Only in Japan...

Many a time has this thought run through my pretty little head. Today I went to Sannomiya with my VP class, which was nice. We went to a nice little French cafe, called A la Compagne. Had some coffee and a raspberry custard pie thing. Yummy. Then we had some time to kill before dinner, so we went to Tokyo Hands, a store somewhat like Ikea. I bought some twinkle lights for my apartment, and now it's a bit more festive. After that we headed up a few floors to a Christmas display. I almost died. (See photo below.) Cake. Hats. Never should the two meet. Who on God's green earth would don such a frightening piece of apparel? *SHUDDER* $16 to have baked goods for brains. Sign me up!



And they didn't stop there, oh NO! Somehow this creepy mask is meant to make you festively reindeer-ish. My ASS it will. You'd like some sort of crazy Christmas robber. I am positive that were this North America, someone would have already held up a Sev'Lev in this dumb thing.



Aww, the land of faux pets! (I can't mock these two much; I own a blue one.) (Don't judge me; I was lonely!) So these are called "flip flap"; they're plastic plants whose leaves flap when it's sunny. There's a small solar panel on the front which serves to power the little beasts. I bought a large blue one, and I found it very pleasant. A little cold, perhaps. But they also have pet algae balls here, called "marimo." (Didn't get one of those because GOODLUCK getting it past customs!)



Up close and personal shot of two lovely Flip Flap plants: orange and red. Like a plastic pet fashion show!



This shot is from the Italian restaurant we headed to for dinner. Our reservation, care of Keiko, was at 6:30pm; we stayed until 9:45pm! It was great. Salad, pizza and some red wine. There was a nifty Ferrari class behind us and the warm light was quite pretty.



One last shot for tonight; the light hanging above our table. Very reminiscent of Ikea.



All in all, a very good day. Tomorrow, I was going to see Himeji, but Ray wants to chill so I'm gonna do that instead in lovely Tsukaguchi. If I can get there without completely losing my way. Wish me luck!