Life-Altering

I recently found myself in need of having some clothing alterations done.  Namely, I needed a bunch of jeans and pants hemmed.  This might not sound like a big deal to you, but when you're as short as I am it's extremely important to have a good tailor on deck.

I determined that I had three choices: 1) ship my pants back to the US to be altered 2) get a Japanese friend to locate and accompany me to a local tailor or 3) go alone to the cubbyhole in the mall with a sewing machine on the sign and see what happened.

You're probably thinking "She was going to ship her jeans halfway around the world to be hemmed?!?  That's nuts."  So I should note that two pairs of these jeans had cost me a pretty penny.  That's a long story about growing older and not being able to wear the cute, cheap jeans in the teenager stores yet refusing to wear mom jeans.  We'll skip it, it's depressing.   I'm also particular about having jeans hemmed in that I want them to look like they still have the original hem and have never been touched.

Anyway, I decided to throw caution to the wind and take my fancy jeans to the sewing machine-sign place in the mall.  Lo and behold, it was a place to have clothes altered and they would take anything (I had been concerned that you might have to have a receipt to prove it had been purchased in the department store to which it was adjacent).

I took my pants with pins in them and basically used gestures because I have no idea how to say "hem" or "alter" in Japanese.  I could look it up but I would get 50 results with only one being the actual, common, everyday usage version and no way to know which one it was.  And I could ask someone, but I'm lazy.  That's the way that goes.

But in a miraculous turn of events, the nice lady at the alterations counter totally just understood that a pair of jeans with pins at the bottom need to be hemmed.  It was like it happened to her every day. ;)  She measured the inseam (in centimeters) and gave me my pins back.  I had to fill out my name, phone number and go ahead and pay.  I got a receipt and was informed that they could be done in two hours!  Two hours! And it only cost about $7! At this point I was ecstatic.  And two hours later when I received a beautifully hemmed pair of jeans I was even more ecstatic!

my beloved cubbyhole, the sign actually has a
sewing machine and a.....squirrel.  don't ask me.

 If there's anyone out there in Japan trying to find an alterations place and wondering where this is, it's in an Aeon.  I think the alterations place itself is called "Fashion Reform".  I'm assuming they are always located with Aeon but I'm not sure.  I took a picture of their services sign but I can't help ya out on reading it.  Except that the first two items listed are "jeans" and hemming, based on the prices.  I really want to know what $84 will get me at the bottom right.  A custom suit?

And I have since taken about 7 more pairs of pants to this place and have had lovely results and service every time.  Classic Japanese service.  Here's wishing you all good service, well-hemmed pants and a happy spring!

America...Be My Valentine

(Soon I'll return with more positive posts that are actually about Japan, I promise! I was just inspired by the date! :))

O America, you frontier of wide-open spaces, of plentiful forests, wide roads and gratuitous wildflower medians. Of rolling hills dotted with cows that are destined to become BBQ, hot dogs or thinly sliced ​​be-pickled roast beef in one of a bajillion delicious, delicious delicatessens. Delicatessens that are next door to Mexican joints with melty cheese and burritos and real sour cream.

Look at you, flaunting your wealth of public benches and public trash cans and outdoor dining options.

And across the street is Target and Whole Foods and Hobby Lobby where, using the US measurement system and your debit card, you can buy lovely things to decorate your thick, luxuriously insulated walls. Walls that stay a consistent temperature because of central heating and air conditioning or maybe even a fireplace! Fireplaces! Second only to your garden bathtubs in their splendor ....

You are a paradise of enormous appliances, of high-energy lint-sucking washers and dryers and giant stainless steel refrigerators and vast ovens for (at Celsius) roasting those beautiful Thanksgiving birds. Birds served next to delicious desserts made with tubed crescent rolls and the assistance of that great American, Betty Crocker.

America, I love you.  Don't ever change, no matter what anyone says.

A Well-Defended Park

Another geocaching story!  (Again, if you don't know what I'm talking about go here before you continue.) Don't worry, this one involves no blood-shed and disaster.  Several weeks ago I decided to look for a cache in which to drop a travelbug that I had been carrying around for some time.  I looked at the list of caches near our house to see if I could find an easy one that was big enough to hold stuff.

One immediately piqued my interest....it was called "Ruins of a Small Fortress".  Who doesn't want to go see a fortress on a lazy weekday afternoon?  And it was only about three miles from my house!

So I loaded up Cora and off we went.  After some going around in circles on one-way streets I finally got us into.....a very small neighborhood park surrounded by a moat.  It was a bit of a let-down.

This "fortress" is so small that I can't find any information about it at all on the Internet, except for these random photos that are better than mine.  You'll notice at this website that the fortress is labeled "Koizumi Castle".  That's stretching it a bit if you ask me.

iPhone photo of the moat, sorry

no idea, but it down't look old enough to be actual ruins

stone markers and the entrance to an underground cave

ducks in the moat

and the requisite carp

If you're wondering about the geocache, well, I never found it.  After we got there I checked to see if it had been found recently and it had not, so one presumes it is lost.  Let-down all around, but after our most recent geocaching experience, I call it a success that no one was harmed in the hunt. ;)

Also, I will be taking some time off from blogging throughout December but check back after the New Year for more adventures!  Happy Holidays!