A New Hard Off

"You can take the man out of a Hard Off, but you can't take the Hard Off out of the man.."

..or something like that.

I had planned to get up earlier than usual to make my first trip to the Hard Off in Kawasaki.

I looked out the window as I sleepily got up and saw that it'd been raining, and still looked overcast. Still, I made half an effort to leave earlier, just in case.

I had a good hour and a bit before I had to start work, so I hot-stepped my way along the shortest way I could work out possible, with judicious use of Google Earth and street view help from the night before.

From the distance I gave myself a 30 minute time window before I'd have to turn around and get back to work. Luckily it was a little over twenty minutes on arrival. Along the way, I was not let down by strange shops names..

I think they must have a good breeze going through this shop.

This one says "Yokohama Lining". It's a motorbike shop, so I'm guessing it's a misheard/pronounced "riding" ?

I really like the layout of this "Off" store.

On entry I could see their Hobby Off section with a nice selection of Hentai dolls, and other hobby-type things. Although I was close to adding to my collection, with my short thinking time and good-sense I relented (for now).

Going up the escalator you will notice a distinctive Hard Off electronics section to the left, and a B-Style "Off House" area with homewares, sporting goods and clothing.

Even though I didn't see any Game & Watch LCDs (there are other old style retro consoles and games), there's quite a bit of stuff that was worth seeing.

This one is definitely in my top 5 of recycle shops so far.

Looking For Treasure

I hadn't been to a recycle shop since I got sick so, today I thought I'd actually try somewhere new.

I left a little bit later than I wanted to, but luckily I still had enough time to check out the Treasure Factory in Tachikawa.

It's about a 20 minute walk south along the monorail line. You hang a left at the first major intersection (There's a Koban and a petrol station), and cross the road.

With these long walks I sometimes wonder if I'm going the right way.

I came across this yellow building that I thought was it. Nope, this is Cycle Base Asahi. You should be able to find a bicycle you like here, maybe.

Keep walking and you'll see this sign. It's says it becomes an emergency road in case of a major earthquake. Why there's a fish on the sign I'm still trying to work out. We're not too close to the sea from here at all.

Finally I came to a carpark area where there's a video rental shop, Gyu Kaku and a Softbank store.

Right next to that was Treasure Factory!

It feels like there is more of a variety of goods at these places than the "OFF" stores. I didn't buy anything, but it's always interesting to have a look at the stuff that I might actually have a use for.

I'm almost coming to the end of my recycle shop visits. There is another place I plan to go to soon, but after that I might give it a break for a while, or only go infrequently to some of the better ones I liked.

I have enough junk as it is, and I have to somehow figure out the best way to get it back to Australia one day.

Sampleman Saves Kitten

I really should give myself a good night's sleep. It doesn't help when I get asked to save a poor kitty that's been crying on the balcony all night.

"Sampleman®, can you help us?"

I wasn't wearing my power pants, in fact I wasn't wearing.. never mind.

Anyway, it took about ten minutes or so. The little ball of fluff wasn't letting me rescue him easily. Helpfully the little pussy was hiding under the airconditioning unit on the very narrow balcony.

I used an umbrella to coax it out. The gf pleaded with me not to hurt it. If only I could just push it a little over the edge onto the car it probably jumped up from in the first place.

No, I am not that cruel.

Finally with rubber glove, I managed to grab the kitten from underneath and I rushed through the apartment to release the ungrateful furball out the front door. It was like a kitty gun. As soon as I let go a little bit of pressure, the lil' dude was a feline bullet.
Sampleman's mission accomplished, no samples required!

Today after work I made my way to Treasure Factory in Eda, only two stops from the school in Tama Plaza.

Unlike the other recycle shops (did someone say "Hard Off"?), this was an easy ten minute walk and looking around this place it looked like it had items I might actually buy!

It's located in a large green building on the second floor above "Fit Care Depot", a large drugstore.

The prices were actually quite reasonable.

Not much that I was actually looking for though. It was like a combo-Off store with a bit of everything. If you need household stuff: fridge, washing machine, maybe a desk or sofa. This is the place. I think they have a delivery service as well.

I didn't buy anything yet again, but this is one place that I'll definitely come back to on the hunt for a good bargain.