Weekly Weekend Thread – 11 July 2022

It’s Monday! Did you do anything over the weekend? Go somewhere? Meet someone? Try something new?

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Post about your activities from the weekend here! Pictures are also welcome.

45 comments
  1. Sorry to post a stupid question here but I need to send something through EMS and the label site is giving me an error when I try to input package content details. Is it possible to just get a label at the post office? Or what other options are there for international shipping?

  2. I bought more plants.

    Also, why do people use electronic payment stuff like Paypay? I use it because I hate coins and I hear it’s difficult to get a jp credit card.. but it’s probably easier for a japanese person to get a credit card or something.

    So why’s it so popular that most stores have qr codes for this stuff?

  3. I bought more pants. I found a shop that sold bigger sizes and got some comfy jeans.

    Also harvested some tomatoes and peppers from the garden.

    Bought shinkansen tickets. Realized I could get JRE points. Signed up for JRE point. Can’t link mobile suica because my mobile suica uses alphabet. Tried through the app. Can’t log into the app on my phone (I’m guessing because the auto-generated password had a percent sign and the mobile app isn’t handling it properly). Never change, shitty IT companies.

  4. It turns out Germany beer isn’t so bad, it might be better than Japanese beer. The local AEON had a load of Germany beer on sale went well with dinner.

  5. Got my driver’s license last week so gf and I went for a long drive on Saturday and hit up costco on the way back. Pretty good weekend.

  6. I did stand up paddle board on the weekend on a lake in the mountains near Tokyo. It was amazing and would recommend it for a fun activity. If you feel your balance is good enough, try some yoga on it hahaha

  7. Watched the Yuru Camp movie on Saturday and I feel so whole and full right now. Also tried to do some grinding for my Ph.D and gacha games.

    Sunday was hanging out in Kyoto with my cousin. We went to Kiyomizudera and then walked down all the (X)nenzakas so she could get her instagram pictures. Then dropped by a Lawson to pick up some drank and just chilled by Kamogawa. Sweltering out there. I already brought along a change of undershirt and deodorant to change into halfway through the day, and I still ended up having to buy a new shirt to change into so people on public transport don’t have to deal with sweaty me.

  8. I went to do volleyball with a circle I meet on the internet, they were super nice and all but God damn it was so embarrassing since I am way worse that I remembered, gonna buy myself a volleyball and practice but not sure where can I do the last

  9. Went drinking with a friend and had shisha for the first time on Saturday.

    Yesterday I went with my girlfriend to shirotori zoo. Man it was kind of depressing, small concrete enclosures in like 35c heat. I was expecting something more…official(?). But it felt like some madman decided to just make a zoo in a random place. Got [some](https://imgur.com/X198uL7) [nice](https://imgur.com/TRBTzuI) [pictures](https://imgur.com/lH1AIDT) [though](https://imgur.com/CmcIbQ8)

  10. Worked on my conference presentation all weekend. The house is a mess.

    Went out for sashimi last night. That and a lemon sour are such a perfect meal for warm breezy summer nights.

  11. Previously I wrote about the Bike lottery & in Minato-ku they had their first bike lottery at the library since they moved locations.
    There was about 97 people who showed up. They say it starts at 10am but you can come from like 9am to get a number. i came around 9:45am.
    This was the first time at the new place the leader is passing the torch to another guy after around 20 years he said they have provided over 7,000 bikes to people.

    Unfortunately there was only 15 bikes (usually it was 50) for anyone & 5 bikes for people in Minato-ku. They also changed the format to this bingo ball type of system.
    You signup get a number, then at 10:30 they spin a small machine with balls. If your number is picked you get to pick a bike & pay for it.

    Initially I wasn’t going to stay but they had a small Hummer foldable bike with a rack on the back perfect for shopping so i thought I’d give it a chance. I had the number 22.

    At 10:30 they started & my number actually got picked 3rd from 97 people. I picked up a small black Hummer bike for 10,640 yen. You have to immediately take the paper off the bike you want because if you wait the next person can take the price paper off the bike.
    I didn’t expect to win & I didn’t write this before you need to bring cash. Luckily I had enough cash on me but ran to the Lawson to get money for a chain.

    This one wasn’t perfectly run & I don’t think they had as many bikes as usual but there was still a lot of bikes they were working on. This will be my last bike auction since I have a Trek & small shopping bike now.

  12. The habanero Famichiki is really something special. Unfortunately it’s definitely going away forever soon.

  13. Baked chocolate bread, scored 1.2kg of 本マグロのあらfor 448 yen, cleaned my room.

    Annoyed myself by thinking about this dormmate (mainland Chinese) ex friend. We argued in a class discussion and she suggested that we kill all old people completely seriously and scoffed at me when I said that isn’t humane. Whatever. Complain about 996 but still argues that long work hours are needed for the economy. Refuses to take our Japanese teachers’ advice seriously, only her stupid mainland Chinese contemporaries. Started cozying up to Japanese friends I made now that I’m not talking to her anymore and she actually needs to interact with people that don’t speak Mandarin to have friends. But her grades will still be better than mine, which makes my blood boil. Ugh! Whatever.

    Guess I should take this as motivation to work harder on my studies. Revenge through grades.

  14. Second time I use my Stand Up Paddle on the sea (Tottori). I was stung by a jellyfish.

    Mid-July is very early for jellyfish (usually mid-August), so I’m a bit worried. I hope I was just unlucky and they will not proliferate like crazy.

    I can’t quite stand up on the SUP yet. Terrible balance.

  15. I bought some garlic bread that tasted nothing at all like garlic bread, and actually tasted very close to sourdough bread.

    I aint even mad.

  16. Visited a new cafe/bakery and ramen shop in Kyoto this weekend with the lady, was pretty nice. Also ate a delicious icecream at Hotel Chocolat. Two flavored ice, with cone, hazelnut syrup and a large chunk of chocolate sticking out as well as a free bonbon and for only 550! Not bad!

  17. I found cinnamon and sugar spice at my supermarket. Then I lightly fried slices of French bread and added honey with this cinnamon/sugar mix. It was delicious.

    Also, what’s the best English app for planning trains and buses? Google maps doesn’t seem to be showing me all the available trains.

  18. Made a Costco run on the weekend and came home with buffalo wings, a big ass apple pie, and a ton of meat to make pulled pork. As soon as we left the parking lot my wife regretted not buying more.

  19. Made spaghetti aglio e olio for the first time.
    I’m not very experienced when it comes to cooking but it was actually kind of good!

  20. Friend of mine got a job! So we celebrated that. Got very hung over. Pretty fun weekend overall!

  21. Went to Sarushima on sunday. Weather was great and it was totally worth it!

  22. Went to the new Thor movie. It kinda sucked, imo. And then I got a burn at the beach. Not too bad overall.

  23. Started playing through Mario Odyssey again since I haven’t actually beat it yet, but this time with a PS5 DualSense. It’s amazing how much easier it is to play with a PS5 controller vs. JoyCons. It even has the HD rumble and motion controls.

    I recommend everyone with a PS5 controller and Switch to pick up an 8bitdo adapter, makes life easier.

    Also, during my playback, my kid bit the arm and leg of his friend who was over to visit…. to the point of breaking the skin. Damn it.

  24. Watched a movie called ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖 on Netflix with the missus. Neither of us knew anything about it but my wife likes the lead actress (黒木華 くろき はな) and it was billed as a mystery flick so we gave it a go.

    Please don’t waste your time with this movie!!! The movie centers on a used book store and boils down to a bad person trying to steal a rare book. At the end, the main characters with rare book in hand are fleeing in a van from the bad person, who’s armed with a taser and is chasing them — USING A SCOOTER! (Yes, the van could easily overpower the scooter.) Worse yet, they drive to a pier and then proceed to get out of the van, where they get cornered by the baddie.

    It felt like the movie took place on an alternate Earth devoid of cell phones and police, cuz calling 110番 woulda helped at many points in the story, as would driving to a police station when you’re being chased.

    It was a nice looking movie but the lack of logic made it hard to appreciate.

    Edit:
    I recommend not watching it but if you’re in a self-loathing mood, this is the movie.

    https://eiga.com/movie/86579/

  25. First weekend I’ve had off in a long time, so I did a lot of karaoke before hitting up the local department store because there was a Wacoal summer sale and I had to get in on it. At 7000~9000 a pop, I take advantage of any significant discounts that I can get.

    I also spent the weekend learning how to take care of my shoes. I grew up not knowing that shoes even needed to be taken care of, so they always wore out in just a few months. YouTube (and my poor, aching feet) have opened my eyes to a new world. Now I’m that person with shoe trees and two types of brushes and shoe protection sprays…

  26. Went to a casual wedding party in yoyogi park, followed by a rooftop party at my friends. My Sunday was randomly ruined by three or four nosebleeds which continued into the night. I took the day off work and now I have to go and buy new bedsheets

  27. Thought I had fixed a faulty brake light switch. No, of course not, brake lights always on for you… Oh well, guess I’ll have to spring for the 3000ish yen to buy a new one. Also need new brake pads in the front and new pad pins front and rear. Sigh the money pit continues.

    Got a good not quite sunburn, I can sort of feel the warmth/tingling but it’s not painful at all. My high SPF sunscreen did it’s job admirably. Drank 9 500ml bottles of fluid yesterday, it was hot and the wind just sucked the moisture out of you. Got home feeling pretty good though compared to a lot of summer where by the time I’m home I’m hurting from dehydration.

    And holy fuck it’s hot out there. Went to grab lunch next door and was happy I used the toilet this morning before it got hot. Might have to sneak next door to the combini and use their because they’ve got AC in their bathrooms…

  28. On Friday I spontaneously decided to go watch The Black Phone. I have been waiting for it to be released, so I was excited. Had so much fun, and a jump-scare got me. I feel bad because I yelped a bit out loud…

    Saturday it was a chill day bowling with friends and having dinner after.

    Sunday was a calm day at home, doing chores and grocery shopping. Was thinking on going to watch X too, but decided going on Tuesday to save some ¥¥.

    SO has been working overtime everyday (weekends included) since last week, so I haven’t seen him in two weeks 🤷🏻‍♀️
    Japanese companies be like that.

  29. Moved (well still moving) into a new place. One AC runs a little warmer than the other so I was thinking in investing in sun covers for the outside units. Does anyone have any experience with them and are they efficient?

  30. First time making omurice. It would turn out ok if I didn’t add too much sugar. Lol

  31. I played a Paw Patrol game with my daughter on my Xbox One X. However, I packed my Xbox up to ship back to the US, so we tried playing the game via xCloud on my phone. Wow! It loads so much faster. I think games on xCloud are running on Series X consoles, so it makes me want to get a Series X someday. Even so, I don’t have the time to play games much these days and the One X seems to be good enough. Someday…

  32. went riding on my freshly-back-from-the-shop bike to Gunma. Went up Mt Haruna to try out the Initial D road. Got blocked by a bus halfway through. It was fun up to that point.

    Had an absolute blast on the bike, if a bit physically taxing. Keeping the leg tight up in an aggressive riding posture for the whole day had my leg almost cramping by the end of the day. Also, after years of riding on an automatic scooter, having to pull clutch on a very aggressive-posture bike meant that my thumb and fingers were absolutely aching. I’m still trying to master the grip-the-tank-with-your-legs-and-keep-a-light-grip thing. Anyone got any tips for how to treat a sore thumb?

    Also, my speedometer is old and basically gives up and goes to 140 (the max on my meter) if I go past 120. Even just lingering around 110 for an extended period of times makes it feel like it’s stuck there and it’s gonna give up. Other than straight up replacing the meter, anyone got any solution for this?

  33. Local Yodobashi Camera had a big stack of PS5s in stock, reserved for people with the store credit card.

    I don’t have one, but I know someone who does, and they were nice enough to hop on the train on a moment’s notice to come buy me one. 🙂

    Now I owe that person a dinner in a restaurant I don’t get to choose.

    Worth it.

  34. Me and the wife had an amazing brunch in Roopongi Hills on Saturday then went to see that abysmal film Thor Love & Thunder. Well at least the caramel popcorn was great.

  35. Spent all weekend day dreaming about life in Europe. I love Japan and Japanese culture, but I’m starting to feel culturally isolated. Every “close” Asian country is 4 ~8 hours away by airline.

  36. On saturday ate a bunch of pizzas with wine and beer, then went to a shady pub and got brain damage drunk. later went to a karoke at 3 am and after passing out at that place came home somehow at 5 am.

  37. Every time out is means fresh Airism undershirt.
    Went to Misdo, no open seats for coffee and donuts… sadness…
    Went to Gyomu Super, no ice cream I wanted… sadness…

  38. My kids started eikaiwa, mostly for fun and to keep their interest up since they’re currently fluent but who know how long that will last. The foreigner teacher did a pretty good job – I couldn’t tell whether he was dying on the inside. Thought about talking to him but decided against it, stare into the abyss and all that lol.

    Y’all sending your kids to eikaiwa?

  39. I cannot recommend the new [Shigeru Mizuki Yokai Exhibit ](https://mizuki-yokai-ex.roppongihills.com/) at Tokyo City View enough. Just phenomenal. Featured his artwork and his private collection of folklore that inspired many of them. Few photos allowed, but man is it weird and wonderful.

    Summer is Japan’s spooky season and I’m here for it.

  40. Went to a secret techno party deep in a forest that lasted all night. I think you can imagine the rest….

  41. Had a prior engagement at Gakuenmae Station in Nara (a couple of stops before Yamato-saidaiji) and I thought the train would be busy with mourners. It wasn’t.

  42. I learned what いんぼうmeant this weekend. My wife’s grandfather kept talking about a certain event that happened last week and how it was a scheme to get people to vote for a certain ruling party. He did take us out for yakiniku so i didn’t mind the rant.

  43. Ik it’s a weekend thread but I’ll hijack it to talk about last week, since my parents got to visit me. They left yesterday, and we had a really nice week together, allowed me to disconnect a bit and clear my mind

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