Today I Had A Hard Off

It's not what you think. The gf didn't confuse the crap out of me, leaving me not in the mood again. 

 Hard Off is Japan's secondhand shop, not unlike good ol' Cash Converters back home. 

 Strange name? Well along with that, there's also Book Off, Garage Off, Off House, and Hobby Off! 

 You probably thought I went there just so I could come up with that title huh? Maybe. 

 Most of the Hard Off stores are located in the sticks, suburban areas without a train station conveniently located nearby. What I suggest, and what I did was to copy the addresses from the net into Google Earth to see which is the closest. 

 To save anyone the time and frustration of doing this, if you live in Tokyo the closest one is in Oimachi on the JR Keihin Tohoku Line. 

 For the first time since I've arrived in Japan I managed to head in the wrong direction. This train was bound for Omiya, not Ofuna. 

 I realized this after twenty minutes from where I left, the landscape outside the train was becoming quite "rural". If I stayed on this train I would have made my way to Saitama, (Where there IS another Hard Off by the way). 

 I heard about these places from another teacher, and I was keen to check it out as I'd heard that japanese people throw out their old "outdated" technology once some slightly higher spec model comes out. 

 What I found out was, this is the place where old nintendo, Dreamcast and every other old game console comes to die. 

Along with that, there were lots of old music gear and cameras. 

 I almost bought a Velbon CX440 camera tripod for 1050 yen. I'm kicking myself a little for not getting it. These things cost between $50-60 back home. What stopped me was in Labi ( a Yodobashi clone) they had a Slik SDV-550 tripod for 1980 yen with bubble levels, and besides, I don't really have the need for one of these just yet. But it was CHEAP!! 

 I somehow managed to stay in Oimachi until dark. There isn't much else to do there. Was it worth it? Probably not.

At least I did something today rather than stay home. 

Just to leave you with another "off", this is the special discount promotion going on in the Porta complex in Yokohama. 

 A shopkeeper was watching me take this picture. "Dem gaijin makin' fun of our English!" It must've made him real angry. Grr.. Haha.