Shopping fun

We've had a lot of fun shopping since arriving on island. The first few days we pretty much stayed with the familiar (the exchange on base)...but after a few days we ventured out and are so glad that we did! There is a definite language barrier at most stores, but occasionally we have been able to find people who speak English. However, despite this barrier, we have been pretty successful!

One thing we've realized though is that when we are spending yen, it feels like play money, so can be a little scary :) For bigger purchases we still use our credit card (so that feels real) but for little things we will use yen. The picture below is going to pay rent...we don't normally carry this kind of cash :) Part of the reason for it being seemingly easier to spend yen is because their smallest bill is equivalent to about $10...everything under $10 is a coin! So when I pay for something with a coin it feels like it must be affordable, right? (even though it's a 500 yen=$5 coin)

Here are just a random assortment of photos we've taken while shopping. Some things we find out in town are just hilarious, while others are genius and we wonder why they haven't caught on in the US! 

We found a store called Nitori which is only in Japan right now, but we found out from a salesperson (who spoke great English because he went to UCLA before coming back here) that it is coming to Orange County this fall. So all you SoCal people, check it out! There are a lot of things about it that remind us of Ikea, but also a bit different (like the fact that we ordered something not in stock, and they are delivering it to us and assembling it for us!) However, it's affordable like Ikea and similar styling, but a more Japanese feel.

The toilets in most of the bathrooms here are fancy like this one. I haven't been brave enough to push the buttons yet. There is one with musical notes that says "flushing sound". Why do I need that when I can just flush the toilet :)

I love that they have a million sizes of shopping carts (none of which are as big as American ones). There are usually 2 or 3 variety of small carts to choose from. 

Who wants the banana toilet cushion?! I love the advertising. This was a legitimate product being sold for about $16!

We went in an awesome clothing store the other day (in a lot of ways reminded me of Anthropologie), and found both a Kentucky license plate for sale and this UK Wildcats tank top amidst a bunch of "vintage" looking shirts...awesome!
 Rowan sporting the doo-rag (which is actually meant to be worn around the neck like a bib for drool) but I thought it was too cute on his head :)  

This is the couch we bought at a place called Lapin, and when they delivered it the cute little man showed up at the door with this small bouquet of flowers! I loved it :)

Besides all the shopping carts, there are all a plethora of baby cart things to choose from and so far Rowan has loved them all! I'm sure the novelty will wear off but right now it's still pretty fun :)

Some may argue that shopping with a baby isn't as fun as alone...but this picture of him with the glasses on has given me hundreds of laughs every time I view it :) 

And here are a collection of bento boxes (I may need to purchase one and start making bento boxes for Grant's lunches) and fun new drinks for us to try! We tried the orange one and it was quite good. One interesting thing is that they don't really drink anything carbonated so most things that I would expect to have fizz, don't. 

I'm sure there will be countless other shopping experiences, but just thought I'd post a few fun things from our first month (can't believe it's been a month now!) here.