Shopping in Matsumoto

After all four people I had invited to join me in going to Matsumoto bailed, I decided to go ahead and just go by myself. I spent the last few days thinking about where I wanted to go shopping, so it was a good choice to go ahead and do it instead of just moping around my apartment. :P

I took a train with a ton of other people (strangers, I mean) to Matsumoto and got there about 1 pm. My first stop was the anime/manga store called Animate. A visit to Matsumoto simply isn't right unless I stop in there. :) I got another Pokemon cell phone charm there. Next, I went to a big bookstore called Maruzen. My mission was to find the Japanese version of Hunger Games, but also I was hoping to find out if they really did have an English section. Lo and behold, way in the back on the bottom floor was a small section of English books! I didn't end up getting any of them, though, because I'd rather spend my money on things I can't get back home. So I got the first volume of Hunger Games (I guess with the Japanese version, they split each novel into two books, the "upper" and "lower" volumes).

Oh, I forgot to mention that before I made it to the bookstore, I passed a cute music shop with a bunch of pianos in the window. I thought, wow, that's cool. But as I was about to turn the corner, I realized they had a bunch of sheet music. I really wanted to check it out, so I went in. Can you guess what I found? A whole section devoted to ocarina music!! It wasn't that big, but I was really surprised. I ended up buying a book entitled "Ocarina: Best 100" that has all kinds of pieces in it, from J-pop to classical to popular songs like Country Roads. :) Now I can finally add more songs to my repertoire!

After all my shopping, I stopped in the Starbucks in Matsumoto station and got a vanilla frappuccino. I attempted to read Hunger Games while sipping it. Actually, I can understand enough to compare it to the English version, at least in some places! I think it's good practice for me so I'll keep reading it slowly when I have time. It does take me FOREVER to read, haha, since the characters go right-to-left, top-to-bottom.

Before leaving to head back home, I found another small bookstore in the station and wandered around it. I ended up in the map section and found one for the area I'm living in! It shows my town plus some of the neighboring towns/cities. Of course, it's all in Japanese, but I've been wanting a map of the area, so I'm happy. ^_^

One last thing before I sign off. It was such a beautiful day today, that I got to see some gorgeous scenery as I stood on the train heading to Matsumoto. May is rice planting month and there were many farmers hard at work, some running machines that seemed to be doing the planting for them. The alps were especially beautiful with the sun reflecting off the snow; a lot of the snow is starting to melt, though, and I wonder if it'll mostly or all be gone in a month. Mt. Fuji still has plenty of snow on it!

Well, anyway, as always, here's a few pictures from my day.

Looking out of Matsumoto Station at the tracks

The Northern Japan Alps

I THINK this is Mt. Norikura, which is famous for hiking in the summer, but I could be wrong.

Size comparison to show how small Japanese books are! The Kindle is the size of an average American book.

My spoils of the day, from the left: map, Hunger Games, ocarina book, charms, small origami paper, and wasabi chocolate.