Thursday, September 4, 2008

Parking garages can be fun

Did you know?

Mary Poppins and I went shopping for bathing suits today, but we bought baby toys, a polo shirt, pastries, tea, and peaches. Whoops!

There wasn't a bathing suit to be found in the department store, but we found a lot of great stuff. The baby toys and accessories are wonderful here - high quality strollers are lightweight, easy to fold, and are not covered in characters from television. Ms. Poppins picked up a couple things for Baby Poppins, and I found a polo shirt for Josh.

After the store, folks, I DROVE. Mary Poppins, in an act of faith, let me drive her car (in Japan! off base!) to the coolest parking garage ever, while she entertained Baby Poppins the Car-Hater in the backseat. Wheehoo! Check out the garage - the camera is not moving, the floor is. Try to watch the green car in the back right:

Amazing, huh? It's underneath a public park and fountain. You just drive down a ramp and straight into a spot, and they move the car up into storage on a second level, then bring it back when you return. The U.S. could learn a lot from Japanese efficiency. Oh, and this video was from a previous trip - Josh wasn't with us today.

After stopping by a tea shop for some o-cha (green tea) leaves, I had a pastry with a veggie croquette baked right in. On the way back to the car we passed two men selling peaches from the back of a truck - only in Japan would I wonder if they were selling contraband FRUIT, but whatever.

I asked for "go," which means five, and they were advertised at five for 300 yen - that's an incredible price! Unfortunately, the guy started rattling off Japanese to me, pointing at various peaches, and obviously asking me a question. I gave him 300 yen and kept repeating "Gomen nasai, wakarimasen" (I'm sorry, I don't understand) until he handed me a bag with five peaches...plus two! He threw in two ripe yellow ones for free!

I love Japan.

1 comment:

Bob said...

The garage is way cool!! I don't think a 1-ton GMC extended cab pickup would fit.