An odd title for a blog entry made on a Monday, I admit. Today was the day to take my almost 3 year old car in for its first "shaken" inspection. While it is supposed to ensure that cars are safely maintained, I think it's just another money maker for the auto industry. A new car has 3 years of shaken (pronounced shaw-ken) and then you have to pay for it to be maintained and inspected every 2 years.
My car was relatively cheap. I paid 46,600 yen (about $500) to have it inspected and all the paperwork filed. You can tell I've lived in Japan just a little too long when I think that $500 for a one hour car inspection is cheap. At least they rotated the tires and I got 5 free boxes of tissues when it was done.
So I made a little escapist trip to Book Off in Shuunan after that. Book Off (and its affiliated store Hard Off), sell used books (and other goods). I get a tiny peek into the lives of other foreigners who occasionally sell their stuff. In the foreign books section today, I found an Australian cooking magazine from January and the Lonely Planet guide to Finland. I bought both, of course. I am that desperate to buy things in my own language that I will buy a guide book to a country that in all likelihood I will never visit. It was only 300 yen (about $3.50).
I imagine some backpacking Eikaiwa (English conversation school) teacher finished her trip and offloaded it. Maybe she is Australian. She's probably in her 20s, no kids, no mortgage. This summer she will be drinking in the beach cabanas farther up from where I live. These little beach huts serve overpriced cocktails to summer visitors. I have never gone. Do I sound bitter? Even when I was in my 20s, I probably wouldn't have gone.
I will read all about Finland and I will wonder what happened to the entire selection of British chick lit that was at Book Off the last time I went. None of those books were there today. Did some other foreign woman with a habit for escapist reading buy them all? Maybe it was my imaginary Australian friend? And maybe, it's time that I sell half of the books littering my sons' closet so I can fuel someone else's habit.
About Me
- -alex
- Mostly SAHM with two boys and a husband who is much happier living in the U.S. I used to teach English to preschoolers, 5th and 6th graders and pharmaceutical employees and do English storytime at the public library. I have one screenplay written. It's a romantic comedy that is neither romantic nor comedic. Still working on the second one. First one is in a moving box somewhere. I hope someday that someone who is a cross between Hayao Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon will want to make my second screenplay into an animated feature.
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