shopping trip

I went out on a shopping trip a few days ago to try to find some clothes for DD, as she has recently decided to outgrow nearly everything she owns that's not somewhere in the middle of the pacific on a big barge headed this way.  I had tried to find clothes for her here on base, but they only had 4 styles of jeans her size and they were all 'skinny' jeans and when we tried them on her, she flipped out and screamed until I took them off.  All the rest of the clothes in her size are already the spring and summer clothes (all the whopping 4 racks of clothes).  So I had decided to head out and go to the nearest mall.  Unfortunately, I didn't know how many cm she is tall, so it made it pretty nearly impossible to find clothes in her size, plus, most of the local clothes I found were shorts, or were built to accommodate much bulkier diapers than our American versions which we are lucky enough to buy at the local exchange.  I didn't feel comfortable taking any pictures of anything they sell, since I don't yet know how to ask for permission, but here are a few pictures I took during my evening out.

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It's kinda hard to see, but this is a police station right off base.   An easy way to locate a Police Station at night is to look for a flashing red light.  Some of them are manned and some are not.  When they aren't manned, they are still open and have a phone accessible for you to use.  

I snuck a picture of this lady and her son.  She was a great example of the difference in the culture as far as women's attire is concerned.  It was around 7 C degrees out (40 F) and there were women and girls all over the place in mini skirts or short shorts, with high heeled boots, scarves and parkas on.  You'd think if it was cold enough to know to wear a warm coat and scarf, you might want to wear something on your legs too.  I guess maybe that's why the tall boots.

Most of us at some time or another have heard of pop tabs being collected to buy someone time on life support, kidney dialysis etc...  Recently, I've been hearing that there's no such program and so forth.  Apparently here in Japan though, they are collecting them to help purchase wheelchairs.  So, who knows, maybe there is something to it after all.  I sure have always wondered what the intrinsic value of those things could be though for them to be valuable enough to do any of those things that they are said to do.

I have mentioned the hot beverages that can be purchased from the vending machines.  Here's a picture of one of the machines at the mall.  Everything with a blue label under it is served cold and everything with re is served hot and I do mean HOT!  There are also Ice Cream vending machines that serve Ice Cream at -26 C (-14.8 F).  No worries about it melting all over your hands, that's for sure, or onto your bare legs while you sit outside at the train station in your mini skirt in 7 C (40 F) weather, with your scarf up around your ears and your arms tight across your chest...