The next few days were to be recharge and relax days. After doing so much for the past couple weeks, nights out drinking, wandering around red light districts and prowling claw game arcades, we both were happy to stay in and watch movies and play on the Internet on Carey’s laptop.
Day 18 (Monday) was a lovely quiet day. We stayed in, snacked, and watched some really awful movies on Carey’s laptop. Stay away from Pandorum and Mr. Nobody, they’re both seriously bad movies. We also tried to watch The Tree of Life as well, but stopped it about 20 minutes in…. way too art house for either of us. We prefer narratives and actual story, thank you very much.
We ordered pizza that night… Pizza in Japan is seriously weird. And EXPENSIVE. They have tons of choices, but they’re all weird. Lots of options for corn. Shrimp is a basic option. They love mayo as a sauce… and they have stuffed crusts, like Pizza Hut - but they’re stuffed with little cocktail wieners (aka “wee-nah”). Still, it was a welcome meal, because it was somewhat familiar. We managed to find two “normal” options on the menu. Also, the delivery guys ride little motorbikes around (you see them all over), and when the transaction is done, they give you a full-on bow, about 50-degrees with hands clasped and head down. Makes you feel much better about yourself when you’re receiving your fatty junk food.
The next day (Day 19 – Tuesday), we felt guilty for being hermits and decided that we should go outside. So that evening we went to the nearby mall and grocery store…
More creepy-cute kid mannequins! Carey was getting weird from the J-P passerby looks while she posed for this shot. But COME ON, they’re CRAZY-LOOKING! They’re straight out of a horror film.
Why did we go to the grocery store? For CRAB’S LEGS to have at home, of course! Fukuoka being a coastal port city, they had a HUGE fresh and frozen seafood section… so we bought some fresh crab!
Don’t worry, this is just the first helping… we had a huge pot filled with 3 large snow crabs’ legs… we had 3 more plates after this, once we took care of the pesky space-taking potatoes and beans. With a dipping bowl of yummy melted butter. So fresh, so delish… and no need for fussy cracking! They are cracked, cooked, and flash-frozen on the fishing boat! We just boiled for 3-4 mins and it was ready, as if straight from the sea!
And after our awesome crab dinner, we went back to the mall to get some real crepes!
These were the crepes Carey was wistfully talking about while we were at a crepe-stand in Harajuku, and she was so right! I now understand why she was so upset when we were in Tokyo, eating our inferior cardboard-tasting crepes! These were so much better! The crepe-part was much chewier and had real taste, creamy ice cream, not-too-sweet syrup. Perfect capper to the crab meal. Yum!!!
All in all, a great couple days of doing nothing… these are my kind of days, hehehe. All it needed was some Xbox and it would have been 10000% (Japanese exchange rate) complete. The next day (Day 20 – Wednesday) was to be final shopping day in Hakata. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more….
I never got over how much of a smoking culture Japan is. It’s like Canada in the 80’s. And yet most major city streets are non-smoking, and they have these little glass bus-shelter type areas that are designated smoking areas. Seems arbitrary to me. Hanging my clothes to Get The Stink Out (brrrrrrrrrrow!) became a daily affair.
