I'm still unemployed

Our unauthorized use of a password-free WiFi connection has either been discovered... or someone unplugged the router. Seeing as how it takes no time or effort to set up a password, I'm going to guess the latter there. But yeah. Not much has happened in the last couple of days. Did a lot of shopping yesterday, blew through 5000 yen or so, but the apartment is much more livable now. Finished putting together the SD V2 Assualt Buster Gundam this morning – fully combined, it's a good sized hunk of plastic that can't move its limbs. But the head has this cool setup where the targeting eyepatch will actually slide down over the left eye (the Mega Beam Cannon is mounted on the right shoulder blade). It's a brick, no posing and not much fun other than as a decoration. Still, at 100 yen, it's a pretty good deal for a brick.

Today, though, I went ahead and did a little shopping for myself. There's a complex of three stores nearby – one's a bookstore/video rental, the smallest goods-wise is a toy store, and there's the used book/game/music store. The bookstore/video rental had the newest Kamen Rider Spirits and enough of the pre-2000 stuff to keep me happy for a year or two. The toy store was a slight letdown, but what I was expecting in this town's economy (more on this below). The used fun store (my new name for it, and yes, it does have porn) has stacks and stacks of old manga, with some games and cds, all priced to own. I limited myself and only got the first Akazukin Cha-Cha (it's a pun – 'Akazukin-chan' is the Japanese version of 'Little Red Riding Hood', Cha-Cha is fittingly friendly with a werewolf), and the Dreamcast game 'Sunrise Eiyuu-tan' (which reminds me – Takashi: keep the Dreamcast in working order, or just make sure it works. If you're reading this, run upstairs, hook it up, and make sure it runs. Also: if you have any games or manga – I couldn't find the last Shaman King, sorry – you'd like, that's a little old, let me know). It's good stuff. I'm going to be a regular customer.

Which brings me to the local economy. I've heard rumors that Akitakata City is close to bankrupt, and I'm beginning to believe it – every fourth storefront or so is empty, and even though it's summer vacation, just about every major-ish store has a 'now hiring' sign in it. I see many oldsters, mothers, and children when I walk about, but I might just be looking at the wrong places. My perception of Yoshida town (Akitakata city is split into a bunch of towns, which is reflected in my over-engineered address) changes from day to day – until this afternoon, I didn't know exactly where the nearest police station was, and it's a decent sized building – but overall each passing day worries me. Still, this might be normal for the sort of population center we're in, which keeps me getting up every day.

I learned what I need to do to set up a bank account (fun fact: the post offices here also double as banks), and what it takes to cash some traveller's checks. Also, my written '5' looks like a big squiggly-wiggly line and my (Irish?) last name is unpronounceable here. And after all that, I spent an hour wandering the supermarket, waiting for bento to go on sale. As it was, I didn't wait long enough. Dinner ended up being a small pile of onigiri and kappa-maki (sushi: cucumbers in rice rolled in seaweed – the first vegan dish anyone every thinks of at a sushi joint. Seriously). There's no V8 over here, and nothing to replace it. The name stands for 'Vegetable 8', and most of the veggie drinks I've been able to find go well over that number of individual vegetables – and fruits. Who puts LEMON in a vegetable drink, anyway? Milk over here is universally not non-fat, and while it tastes like really heavy cream sometimes, it's a bit much after a carton or two. So finding that the non-fat stuff (and there's only been two brands so far) is cheaper has been a very pleasant surprise. And cause for paranoia. Think about it.

Since I was out yesterday, I poked around for an air mattress for one of Rachel's coworkers. I finally found one in a furniture store nearby. It's some measure of the country when stores that sell tents don't sell inflatable mattresses.

Time for bed.