A Few Trinkets...

It's time I talked about the souvenirs I've gathered.  I've got quite a lot, but I think that I've spent the money wisely.  Most of these things didn't cost much more than $4-5, and the few things that did were totally worth it.  (Mostly, that last sentence was for my parents' benefit--don't freak out, okay?)

Here goes.  We'll just go chronologically.

So this is a fan I purchased in Beijing, both sides.  I also bought a Qing warrior statue, but for some reason, Katie has that, and we're nowhere near each other, so...

Next, I picked up some essentials...

...like samurai socks.

The cliche bag was also necessary.  But I wan't completely ready for this trip without my trusty side arm.

Once I was better equipped to deal with anything that came my way, I felt much better.  I then moved on to more classic Japanese souvenirs.

This is the kimono I bought while we were at Fushimi Inari shrine.  Below is the obi, the wide belt.

The people selling these kimono I guess were so happy about all the merchandise we bought (at least six of us bought one) that they threw in a scarf as a free gift.

I bought both the fan and the stickers at Ginkakuji.  That fan is a very distinctive Japanese shape, and the stickers are for a cell phone.  The Japanese are really into decorating cell phones, just the way Chinese and Koreans are.  I've seen some that are really elegant, others are really cool, some are just down-right gaudy...just depends on your personality, I guess.  I also bought this cell phone charm (at least, that's how I plan to use it).  It's my Chinese zodiac sign, the sheep:

Neither Katie nor I could resist this flute.  We both bought one.  Maybe we'll put on a performance when we get home.

Later that day, we made mochi.  Here's how mine turned out.  The middle one is supposed to be a chocolate-mochi taco:

You know what else the Japanese do that I kind of love?  They wrap anything you buy, usually at the more touristy spots.  For example:

Really pretty, nice and neat.  But then I feel obligated to leave my stuff in the package.  I mean, I love tearing wrapping paper off birthday and Christmas presents as much as the next kid, but this is a little nicer than that...

Yesterday, we went together to a used bookstore as a class.  I'm sure my parents are cringing now.  They know how much I love used bookstores.  I used to go to Wonder Book & Video to hang out after school when I lived at home.  I've missed that store so much--cheap, amazing, old books are my favorite, and Utah doesn't really have that.  Our teacher wanted us to buy books we wanted to read for our daily reading assignments.  I decided on:

Yep, that's right.  Anne of Green Gables.  Although in Japan is called something like Anne of Red Hair.  Oh, well.  I had also made it a non-negotiable goal of mine to buy as much of a manga that I love as I could.  The series is called Swan, and it's an older manga about ballet.  I love it more than I can say, and I've wanted it in Japanese forever.  But I couldn't get it in America.  So, no matter how I can, I will buy as many volumes as possible.  I started to make a dent in that goal yesterday:

The first four of those are the story I've already read.  The last two are each from two different series by the same author.  I can't wait to read them, and I can't wait to add to my collection!