Shopping near Sengawa station...

...with a tangent about cell phones

This weekend, I went shopping at around Sengawa station (the train station about 10-15 minutes from me walking) twice. Late Friday afternoon, four of my freshman students walked me there (to show me how to get there) and showed me all of the stores and places I would need to know. They also helped me buy a few things from the 100 yen stores (dollar store equivalent), grocery store, and to get a cell phone. So now people here are able to reach me! I got the free with plan phone, but it's a camera phone with e-mail, c-mail (text messeging), and FM radio. In Japan, everyone has at least one charm on their cell phone. I mean everyone. Serious grown up men, cute tiny little old ladies, everyone. Some of them are very functional like little usable pens. Most are purely ornamental. They can match your phone and show off your personalitly. Most of the ones that I have seen (being on an all girls campus) are glittery or jingly or charmy. Does my cell phone have a charm? No. It has two already. I put one on because it was functional: a little pen. I'm still new with cell phones/my cell phone and don't think I could handle entering someones info into my phone while talking to them and not hanging up. Functional. The second was brought to me as a gift today from my students who took me out on Saturday. You don't not use a gift like that. She even specifically told me it was for my cell phone, so I couldn't claim ignorance. It's purple (they don't even know that's my fav. color yet) and is a little flipflop with palm trees and a hibiscus (you know the tropical flowers) that she bought in Hawaii this summer. So yes, with two charms, I have embraced the cell phone culture here a little more thoroughly.

Many people come to the Sengawa area to shop and to take the train, from all over the surrounding area. So there is a narrow street in the shopping area with bicycles parked two or three deep all up and down the street! And while you are walking around the outskirts of the area, you are constantly dodging around parked bikes, people on bikes, little old people, other shoppers, and tables set out in front of shops. It's great!

There are a lot of American stores in Sengawa. I found McDonalds (called makudonarudo by the Japanese), KFC, Dominoes, and even a Claires. There is also an international imports food store for me to go to when the budget fits it and I am in need of real home foos (or amazing Eurpean chocolates).

The rest of the street is a mix of barber shops/hair salons, dry cleaners, boutiques, stores you expect to see in a mall, restuarants, flower shops, arcades, and a crepe stand I have been thinking about since I first saw it (I haven't gotten anything yet).

The result is a feeling of a small european market that is cosmopolitan at the same time.

Dreaming in Japan

Most of the dreams that I have and remember are based on my day. So far here, and especially on weekends, very little of my day is spent actually having conversations with people in English. Most of my day is in Japanese (or French, if I am spending time with Perrine and Marie, the French girls) or with no verbal conversation at all. Also, though I get to talk to a lot of people on instant messenger, I don't get regular face time with people that I know well. Everyone here is like a stranger, though that's fading already and won't last long.

For these reasons, there is very little that my subconscious is familiar with to use to make my dreams. Because of this, it has been falling back on strange things. I've had three separate dreams now with characters from tv or movies. Last night, I was hanging out with the characters (not the cast but the characters) from Friends! Just like they were real people and were friends of mine. I think Chandler even got up oon my face about something, hoping that I would believe him, or something. If they get really weird, I'll start keeping a dream journal. But for now, they are normal weird, just different.