Today's Purchases

[cjsmith]

1. A ham, cheese, mayonnaise, and super double extra black pepper sandwich. (This is the "American Breakfast" at the coffee shop here.)

2. A maneki-neko carved from tigereye.

3. A plastic pizza. We found the street where any restaurant supply you can possibly imagine can be purchased, from cutlery to cash registers. This includes the plastic food that sits in the window. I was awfully tempted to buy a glass of wine or an ice cream sundae to sit in my kitchen forever. I also liked the plates of food with forks or chopsticks hovering over them, connected by noodles. My pizza happens to be cut into twenty-five little pieces to make a puzzle out of it.

4. A cotton kimono-shaped robe in deep green with little flowered fans all over it.

5. Sesame crackers. (yum.)

6. An assortment of things that look like rice cakes but taste like: peanut brittle (beige), sesame (white with black specks), seaweed (green), strawberry (pink), or soy sauce (brown). All of these also contain peanuts.

Everything here is packaged a lot. We've purchased AA batteries that were individually wrapped inside their ten-battery multipack. When we left our hotel room yesterday morning we had glasses of water by the bed; when we came back, they had both been covered in cling wrap, I guess so the water wouldn't get dusty or something. When I saw that plastic pizza in the store, it was inside a clear plastic bag, set inside an aluminum tray, inside a clear plastic box that was taped shut, inside another clear plastic bag with a twist-tie on it. After I purchased it the shopkeeper put the whole assembly inside a paper bag, taped that shut, then put the paper bag inside a plastic bag with handles and taped THAT shut. Wouldn't want to risk me getting access to the actual product, or anything. :-)

(It's ten after nine in the evening.)

PS: Yes, I'm still coughing in huge loud red-faced eye-watering fits. I'm starting to sleep through the night though. I'm definitely healthier than I was a week ago.

Comments

[melanie.livejournal.com]

very interesting stuff, this. i'm wondering about how the packaging mania grew to be what it is. but wait - this *is* a culture noted for being especially averse to germs and contamination.

[msmichelle.livejournal.com]

I like their American breakfast, LOL.

Did you just dive right into the time zone change and run on vaca adreniline to overcome the time change or did you need to rest up and adjust?
I am amazed at business travelers who can be in Toyko one day, London the next and still be in the state of mind to do business.

[ckd]

#4 sounds like a yukata.

these comments got me thinking...

[irascignavojo.livejournal.com]

...how much they would wrap you, for their own safety, if only they could... ;)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

My sister once told me that in many contexts in Japan, huge smelly farts in public were much more socially acceptable than a sneeze, presumably because the farts are filtered, and/or aren't seen to be illness conveyances. (I haven't asked her lately, she's had gradually more experience with Japan over time, first as a student, and off and on over the years as a cross-cultural emissary for a couple of different companies.)

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, this packaging thing has got me wanting to wrap everything in my house in plastic wrap and tape!

packaging OD

[gev.livejournal.com]

how much of this packaging will you be bringing home?

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

Is it cut into twenty-five wedges or twenty-five odd-shaped pieces?

[rampling.livejournal.com]

Wow, packaging wildness! Do they have the nasty adult-proof thick plastic flesh cutting stuff we get, or is it just numerous (pretty) layers of relatively easy-to-remove stuff?

Hope your sleep continues to improve and those icky coughs from hell go back whence they came. Bleah! Safe germ-free virtual *HUGS* for you!

[deyo.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/dragon_spirit/598164.html