Sumeba Miyako

This is a map of Miyagi Chatan Cho, where we live. We are actually situated next door to The Beach Hotel, indicated in the photo. There are no street names here, and streets don't run in a grid....it is more like a rat's maze, which is great fun to navigate when you're brand new to the island!



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[photo: http://www.hdrjapan.com]

I rode my bicycle down to "American Village" which looks like a cross between the Jersey Shore and Third Street Promenade, complete with tchocky boutiques, food court and supersized ferris wheel. There's a large department store-style place called Jusco that carries eveything from food, pets, electronics, furniture, beauty-supply and the latest fashion. Shopping for necessities provides a difficult task as you are left to rely on what you THINK a shampoo bottle should look like...as opposed to a conditioner bottle, hair gel, hair serum, body lotion, etc. Often, not a word on the label is in english, but rather in Kanji. Or it may have one word with actual roman characters saying something like "Super Shiny!" which again, begs the questions....is this shampoo, conditioner, hair gel, hair serum, or body lotion???? One American woman in the supermarket asked me if the small package she had in her hand was tofu, and we spent a considerable amount of time examining it in order to discover that there was absolutely no way to know for sure.

Oh and Jusco has a bakery section which has AMAZING french bread, pizzas, croissants, apple crisps...anything made with dough. Crusty, buttery, scrumptious. Vic, I think it's time to buy your plane ticket.