Safety and Sweet Sweetness

As you may have gleaned from an earlier post about earthquake preparation, Japan is very conscious about safety. In America, I think we are less concerned with safety. I don't think I ever donned a helmet in all my years of biking and rollerblading. Am I a rebel? Probably. Look out ladies. I live on the wild side! In Japan, you can bet that kids riding bikes wear helmets, knee pads, elbow pads, and probably life vests just in case. 

 Here is the proof. All the kids went ice skating a few months ago (as part of the curriculum required for citizenship?). I think I read somewhere that in order to vote in elections, you have to be able to throw a 360 Axel. Here you can see all of the kids wearing helmets with their ice skates. The teacher is too. That guy on the right is more my speed...I also imagine he is a professional. 

 I sent a package home today and found some sweet stamps featuring Dragonball Z. Cool right? Dragonball was the favorite TV show of my brother and I about 12 years ago. I was going to buy it, but the stamps are about a dollar a piece. This picture will suffice, and I saved 10 dollars. 

This here is the best discovery of the entire month of February! I was walking through the grocery store checking out some prices on things. I had already done my weekly shopping, but I had to get more money from the store. As I passed by one of the displays on the end of the aisle, I saw a wonderful sight that nearly made my eyes pop our of my head. 

I make it a point to know when any flavor of Hi-Chew is available. I keep a keen and discerning eye out. For me to come across this bounty is unprecedented! The Japanese words at the top say that this is the Golden Pack (or something like that). I know that it says Golden at the top. They kind of kept in the family of yellow foods. Mango, Pineapple, and Kiwi. They make it look like the kiwi is yellow in that picture (which is clearly wrong). I tried them, and they are AMAZING! I tried to decide how many to buy, and I settled on 6 packs. After having tried them, I will be buying out their entire stock tomorrow. Hope you are all excited to try them, because this is probably what you are going to get as a present from Japan. 

As I spent my hard earned money on candy, I realized how proud my 8-year-old self would be of me. When I was really young, I could imagine nothing better than spending 20 bucks on candy. As we get older, we spend a lot more money like we never thought we would. I reclaimed my lost childhood in that sense and hereby commit to continue spending money (somewhat needlessly) on fun things in the future. 

As I was going out to the parking lot of the grocery store, I was updating my Facebook status on my phone. That is how excited I was to share that I had found 3 new flavors. I was perfunctorily looking around for my car and I found it and went to get in. As I looked in my car as I reached for the handle, I wondered when I had bought bright pink leopard print seat covers...oops. I immediately realized that I was getting in the wrong tiny white car and put my phone down and looked around (both for my car, and to see if people were staring at me). Luckily for me, it is common practice for Japanese men to sit in their cars in parking lots. They just sit there and keep guard on the parking lot (I would think that they are waiting for their wives?). There was one such fellow right behind me. I can imagine I am being talked about at some dinner table tonight.