We visited the Pokémon Center in one of the local malls (at a train station). Basically the Pokémon Center is a store completely dedicated to all things Pokémon and you can get things that aren't available elsewhere. Sorry these pictures aren't the best. There were a lot of people and I was trying not to directly take pictures of anyone I didn't come with.
It was a Saturday afternoon, so unfortunately it was very crowded.
Piplup, the cute penguin!
Lots of different charms to choose from.
Fun stationery.
There were several options of eco bags. Have I mentioned everyone brings their own bags here? If they don't, they pay for a bag (I believe convenience stores are the exception).
They must hold events here, but nothing happening this time.
Lunch accessories and mugs/cups.
The different trainers.
Kitchen items and bags! I was so tempted by the spatula and spoon!
I was also very tempted by these pikachu rice bowls.
I thought this was so cool, but it was just for one person.
I would definitely use these sauce dishes, but I should stick to the 100 yen shop for stuff like this. The smaller items are chopsticks rests.
Lots of jewelry to choose from!
Stickers! I got a Chansey on and Papa P got a sticker as well.
I was also tempted by the Cherubi earrings. I love Cherubi and Cherubim.
This was a Poregon phone case. It was soooooo heavy!
The line looked like one from an amusement park. There were even posters and merchandise to look at and pick up.
We thought this looked cool, but when we looked up the location, it's nearly two hours by train. Our 12 year old said, "Worth it!" So maybe we will at some point. By car it's a bit less than an hour and a half.
C loves owls and these Rowlet socks. I am thinking Christmas.
Both boys liked this shirt, but it was only in youth sizes (why are my kids growing up?!) It reminded us that we need to figure out our Japanese clothing sizes. I have figured out my shoe size (for running shoes).
The boys got to pick out an item in a certain price range. G picked Bronzong, one that you wouldn't usually see in a stuffed animal.
C picked the new grass-type starter Pokémon from the newest game coming out, Sprigatito.
I picked out a hair clip of Mimikyu.
It was a cool place. If we end up going to see the Pokémon fossils I'll be sure to make a post about it.
This is about my kitchen in Japan. By no means am I generalizing that all kitchens in Japan are like this; I haven't been in anyone else's kitchen. We have a galley kitchen. It is a narrow like a hallway, that doesn't even have room for a fridge. The bag next to the fridge has all our milk cartons and food trays that are waiting to be taken back to the store.
Our microwave/toaster oven/oven combo, with the fridge behind and the burnable trash to the right.
The fridge is tall and narrow with several drawers on the bottom.
Inside looks pretty similar to my fridge in the states.
The doors, however, have much different configuration. It seems that it is specifically designed for something, maybe sauces, but I am not sure if we are using it right.
The egg holder is in the middle. I bought eggs from Costco most recently. They vary in size greatly and don't have the date stickers like the grocery store did.
Not sure what this flat area with a sliding lid should be used for.
This is the water tank for the ice maker.
I have to fill it manually.
The ice tray drawer is nice! I love that it came with a scoop.
This is a produce drawer. We use mainly frozen veggies. We have put a bit of produce here, but it is easily forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind. Or maybe I am just out of my mind. Ha!
This is a quick freeze drawer. If I were making popsicles or something I'd make them here.
Here is the regular freezer. It has two separate trays above the larger drawer.
Here is our huge sink. There is sink underneath the white dish draining platform. It fits our sink perfectly.
It can also be changed out for the cutting board that fits the sink perfectly as well.
I bought this blue basket from the 100 yen shop, Daiso. Some people in the States may be familiar with this store as well. This basket is to put kitchen trash in like eggshells, stems from produce, or fat from meat trimming. Otherwise we have to walk around to the trash can many times.
Sometimes I put both the drainer and the cutting board over the sink.
There is no garbage disposal. Under what looks like the disposal should be is a mesh strainer that catches food waste. It's pretty fine mesh and food it was hard to get all the food out.
I found these bags at Daiso as well.
They easily catch all the food and make it easy to dispose of. This is mostly oatmeal from breakfast.
This is under the sink. On the right is our storage for rice.
By pushing this button, you can select exactly how much rice you want. It measures for you.
Then you open the tray at the bottom to get the rice out.
Here is our rice cooker. The relocation team labeled in English for us.
Under the counter storage.
There is more storage above, but it's not that exciting to look at.
Our gas stove top.
Pot storage under the stove. I bought the towel rack at Daiso.
This is the most annoying part of our kitchen. In order to have hot water, this has to be on. It turns itself off automatically, not sure after how long. I always forget to turn it on when I am washing dishes by hand. 🤦🏽♀️
Here is the mircowave/toaster oven/oven combo.
We haven't used the oven feature on this appliance yet, but we have used it as a microwave and toaster oven. In the video below I give a super quick overview of how to use those two features.
The controls for the dishwasher.
As I mentioned before. It barely fits four of everything. The dishes we have are HUGE. I'm not sure how the relo (relocation) people fit everything at once.
Here is my washing machine and dryer. It has its own closet, which is nice. You can set it to automatically go from washing to drying. It can take up to four hours to do both, depending on the size of the load. Many people hang dry clothes here. It dries faster on a sunny day, that's for sure.
I bought clothes hanging goods at IKEA. That's one section they have here that they don't in the States. I have never used fabric soften before, but I do here because I might hang dry, or if I use the machine, there are no dryer sheets here.
So there's my kitchen and most of our appliances. Do you think you could cook in my kitchen daily? How do you feel about hanging clothes to dry? I have only done it a couple of times so far.
