I hung around just in case something else was going to be delivered, and yes, apparently I had another thing from the bank that I had to sign for. So much mail, hah. I couldn’t make head or tails of the bank letter so I’ll leave it for Ichigo-sensei. I also ordered a manga and it accepted my foreign credit card. I didn’t want to figure out how to do pay on delivery or convinced store payment yet. I tried using Yahoo! Wallet but it also need a Japanese credit card, or you could link your bank account with some forms. I may try this later.

I did some more laundry and had to wash my backpack since it had really started smelling like sweat, ew. Then I wanted to go shopping, but my backpack was still wet. I decided to take my bike since it has two baskets although I know the ride back is all uphill. I headed into my first Japanese drugstore, woah. I managed to find the brand of what I wanted. I gave up on finding lotion though because they all looked too fancy and expensive. I don’t know if I was looking in the wrong section. Overwhelmingly a lot of labeled things I couldn’t understand. I briefly checked the hair section too, and nothing for curly locks even though they have Pantene. It seems like I’ll be ordering conditioner and shampoo online.

Next I went to Daiso, the hundred yen shop aka dollar store. But so much better than a lot of the junk you can find at dollar stores. I ended up getting a plate, a candle, a knife, a bamboo spatula, an oven mitt, a placemat, some letter décor tape, and some brushes and canvas. They carry household items from cleaning to decoration, gardening things, art supplies. I almost got some wall decals, but I think I’d rather paint things to put on the wall. Need to track down some ink and rice paper too. Everything was written in English as well as Japanese. I greatly appreciated it.

After stuffing all my stuff into the bags I brought, I left them on my bike (the safety of Japan) and went into the supermarket, Fressay. I promptly cried at the sight of my bill at the end, haha. I will easily spend $50 a week on groceries here. I gave up on my hunt for fruit chunk less yogurt and just bought vanilla. I did buy more eggplant from the local produce section, so cheap ($1.30 for three small ones) and yummy. Apples are four for $7 on the other hand. I actually bought some fish (salmon, the only one I recognized). I’m kinda tempted to try the mussels or clams they sell as well. I also found brown rice which was exciting! It had “germinated brown rice” written on it in English so I felt pretty confident in buying it. I somehow managed to fit it all on my bike and make it home. Bringing back the old skills from bike grocery shopping in Germany.

Around 3 pm, I headed to the train station to catch a train into Takasaki. I had plans to go with K and some other ALTs and Japanese people to a candle festival called Kannonyama Mandoue. K and I sat apart on the train, as it was so full. This time, there was no station attendant to buy a ticket from. I had to take a ticket from a dispenser on the train with my stop number written on it. There’s a screen overhead that counts up how much you owe if you get off at the current stop. After arriving in Takasaki, we had to pay one of two attendants there. K and I had about 30 minutes to kill so we checked out the station. Saw Starbucks again, got a free sample, yum! Went by the mall inside with Uniqulo. So many cute Japanese clothes shops. All with English names and looking quite expensive. We also saw the food court, a bookstore, and a Gunma-chan shop, plus an area where they sell traditional Gunma meals and food. A beautiful cake bakery was there too! (Need to find a local ones.) Not that cheap though, about $3 for a slice. 

We were generously picked up by a Japanese Facebook acquaintance. He was nice and very informative. We met up with the two other ALTs, one of which I knew, and carpooled with him to a grocery store parking lot. Some more of his Japanese friends joined us and off we went. We walked for a bit till we got to a huge amount of stone steps leading up to a temple. There were candles lining both sides of the stairs and many people! I believe we climbed 500 steps. At the temple, there was a shamisen group playing. We picked up a map and got our first station stamp. There was free water, and other drinks and food being sold. We headed off along the path, following the candles. The next area was open with candles laid in many different shapes on the ground. Some special dances were performed with music. Very interesting! There were many more food stands here. I tried yakiniku which is a meat kabob. The meat can be a mystery, but this one was all chicken. They were even selling Döner.

I got my second stamp and we headed off on a longer walk to the next station at Kannonyama, a huge statue that you can see looking over Takasaki. We passed all these old shops selling things like shaved ice, daruyama dolls, and other traditional figurines and items. Such cool light decorations, candles, and people everywhere! At the temple by the statue, there was another stage set up and music was performed by some Hawaiian shirted men later. More food and drink stands. I bought a glow in the dark bracelet as entrance to the statue and climbed another 176 stairs to the top. It was so hot inside! I could get my next stamp at the top! You had an impressive view of Takasaki as well through tiny peephole windows.

As we headed off to station four, it started to rain. This time, I was prepared! I wasn’t going to repeat the fire festival mistake again. I checked the weather beforehand and brought a raincoat. J, one of the other ALTs, and I made it to the end to get the final stamp. We got to choose between two prizes, cereal or a little robot toy. I got the robot. The small cereal box would be a little hard to carry back ha. We then headed back down the mountain. A couple of the others bought some umbrellas and I kindly had an umbrella shared with me although I didn’t need one. Most of the candles were extinguished by the rain so the climb back down those stairs was a bit risky. I ended up using my phone’s flashlight. Much too slippery.

After we were dropped off at the train station, K and I got some udon from the food court. He did a solid job of ordering for us both. So cheap, $2.90. It was yummy and warming. He went off to the arcade as I ended back to Tomioka on the 9:50 pm train. This time when disembarking, I had to show my ticket to the driver as there was no station attendant.