Kuniko and I spent the morning cleaning up a bit after the party, and also cooking up some breakfast. We had fresh pineapple with quesadillas and some yogurt. The Japanese people that I’ve met put a lot of importance into breakfast, and so when Kuniko and I are together we do a bit larger breakfast than what I’m used to.
We decided to go out and do some fun things on the road, so I walked Kuniko to the Tsuchiyama station, and she took the train to her home in Kakogawa, picked up her car, and then picked me back up at my place. We drove along the coast of the inland sea towards Tarumi, a big shopping area facing the Akashi bridge.
As we drove along the coast the sun was shining, and Kuniko was happy to be behind the wheel – she loves driving but misses her car while she’s living in Osaka. I reclined my seat back, opened the window, and just relaxed and enjoyed the fresh air.
Getting closer to Tarumi we started running into more traffic, and when we got there we found out that the parking lot was full and they were turning away cars. Everyone else decided to do the same thing we thought of… bummer. We drove back the way we came, and stopped in one of our favorite towns – Okubo.
The movie theater there was crowded but since we wanted to see a movie that is not so popular, Cold Mountain, we had no trouble getting tickets. We had about an hour to kill so we ate lunch at a tonkatsu restaurant in a renovated food court, and then Kuniko did some clothes shopping while I walked around trying not to look too interested in women’s clothing.
While Kuniko was trying on some clothes I was walking in circles through the various departments, just kind of strolling and killing time. I walked by the underwear department, and they had a fascinating video playing. These women would try on these special bras, and then jump up and down, apparently amazed at how well the bra was working. I stood there for five minutes or so watching girls in bras jumping up and down, and then decided I had better move on.
Kuniko and I went upstairs to catch Cold Mountain, and afterwards we talked about it as we went back to the car. Kuniko didn’t like it – maybe because the end, or maybe because it was pretty strange at some points. I thought it was OK, but not one that I would recommend. I’d be interested in reading the book to compare.
We drove back to my place and had dinner – working on some of the leftovers from the party. Kuniko and I decided that we should take advantage of the holiday, so I ended up going back to Osaka with her to spend the night at her place. The train ride went a lot quicker with someone to talk to, and we talked about our weekend and how much fun it was to meet my friends. It was a great time.
