Thrifting in Yokosuka

The curse has been lifted!  Sort of.  Instead of having to stay within 3 kilometers from the main gate, we are allowed to go to anywhere on the Miura Peninsula, which is about five kilometers wide by 10 kilometers long.  Not much, but hey!  For months this spring we weren't allowed off base at all, so I'll take it.  For now.  We actually haven't even been able to go very far, because B has been on call for many days, and he has to remain within 20 minutes of the hospital.  Out west where I grew up, you could get a good deal farther than 10 kilometers in 20 minutes!  But here in densely settled Japan, it doesn't work that way.  But luckily there are lots of quirky shops and streets to explore here close.  B and I have been visiting "recycle" shops, or thrift stores.  They can be an adventure.

Even heard of the saying "dumber than a bag of hammers?"

I'm still pretty new to thrifting in Japan, but in my limited experience there are two types of thrift stores here.  One is similar to what you might see in the US, like Goodwill.  Here there are a couple brands of those: Wattmans, and a bunch of Offs, like Book Off, House Off, etc.  They have isles, things on hangers, and so forth.  The other kind I have discovered you can find while traveling down a street by looking for a shop with junk piled in front.  These have tiny isles, or no isles, and just mounds and mounds of stuff.  

Here is the outside of the shop we went to the other night.  (It's the second type of shop...)  It's a very short walk from our base.

It's so fun to poke around in these places.  And although we are coming up on another move, and I'm trying SUPER hard to not acquire too much else, I still like looking around- and it helps with not buying if I take pictures of the cool stuff I find...

I don't know if you can see, but there are two big old huge mallets down there.  Mjolnir's big brothers.  B thought maybe they're for pounding mochi?

If you ever wanted a golden calf...

Walking back to base.

And then on Saturday, we drove to a truly unique shop that everyone on the Yokosuka Thrifters Anonymous facebook group calls BW.  I really like this shop.  It's a series of shacks, run by a wiry man who speaks pretty perfect English, and really hates masks.

Pretty twine.

Some art I liked.

And I don't really like watermelon, but I was sorely tempted by this kokeshi.  I mean, I already own a pumpkin headed kokeshi, so it would fit, right?  But I resisted.

Here is B, gazing into one of the more impassable areas of the shop.  We ended up buying a really old mechanical clock, very dirty and broken, for 500 yen, or about 5 dollars.  B can fix it when he feels like it.  It has a pendulum, and potentially makes a nice chime.

I don't go for the usual tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog things) stuff.  They usually have grotesque breasts and male genitalia, and the inhibited/Scandinavian/Mormon upbringing part of me thinks they're uncomfortable.  But this one hanging up is super cute!

On the way home from BW, we spotted a shop with junk piles outside!  There was a pay parking lot close by, so we pulled in.  And then we had one of the experiences that make me dread moving from this place.  B was looking at the car, and the parking thing that raises up under the car, making sure you have to pay before you leave, and I was out on the sidewalk with my phone, using google translate to try and figure out the pay machine.  All the sudden a guy on a motorcycle pulled in, and came up to help me.  He didn't speak English, but B came over, and with his Japanese the guy helped him figure out that we needed to pay when we come back from the shop, not before.  I thought the guy must live close, and be pulling in to park himself.  But no, he just hopped back on his motorcycle and drove away.  He only stopped because I was obviously in need of help.  It was so kind!  I love Japan...

This recycle shop was tightly packed, and a bit pricier than BW, but fun to poke around in.  A red pay phone?

And I really liked this dish set.  This shop seemed to specialized in stuffed pheasants.  There were a ton of them.  And I don't mean the kind of stuffed animal my girls hoard...  

We went back to the first thrift, which I guess is called PX?  The one close to the train station by base.  B wanted a second look at some chisels he was eyeing.  He didn't end up getting them, but he bought some drill bits that are amazing.  It turns out they cut perfect, smooth holes.  But I saw this lovely wooden plate.

And one last thrift find:  A charger, shaped like a cow bum.

 

The Pandemic: Things to Do...

We went from being busy with school, church, and swim team; with lots of playground time, to staying almost exclusively within our own walls.  

The girls helped us clean and organize the sheds, and we got rid of much stuff.  Now all three of our little sheds are tidy and able to be easily walked into.  

Here the girls are talking to our neighbor, M, who is the chattiest kindergartner ever.

 B rebuilt my excellent Sashiko, who now no longer protests loudly at how much I overload her.

 I tried to notice sakura season on my way to and from the commissary.

 We have played some games...

 There has been much tickle torture...

 B has been helping cook, and expanding his Japanese culinary repertoire.  This curry udon (with homemade udon noodles) tasted amazing- but, unfortunately was soooo spicy 3/5 of us were not able to eat much. 

 The girls built tents to watch General Conference, King Benjamin style...

 The girls found some of my garden stakes and had sword fights, then made a game using the stakes to toss frisby rings to each other.

 We've been trying to have the girls help more with cooking.  My mother was fantastic, but boy, was she bad at teaching me to be an adult...

 A made bread sticks with my Mom's recipe.

 B and I snuck out to see the special spring lights under the sakura.

 We started up the couch to 5 K plods, which has been fun in a painful way.

 The girls got caught up in a neighborhood camp out. 

 There were tents everywhere, kids up on rooftops.  It looked like a refugee camp.

 I reread some HP, including the new British illustrated version I had checked out from the library before it closed.  Why can't anyone get Sirius right?  He's a newfoundland.  Obviously.

 

Getting Sirius wrong aside, the British version is so much better!  The part in the third book where they're in the Shrieking Shack has always bothered me.  Lupin would not say "Here, boy" to Ron.  He just wouldn't.  But Sirius would.  He doesn't really know Ron yet.

I made the girls do some zumba.

And they joined a crane folding challenge, trying to fold a thousand cranes for each of the four schools here on the bases.  They only made it to about six hundred I believe.  It was a good time taker!

The Pandemic, Part 4...

Late on the Friday night Miss M was struggling with her stomach illness, the base commander came out with a shelter in place order.  This was... problematic, because he did it with no warning, and after the commissary and other stores were already closed.  So, thankfully, of course we were just fine.  We had plenty of anything we could need for a fairly long while.  But there were many, I'm sure, who were not counting on a stretch of no shopping availability.

I took pictures of the girls' room for someone moving here.  It is rarely so tidy...

Miss M was doodling while I talked on the phone with my sister, and wanted a picture taken to send to Aunt L.  It is sakura season, although we can't go out to enjoy it really...

Having a townhouse with a backyard has been such a huge blessing.  During those first shelter in place days we all spent a lot of time in our yard.  I'm happy for my bad habit of spending lots of money and time redoing every temporary yard we have.

 I don't have a lot of tulips, but the ones I did plant stayed around and blooming for a very long time.

 This is a corylopsis bush.  It was the only plant already in our yard when we moved it.  It puts on quite a show in the spring!  It has bright pink bracket things, and then the leaves origami out.

 Daydream, my favorite tulip...

 Hellebores do very well here.

 And columbine.

 I got a tiny cherry tree last year for $4 at the nex.  It looked pretty rough, but I amazoned some fruit tree fertilizer last fall, and it is doing great so far this year.

Our little front bed is full of mini daffodils.  They aren't mini enough to fit in the mini garden theme, but they're so cheerful I don't mind.