Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

We had to go downtown last Saturday since Yuki needed new contacts, so it was the perfect excuse to do some shopping and have lunch by the station.
I have to say, when we first got into the waiting area at the eye center, I thought we'd be there for hours. It was the biggest, busiest optometry office I've ever seen--the whole floor of a large building. But of course I didn't count on Japanese efficiency, and we were quickly herded from one station to another after signing in. All in all, I think it took us maybe a half hour to 40 minutes from start to finish. Not bad for a year's supply of contacts, plus free shipping.

After the eye exam, we had lunch in a little Nagoya-style udon (noodle) shop under the station. (FYI-the levels under the station are usually chock full of shops and restaurants, etc, so it's not like we were eating in the ghetto). I'm not too sure what 'Nagoya-style' means other than really, REALLY salty. Usually the saltiness is due to the high miso content of the dish, but my udon didn't have any miso in the broth, and it was still probably about 20 times over my daily recommended allotment. I honestly don't know how everyone in Nagoya doesn't have problems with high blood pressure. I was thirsty for a few hours after lunch, and I didn't even drink the broth. Yuki ordered the miso udon for himself, but one taste was more than enough for me. Miso thirsty! Ahahaha.

We spent the rest of the afternoon mostly window-shopping and stalking girls with pacifiers, but I did get a straight iron finally. Unfortunately not the one with the cool writing on the box, but I figured that I've had more than enough life changes in the past few years, thanks. 'Don't be shy. You surely have a 'seed' to be beautiful. Wash up and style yourself. Soon your life will be changed.'

I was also impressed by wide variety of sushi USB sticks, but seeing as the price was more than a few couple of mid-grade sushi dinners would cost, we decided to pass and have the real thing for dinner instead, along with a (real) sweet potato apple pie that we bought on the way home. Mmm, pie!