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| Korona World (2002 photo) |
After lunch, I returned to Eiden to pick up the Electronic Dictionary. I had the chance to check out what the internet says about the model, a Sharp PWM-800, and as far as I could tell, it wasn`t available in North America and the sale price was under half the list one though some sites were offering it at the same price. The only problem is that the clerk I bought it from told me she didn`t think there was an English instruction manual available from the manufacturer. Learning how to use this sucker properly`s going to be fun.
From there, I went directly to the station for a train to Anjo to see if I could catch the third Inuyasha movie. I had an idea where the theater was but had to ask directions at one point. It was at an entertainment complex called Korona World which also had a video arcade, manga cafe, bowling alley and pachinko parlor. It took 15-20 minutes from the station but it was a great day for a walk anyways. I just missed the 1:00 show and had to wait until 3:30 for the next one so I decided it was time to finally get a haircut.
I passed by a place near the station advertising \1,500 cuts on the way to the theater so I walked back to it. Turned out to be \2,000 with shampoo. Hair salons are usually pretty casual back home but this place still had a business-like formality to it. There were about a dozen staff at the shop and, in unison, they routinely said their "irasshaishimasu"s when customers walk in "shitsureishimasu" when another answers the phone. It was a bit like being in a convenience store but they did a fine job for the price.
There were quite a few street shops between the station and the theatre and most of them were still closed for the oshougatsu holiday. It seems only the shopping centers have their stores open on the weekend for the New Year sales.
As for the Inuyasha movie, it was pretty good though the ending was predictable. After a month of study, I was happy to find I was understanding more and more of the dialogue though, in this case, it may have been in part because I've read all the Inuyasha manga so far. Still, that only meant I understood maybe half the movie. It was still worth the \1,400 (student rate). Unlike theaters back home, there was also a nice souvenir movie program available for \500 that I picked up as well.
On top of snow, it looks like massive numbers of holiday travellers can also cause long delays to Japanese passenger trains. The train back to Okazaki was about 8 minutes late from its scheduled time because it was packed with people apparently returning from their oshougatsu travels (or maybe they were shopping at the sales).
It was a sure sign that the holiday period is over. It will soon be time to get back to work the next morning.