little towels. well, the two i had today were from Kagoshima and Kyoto. here is where today's coincidence comes in.
Tony and Kagoshima Hello Kitty towel. Kagoshima is where i took a "sand bath" .
the kitty towel from Kyoto depicted an interesting "special police" samurai from Japanese history and more recently from the drama of the same name . . . Shinsengumi. the name of the teriyaki take-out cafe is . . .
Hello Kitty was dressed in the power blue "jacket" which the samurai of Shinsengumi wore over their kimono. well, here is where the today's slight disappointment comes in. somehow, i lost the towel somewhere between getting on the #3 bus and changing to the #8 bus on my return home. the good news is that since it was from Kyoto, i will be able to get another one on my next visit to Osaka. it would have been harder to get one from Kagoshima which is in southern Japan. actually, i will look thru my collection as i might have another Shinsengumi one.
here is another Tanabata photo from Mitsuwa Market. . .
i saw a Japanese comedian/actor on tv last night and he showed how to make a Tanabata decoration. i will make one later and take a photo of it, if it looks ok, i will add it to this Tanabata post.
i think it was 1992 when i was riding my bicycle from Ibaraki-ken to Hokkaido when i passed thru some town in the Tohoku area of northern Honshu. i had ridden all day in the rain and was very tired and very wet. it was one of the few nights in the month-long ride that i slept in a hotel. i think it was July 7th as there were big Tanabata decorations displayed along the town's main shopping street. if i can find them (sometime before next Tanabata Day), i will add them to this post also. i should be preparing to fly back east tomorrow for my 4-day trip on wednesday but i think i will turn the pages of my life back 16 years and find those photos.
