More Realistic? ― 2025/02/20
Image retrieved from 第25回 全国陶磁器フェア in福岡2025
This event is tableware-only and the entrance fee is much lower (600yen) than the exhibition I was considering going to.
If I want to see a lot of cups and bowls at once, this might be a more realistic option.
But the transport to the venue should be quite costly, probably over 1000 yen. Which means that either way I have to pay 1600 yen just to look at tableware that I might not even purchase...
... I am beginning to think that the tableware sections in department stores are good enough for me; they are conveniently located and free to browse and open all year round, or maybe I have outgrown the period of my life where I am passionate about tableware (or try to show off show off my good taste).
A Fine Day ― 2025/02/19
The weather has been fine here in Fukuoka for the past several days, with the maximum temperature hovering around eight degrees Celsius - not bad for the middle of winter.
The problem, however, is that it is freezingly cold indoors. As our houses are not built for winter, we don't have double-glazed windows or central heating. I keep myself warm with a little electric heater, a five-year-old Uniqlo ultralight down and slipper socks in my room. Air-con is out of the question. It is inefficient by my standards.
I know that almost a third of Japan has now been hit by incredibly heavy snow, and I'm sorry to say this, but I can't help feeling cheated when the temperature in Fukuoka doesn't reach 10 degrees, just as I felt when it was over 30 degrees in Sapporo in the summer.
To Go or Not to Go ― 2025/02/17
Image retrieved from 『民藝 MINGEI — 美は暮らしのなかにある』公式サイト
These days I have been agonizing over whether or not to go to this exhibition of Japanese folk crafts. My focus should be on the tableware.
I like to see and buy tableware and this show will allow me to do both, if my budget allows.
I would have gone for it with absolutely no hesitation if it had been five or even three years ago. But now I have grown wise (or stingy) enough to weigh the value of the entrance fee (1,600 yen) against the function of the actual tableware (I bought a set of tableware for less than 1,000 yen at Nitori in Sapporo, and they worked with no problem)
Image retrieved from https://www.nitori-net.jp/ec/product/8963204s/
And I don't know how long I could handle them without breaking. You might not know this but getting older means getting more pragmatic and clumsier.
Hoping that I could just look at the merchandise sold outside the exhibition space, I contacted the museum only to be told that I would still have to pay the full entrance fee even to take a look at the souvenir section. This means I'd have to be prepared to splush out to see the tableware that I can't use and more if there's something I fancy at the souvenir section.
Spending that amount of money for just an hour to please my eyes, or to have a nice lunch at a decent restaurant (alone), or to buy a book or Prime Video that I could enjoy over and over again...that's the question. Oh, I don't even have to think about spending it. Why not save it?
Meanwhile... ― 2025/02/14
In Daimaru, another major department store in Tenjin, a water leak at the main entrance was left unfixed.
As in other prefectures, Fukuoka's basic infrastructure may literally be on the verge of collapse.
More frightening than the leak itself was the fact that everyone, fashionably and expensively dressed, was turning a blind eye to it. I hope I'm worrying too much to think that we're like merrily dancing our last dance on the edge of a crumbling cliff.
Vulgar and Rude ― 2025/02/13
Caution: This post is neither interesting nor useful. I am just venting my frustration.
I have learnt today that when you are really, really offended, it goes pitch black around you. Let me tell you about my experience at a local department store.
First of all, unlike usual, I'm not going to bitch (jealous) about the foreign tourists doing lot of shopping here.
The person who made me mad was an obachan about my age, which means she is supposed to have a certain amount of common sense, who I ran into at the Iwataya department store.
The story began when I found nice buri heads with plenty of meat to peck at in the underground fish section, and two shoppers, who appeared to be a mother and daughter, ordering something before me. I waited for them to finish their order, at which point there were two pieces left. However, when they had finished, the shelf was empty. Shocked, I asked the fishmonger, "Is that the last piece? Nothing left for me!?" only to be told that they had taken everything.
So far, that's fine. It could happen anywhere you go shopping. And I AM narrow-minded, but not to the point of getting furious over a fish head.
But the problem was that, seeing me bitterly disappointed and shocked, the older one, who was as old as myself, did a first pump right in front of me. Wow, how vulgar and rude. What's the point of this gesture? To show off their victory over a fish head? I saw in them the essence of the Fukuokans' unpleasantness: always self-first, me, me, me, at all times.
It was then that I realized, for the first time in my almost sixty years of life, that when you are really, really annoyed, it becomes pitch black before your eyes.
I had had several uncomfortable experiences at Iwataya, but I had never met such insult and rudeness. To me, their gesture was ruder than sticking out your middle finger.
Although it was by no means the department's fault, I'd better avoid Iwataya for a while until this generation dies out (which comes first, my own death or theirs?). Needless to say, I cursed the disgusting person and prayed that they would fail to cook the fish and be left with burnt pans.
You see, while the "Inbounds" are enjoying the best parts of locally caught fish, the locals are fighting each other over a fish head.
While I Was Away...2 ― 2025/02/12
A local outlet mall closed and most of the stores in the mall moved to another mall near a baseball stadium.
Opened in 2018, this mall has gone through quite a lot of changes. It has seen a murder a few years ago, the trial for which hasn't been completed. Many shops have also come and gone. Where Benetton used to be on the ground floor, after several different tenants, there is now BYD,
and where Francfranc used to be is now Tesla’s showroom.
The second floor, once filled with relatively "prestigious" or smart looking shops and stores, is now a collection of outlet stores
and Macdonald's.
No one would believe that Ron Herman was once on this floor.
Year-to-Date Low Price ― 2025/02/10
I have found a cabbage at 198 yen, excluding tax, at a newly opened greengrocer.
This might be "opening special" price, but this is the lowest cabbage price I have seen this year. A head of cabbage used to be priced at over 500 yen at the beginning of the year. I guess we have finally reached this year's new cabbage season. Soft and sweet, spring cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables Fukuoka can produce.
Getting Rougher ― 2025/01/20
Not so long ago, things were not as messy as this around ATMs when they were located just outside a department store like this one, where everything is supposed to be spick and span. Should we think that's better than having the whole machine stolen?
Meanwhile, an apparently foreign tourist left her bag and jacket completely unattended in an open area while shopping in the very same department store. the safety myth of Japan seems to be alive among the "inbounds" ← recently we are supposed to call the alien, excuse me, overseas tourists with this term.
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