I Need A Hug

I didn't need to do it. Two things.. UFO catcher and.. I'll get to the other thing in a minute..

The bear was cute. Back home we called it a Huggies bear. It was used in ads to show how soft the fabric softener was in the laundry, and it was SOo cute. Ne?

In Japan they call it something different, but it works on the same principle.

I've been good lately. Real good. Haven't played for a while, but someone else had a go at Taito in Shibuya, and it looked like it wouldn't be too hard to get.

I lose my count when I am in the throes of catcher ecstasy, but I kind of remember having 1,300 yen in my wallet to try for it. At the end there was 600 in coins, so even with my poor maths I had spent 700 yen all up.

I'm sure I'll find it in a shop someday, but I've realised that's not the point. It's the hunt that is the reward. I took a photo of my face as I was about to put the next coin in.

While I was in Shibuya I thought of going to Tower Records for no particular reason. In the two and a half+ years here I'd never been. It was just a music shop right?

Actually it's really good. Not just for music. If you go to the 7th floor they have an excellent foreign book and magazine floor that had everything that I'd think to look for. Nice.

In my opinion it's definitely better than my previous top pick, Kinokuniya in Shinjuku. The music floors have plenty to choose from as well. Do yourself a favour.

Ok. Onto the other thing I didn't need to have done.

I booked a plane ticket back home for Christmas. My father asked this morning if I was going to come and I told him it would be too expensive to go. The last time I checked Jetstar had sold out it's tickets, so I felt it would've been prohibitive in cost.

On a whim I checked the Best Flights website. It's one of the few sites (apart from the airlines themselves) I can book flights from Tokyo myself. I found a fare that including the booking and credit card fee, airport taxes and of course the ticket, came to approximately AU $1530.

That's still quite expensive but MUCH less than the $2300 I spent last Christmas *shudder*.

I didn't need to go. I'm not homesick at all since I was home not long ago in Australia's winter season. Still, I'm not used to Tokyo's cold so I'll be happy to go home to soak up the sun and hopefully go down the coast for some eye candy and surf.

It'll give me a chance to bring back some more junk, lovingly acquired new guitars and stuff.

So see you VERY soon Australia. OH, after deliberating on a few names ("Killer"? "Bruno"?), the bear's been dubbed "Huggy". Aww..