On Saturday I went yukata shopping in Himeji with my good friend Yusaku. We were going to the Yukata Matsuri the next weekend, but didn't have a yukata! So we grabbed lunch in Subway (haha ... I felt like gaijin food and wanted to see what it tasted like, and it was a good compromise between Yusaku's favourite, McDonalds, and Japanese food). After that we hit Miyuki-dori with a vengeance to check out all the stores. It turned out to be much more difficult than I thought, as men's yukatas are extremely drab, especially when compared to women's. We went all through Miyuki-dori and Nishotengai but didn't have any luck. Finally, as we grabbed a coffee at Starbucks (yes, it was a very gaijin day), Yusaku noticed a Uniqlo in the basement of the Forus building.

Talk about ironic. Uniqlo is a really cheap clothing store, but it's immensely popular and their stuff is actually very good quality. Not to mention that they have a surprisingly good range and usually have almost anything you want. Recently, they introduced a line of Yukata, too, which were perfect! It was as easy as that. All that walking and looking in 'real' shops was defeated by a massive chain store which offered yukata sets (with an underbelt and obi, too) for 3,990 yen.

After Uniqlo, we went up to a watch shop to get Yusaku's watch fixed. The middle aged lady behind the counter started talking to me, as they usually do :) Which inevitably ends up with me being asked me how old I am, haha. When I replied that I was 24, she was very excited and told me that her daughter was 24 too. She stressed (with actions) that her daughter was a flight attendant with Singapore airlines and wore a 'very tight uniform', haha. It was all I could do not to a) laugh and b) run away from yet another person trying to set me up their daughter, hehe. The man who fixed Yusaku's watch also got involved in the conversation as he came back to give him the watch, and said his son was going on exchange to Perth soon. So I gave them my mobile details and said if he had any questions he could call me. Let's just hope I don't get a call from a flight attendant instead, hehe.

As we walked out of the store, Yusaku and I realised we still needed some shoes to wear with our yukata. Not wanting to go back to the first shop we'd been to to get some, we found a new, small yukata shop just up from the Family Mart konbini in Miyuki-dori. The guy in there was really funny, and helped me choose some great geta (wooden shoes). There was an obaasan (old lady) there too, and she was totally awesome. She taught me how to tie my (Uniqlo!) yukata and chatted away to me as she did it. She also helped us choose a fan, which we ordered in to pick up the next weekend. We ended up spending over an hour in there, which was great.

From there we grabbed dinner at my favourite 'hole in the wall yakitori basement restaurant' which was packed, as usual. We jumped onto a table with two middle aged ladies (look out!), who ignored us at first. Half way through dinner though, I was 'sumimasen'ed and asked if I knew what 'nanpa' was, hehe. For those that don't know, nanpa is the 'art of picking up', and although it's usually done on street corners, it can basically be done anywhere. I think this lady was trying to nanpa me, hehe - yikes! As I expected, the question about my age came out, and of course, the woman's friend had a 24 year old daughter too who I should definitely meet. Lol. Twice in one day was a bit much, hehe ... poor Yusaku, he has no idea what life as a gaijin can be like. Similar to the time Kazu came with me to the university in Ako and his jaw totally dropped when he saw everyone staring and calling out to me. Haha, good times.

So, that was an exciting day. A yukata and geta, two sets of gaijin food and two pick up attempts by middle aged women on behalf of their daughters. Life is good.