お正月!/New Year's Day!

Yesterday Anna found out about this Japanese complex (for lack of a better term) just over the river in New Jersey, so today we took a quick drive through the Lincoln Tunnel and found ourselves at Mitsuwa in no time at all...unfortunately every other Japanese person in the five boroughs had also already found their way to Mitsuwa...it was crazy!! The parking lot was completely full and it was not a small lot...we wimped out and headed back to the next light to America town where we visited Target and ate at Outback Steakhouse...with full stomachs we felt more brave so we headed back to Japanese land and I found what I thought was a spot...when I went to run out the car seat and a few purchases about ten minutes later I found the following on our car...
昨日インターネットでうろうろしていたらミツワっていうお店がニュージャージーにあるのを発見したので、今日家に一日中こもっているのもつまんないからと行ってみる事にしました。リンカントンネルを通って３０分ぐらいで着いたのはいいんだけど結構大きい駐車場も満車で開くのを待っている車もたくさん！何でこんなに混んでるんだ〜と思いながら一時期退散してアウトバックステーキハウスにお昼を食べに行った後ちょこっとターゲットに立ち寄った後、もう一回行ってみる事にしました。やっぱりまだ混んでいたから私だけ降りてお店に偵察に...
結構すぐ後マディソンを連れて来たデイブ、何とか車を止める所を見つけたって言ってたんだけど、一回買った物を置きに行ったらこんな物が車の窓に!!　“駐車の仕方学びなさい”みたいな事が書いてあるシールでした。


I guess that is the Japanese way of saying moron, that's not a parking spot...I like it better than towing!! As luck would have it, someone was pulling out of an actual spot a few feet up, so I quickly pulled up and took that spot so we could head back to the shops.
あ〜やっぱりそこ駐車しちゃ駄目だったんだと笑いながら、車どかされなくてよかったねーって言っていたら一台バックしている車がいたからそこに無事に駐車出来ました。

I guess now I should attempt to explain this place called Mitsuwa. First there is a huge supermarket with only Japanese products. As part of the supermarket there is a food court with at least a half dozen authentic Japanese restaurants. Cross through the parking lot and you get to a Japanese bookstore and gift shop. The gift shop actually had the Karuta game Anna described last night where she would bonk heads with her opponent, but because I can't read Japanese yet and I don't much enjoy bonking heads we decided to hold off on purchasing them yet.
お店に入った途端日本に帰って来た感じ！まるでオギノにいるみたいに日本の食料が勢揃いでびっくり！片桐の何十倍もの広さで品数も豊富、その上炊飯器やポットまで売っていました。とても混んでいたしお昼食べちゃったから行かなかったけどラーメン屋さんとか定食屋さんやケーキ/パン屋さんとかも入っていたから次ぎに来るときはお昼抜きで来なきゃ：）

One other New Year's Tradition Anna didn't mention last night is what the Japanese call the "Lucky" bag where you pay a certain amount for a bag that is taped up so you don't get to see what is in it...I had actually done it for Anna last Xmas with a box from Anna Sui...this time Anna did not want to follow the tradition, but I would have none of it...so we got the bag and of course Anna was right, we shouldn't have followed the tradition :-) The bag was $20 and it says that what's inside is worth $100! Well, it had an assortment of bathroom products, some were okay but some were samples, for instance two razor heads that fit a razor that we will never own, and were pretty useless. Well it is time for Ozouni...wish me luck :-)
昨日言うのを忘れていたお正月ならではの事が福袋だったんだけどデイブが買いたいってうるさいから、私はどうせ変な物しか入ってないだろーからと買いたくないって言ったんだけど仕様が無く買ったら私の思った通り！まあ、デイブの気が済んだからいいんだけど入っていた物半分は試供品：(２０ドルで１００ドルの価値って書いてあったけど本当なのかな？