jon_chaisson | Entries tagged with japantown

Started the day off with a half-shift at work that was originally supposed to be a full eight hours, but managed to get the second half off as I hadn't expected to work today and had already made plans. Said plans of course were heading to Japantown to enjoy the final day of the Cherry Blossom Festival. We went primarily for the food, sure, but I also managed to pick up some manga that had recently come out. After that we took the bus most of the way to our community garden plot to do a bit of hoeing and adding of more compost. Then we walked the rest of the way home, picking up some iced tea on the way. All in all I walked a little over five miles today and I've been up since 4:30ish, so I'm feeling a bit loopy right now, heh.

Thankfully I have tomorrow off, so I get to chill a bit and get caught up on creative things! And it looks like I have Saturday off, so that possibly means that I might have the weekend off for the first time in who knows how long! Here's to hoping!

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Spare Oom

The day job has cut everyone's hours a bit just as they did last year, considering that summer is often the slowest time of the year for the shop. I'm currently hovering somewhere around 32 hours a week which to me is fine -- I'd told them I'd wanted to hover around 32 to 38 per week when I started. We've also lost a few people -- two recently gave their two-weeks-notice, one went on a two-week vacation, and one broke their ankle and won't be back until mid-September -- and it does make for some thin days here and there, but we make do when and where we can. Unfortunately this meant that for a few days this month I had to close, which was NOT fun, as we close at 11pm. OOF. I'm usually already in bed and sleeping by that time! Still, it seems to have balanced out as the only odd hours I'm doing now is the 11:30 to 8pm midshifts one or two days a week to fill in on another person's days off. I'm not the biggest fan of that shift but its not entirely hellish...just exhausting sometimes. I'm not holding my breath...but I am hoping that my boss has the scheduling a bit more under control so it's not so out of whack. And that I can take Sundays off!

Speaking of which, I did in fact get today off, and we took the bus up to Japantown for a sushi lunch, some manga and Pusheen plushie purchasing, and a bit of walking as well. All this while the SF Marathon is going on just a few blocks away from our apartment! The bus schedules were a bit wonky but not completely out of commission, so that wasn't a problem. It's been a very nice couple of days recently so I'm quite happy we were able to get out and frolic!

Hope everyone has a lovely week!

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Location: Spare Oom
Current Music: Paramore, 'This Is Why'

So this week I got a 'workiversary' cake at the shop, celebrating one year since my hire date. It's a simple petite white cake with white frosting and very tasty. Our bakery makes some really good cakes, y'know. So much so that I'm amazed I'm not putting on weight from the occasional slice-buying for lunch. Still...has it been a year already?? I started mid-March of 2022, but apparently my hire date was late February -- I do remember my boss saying he'd been backlogged with eight bazillion different things going on, and I've since learned that he does appreciate the occasional reminder when needed. Anyway, we are having cake for our dessert these last few days and I am happy for it.

In other news, we went to Japantown today and finally stopped at the bullet-train sushi bar across the street from the Japantown Mall, and we were not let down! We both realized that this was definitely a place to bring visiting friends and family that enjoy sushi! We did of course stop at Kinokuniya so I could pick up my manga stash, which I shall start reading soon enough.

Oh -- did I mention we got new pillows? We finally came to the conclusion that our cheap and deflated BedBath&Beyond-bought pillows have just about had it and it was time to admit that maybe we should spend a bit of money to get something that's comfortable and supportive. I seem to have slept very soundly last night, so that's definitely a good sign.

Writingwise I'm a few days behind on MU4 and 750Words due to work and other IRL things, but I'm not going to let that bother me. In fact the days off have given me time to think about a few important character-related things that I shall implement very soon. Looking forward to working on them!

Hope everyone has a good (and much warmer) week!

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Spare Oom

Japantown has always been one of my favorite places in the city. It's not as overcrowded and eye-catching as Chinatown, not as amazing as the view from Twin Peaks, and it's not over-the-top touristy like our old neighborhood of Fisherman's Wharf. It's a smallish number of blocks, but it's got a lot of charm. Most of it is a shopping center filled with Japan-centric things (including a home furnishings store called 'All Things Japan', heh), a giant Kinokuniya Bookstore (where I get my manga most of the time) and OH MY GOD THE FOOD. So many restaurants, from the little coffee hut that serves loco moco, to the one on the pedestrian bridge that serves spaghetti and plays Studio Ghibli movies on their monitors all day long, to a big Benihana that all the tourists go to, and of course my favorite, Izumiya, which makes a version of okonomiyaki called 'modern yaki' (aka modan-yaki) that is ridiculously filling and tasty. It also has a Peace Tower, a multiplex movie theater (the AMC Kabuki), a number of street-level stores, a hotel* and a home for senior citizens. I love going there, because the atmosphere is always fun.

And this weekend and next, it's having its Cherry Blossom Festival! A. and I have been going to it the last few years because it's such a blast. They shut down Post and Webster Streets for a few blocks and fill it with tons of food stalls, local artists, neighborhood groups and whatnot. They even had a stall dedicated to owners of shiba inus, which was ridiculously cute. They also have a few performance stages for local bands, dancers and performers. It's a hell of a lot of fun. We usually stay there for a good couple of hours, just hanging out and watching the sites.

We'll be heading there later this morning, so I'm looking forward to having a lot of fun and eating a lot of tasty food!

* - Music Trivia Time! This hotel was where the Sex Pistols broke up. Their last show was at the Winterland Ballroom, which used to be just down the street at the corner of Post and Steiner. It was torn down decades ago and is now an apartment complex. The Winterland, by the way, was also known for being the location of many classic live albums, including Frampton Comes Alive and The Last Waltz. That neighborhood really does have a neat history!

Current Mood: excited

So after our quick grocery shopping trip yesterday morning, we drove into Japantown for lunch, perhaps some shopping, and a movie. This definitely one of our favorite neighborhoods to hang out in, as there's all sorts of fun stores and things to see. The elevator from the parking garage dropped us off right in front of the Sanrio stores (OMG the kawaii ^_^' ), so we of course had to pop in to take in more bright pink than was humanly possible. Luckily we didn't stay too long before my teeth started to hurt, so we headed next door to Japan Video...

...where the young woman behind the register, complete with Sailor Moon hair buns, had the Japanese customer service act down to an art form. Bowing every other sentence, handing the credit slip to me with two hands (and offering the pen to me, holding it in one hand and resting it on the back of the other, and so on...it was so over the top and cute it was hard not be amused and impressed at the same time. Suffice it to say...the dvd we bought there was the complete collection of Azumanga Daioh. (If you're curious, or if you dare, this is one of the silliest scenes in the series and a good example of how goofy it can get.) So yeah...the first half hour at Japantown could definitely be considered the most overly kawaii moments I've ever encountered there.

After a quick stop at Daiso (aka "the dolla-fitty store" as we call it) and lunch at Izumiya (next door to the Kinokuniya bookstore) (I did good and did not order the okonomiyaki, which has become my default--I got a tasty pork/egg/rice dish instead), we made a quick detour to the bookstore where I got three more issues of the Naruto manga, and then headed off to the Kabuki next door.

So what did we see? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 of course!

( cut for spoilers, feel free to skip if you haven't seen it yet )

As for today...? Not much...Emm's feeling a bit sniffly so we're probably just going to hang out and watch football and try to stay warm, even if it is a nice looking day out there. :)

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: @home
Current Music: NFL Gameday Morning

Neat! So we're planning on going to Japantown to see Studio Ghibli's Tales of Earthsea tomorrow, when

emmalyon found out that this weekend is also the Nihonmachi Street Fair in the neighborhood! Yeah, I think we're gonna have to take the 38 bus down there, as I don't think there will be parking available...

Still, any reason to go to Japantown to see a movie at the Kabuki, not to mention get some tasty foods at one of the many restaurants, and buy stuff at Kinokuniya (not to mention going to the local Japanese/Asian supermarket for bento lunches ~~and more Pocky than we really need~~, is always a fun thing.

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: @home

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Entries tagged with japantown

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