my fish has a tail

Today I went to Shinjuku in the morning and got there before the stores opened... even later than here in Inage! They all opened around 11 or 11:30. I wandered around a bit, but I find Tokyo very visually distracting. And I heard a whole bunch of fire trucks, which didn't used to bother me but since being at UIC and close to downtown all the time it sort of unnerves me now. I went to the bookstore that the guide book says has the largest collection of English language books in Tokyo, and they had a whole half of one floor just of foreign books. I got the next manga in the series Aaron got me and a book about Sapporo with some maps for when Silke and I go there for the snow festival. It seems to have been published by a printing company based in Sapporo and it is clear that they did not have a native English speaker as their editor. It's got a lot of pictures and seems to have a lot of accurate information, though, so I am not complaining.

I bought a winter dress coat in Shinjuku too. It's a dark green and navy plaid with black cotton lace around the collar and hems. I really like it, and it seems to be warm. I don't know how much I will wear it in Japan, because it seems almost too warm, but it's so pretty. I think it's actually intended to be worn over one of those really frilly dresses, because it has zippers on the front (so your skirt can stick out, I guess) but it looks cute with my jeans too. It was a very impractical purchase, but I haven't made many (any?) of those really yet. It looks kind of like the original jacket Samantha from the American Girls has. It's more something to wear to church than to ride my bicycle, though... I guess next winter I will have to go to church more to have a place to wear this jacket.

After I got back, Silke and I went for crepes (it is the 19th) and I had one that was vaguely Japanese, in that it had very small balls of mochi in it and a piece of cake with green tea flavored frosting. We wandered around and I got a little thingy to keep my phone screen clean that looks like a cat paw, a slightly different Hello Kitty for my phone (but I managed to get her sister, Mimmy, from one of those machines that have toys in plastic balls), and a black scarf to use on the trip to Hokkaido (which will also match my new coat). Then we went to the grocery part of the store and there was a sample lady with fried fish and I had a piece and it was so good I bought a piece for dinner. It still had the tail attached, though, and a few bones towards the top, but it was so good. I hadn't had any fish except ceviche, lox and raw tuna (so any cooked fish) in a very long time.

There is something wrong that won't let me add photos :(