A Day in: Kawasaki city

I did a day in Kawasaki previously; this one is more centered around the JR train station.

Today I went back to Kawasaki for the first time in several months. I've been back in Australia for that time, so I noticed new things, and revisited old favourites.

***

My hotel, in common with many Japanese hotels, has a rather early breakfast time. 6:30-9:00. I think this is because the hotels are catering to business travellers. Tourists probably don't come to Kawasaki very often.

I wake up at 10:30.

It's cold today. Everyone is a mass of black puffy winter coats. The cherry blossom trees, which brighten the otherwise drab streets, are suspended in mid-bloom. They'll probably be at their peak by the end of the week.

I hope to pick up a plastic bag or two during the day, since I don't have any spares. In Australia we now have strict plastic bag rationing, and I've received perhaps five plastic bags in as many months. I kept each one carefully, like a precious commodity, for re-use.

I go to get breakfast at Subway. I notice there is a new store called 'Womb'. This is possibly the worst name for a store I've yet seen (and I include 'Junoesque Bagel' in that). I decide not to enter the Womb, instead going to the 100 yen shop in the Marui OIOI building.

I love 100 yen shops. In Australia, we have discount stores, but the stuff is usually a) more than 100 yen, and b) visibly crap. You expect it to break into pieces the moment you get it out of the store. In Japan, some of the stuff in 100 yen stores is tacky, but a lot of it is quite decent. You could easily furnish an apartment with all the little bits and pieces - plates, cups, towels, storage containers, bins - from one of these stores. I once took a visiting friend here and she bought over 5000 yen worth of Japanese souvenirs!! If you're on a budget, I recommend them. ^_^

Coffee at Starbucks - there are five Starbucks in Kawasaki; today I go to the one in Kawasaki BE. It's on the second floor so you can look down on the street and watch people smoking.

The basement floor of Kawasaki BE has a food hall. The Italian store is gone. I'm sorry about that, but not surprised. It always seemed to be empty. Now it's become another generic Japanese bento store.

It's a cold day so I get some celery potage (=soup) and some fruit - gotta keep up the immune system. As I wander the vendors section, I look at all the items - ume (pickled plums), thick slabs of kimchi (spicy Korean pickled cabbage), miso paste, mochi products - and think that when I first came to Japan, I could identify hardly anything in this food hall. While my knowledge has improved, there are still plenty of things which I couldn't confidently identify as animal, vegetable or mineral.

I feel like eating a nikuman (Chinese steamed bun), but in this hall, the only choice is a collagen steamed bun. Mmm, collagen. Thanks but no thanks. On to LaZona. The lady asks me if I'm planning to eat my nikuman straight away. Yes, I say. She puts it in a plastic sleeve and puts that in a plastic bag. I can't help wondering what she would have given me if I'd said 'no'.

I go to Uniqlo. This is the place for simple, reasonably-priced clothes. I notice their jeans come in three styles: 'skinny', 'slim', and 'super skinny'. It's good to have a choice.

More wandering around. There's a little bakery near Daiso with very tempting pain au chocolat. I get one. I do a quick inventory of the supermarket. For the first time, I notice an attractive feature of Japanese supermarkets - they don't trap you, but you can freely enter and leave. In Australia, if you enter a supermarket, there's no way out if you don't buy anything. You have to sidle carefully past people in the checkouts.

I go to the library. I am fond of this library. It strikes me, though, that I am about the only customer under the age of 60. There are not enough seats for the people wanting to sit and read. I sit on the ground next to the foreign book section.

In Australia, most libraries are now quite jazzed-up and refurbished; fancy seating, big windows and new architecture, loads of computers with free Internet use, video games for kids to play, free classes for mothers with small children - a hub of community life. This library is much lower-key; a little shabby. There are hardly any computers. I don't care though. Free books!!

I go underground through Azalea. It's a nice way to avoid the Great Outdoors, in which it is now raining. I take the world's shortest escalator through More's. I go to a pharmacy. While I'm waiting in line, I amuse myself by counting the number of different collagen-based products on the shelves nearby. I'm up to 16 when it's my turn.

I have dinner - delicious gapao (Thai food) - in LaZona. I buy my breakfast for tomorrow. I walk back through the night.

I am back in my hotel, with seven new plastic bags. I feel very rich.