I had a pretty fun weekend, although not much big news. On Friday night we went to the Izakaya - sort of like a pub and sort of like a bar. It was very interesting. We had to take our shoes off at the entrance and then sit at some low tables which were already laid with some food - edamame beans, fried noodles, potato wedges with ketchup (!) and some other things I could not identify.

There was lots of graffiti on the walls around us, that people who visited there had drawn. I even found some from Leeds! There were also lots of photos of different people who had been there and drawings and stuff. It had a lot of character. They also continued to serve us food throughout the night at no extra charge, and no one asked for it. They just gave it to us! 

The drinks were very expensive though and it worked out 2500yen each! Although I only had one drink and the Japanese guy I was sitting with called Shin insisted I paid only 500. Everyone was very very drunk and we had a strange walk home with everyone singing and messing around.

I went to bed not soon after coming back.

On Saturday we went into Tenjin and had a look around a really beautiful department store called Vivre. There were lots of amazing clothes, but very expensive prices =/ I bought a pair of red heart shaped sunglasses that I think are very cute <3 and we found a second-hand section that had some more reasonable prices. I'd like to go back there to buy some cute clothes when I have my bank account sorted properly. On the top floor there were some lolita brand sections on sale - Baby The Stars Shine Bright, Metamorphose, Alice and the Pirates! I was super excited and wanted to just take lots of photos. Very pricey though. 25,000yen for a dress. =0 Beautiful though.

Today I bought a new bike! I will post a photo as soon as I can. It has been very rainy today because the typhoon came in. Lots of sudden strong rain =] we had a nice walk to the station to go into Tenjin to check out phone contract prices and pick up Kanji in Context for Sophie.

The phones were much more expensive than I think any of us anticipated. A contract costs around 3000yen up front and 1200yen a month which is reasonable. However they are all 24month contracts and to break the contract costs 9000yen! Which is more money than I'm willing to pay when the only reason is that the company won't offer 1 year contracts. So we have to find somewhere that will sell pre-paid or pay as you go phones. I think these will cost more up front - something like 7000yen, and then you can top up with 3000 or 5000. You then can select to spend 300 of that on unlimited email messages (that are used like texts here). If you don't spend the money within 2 months you lose it though so it's a bit like the pay as you go phones in the UK that is like free texts if you top up £10, except you don't get to keep the £10 =/

Yes, using a phone is expensive in Japan! I'm surprised anyone can use one >.< I'm not going to struggle for money this year and I still don't feel like I can justify almost £80 to break a contract at the end of the year. Lame.

This is just softbank though so I need to check out docomo and anything else as well. I think I might have more success if I go alone and study the options myself rather than relying on other people. Although it is very helpful, I feel like I understand better if I organise it alone.  

Anyway, we went to Starbucks and our favourite 280yen ramen shop in Tenjin and then came home and studied a bit. And now I have to go to bed but I'm achey and awake for some reason so I decided to write a blog post instead. =] But I will go to sleep now.