To Okazaki

The bus stop to Okazaki was in the same area as the hotel bus, so that was easy.  

After I got to Okazaki station, I called the school and they sent a driver. I stopped at the school to fill out some papers, get my room key, then got a ride to the Student Village.

I've stayed at the Student Village before.  It's nice, but it's a dorm.  I would have preferred an apartment, but that's more expensive. I'm not sure I'd want to stay more than 3 months at the Village, and maybe it's not allowed anyway. There are toilets and showers on each hall, and a kitchen and laundry downstairs.  

After getting settled in, I walked around a bit. There is a convenience store literally right in front of the Village. A relatively small mall is a few blocks away, complete with a grocery story, Tsutaya book store and a Uniqlo clothing store.

Further afield is the Aeon Mall, which has grown since I've been to Okazaki, almost 9 years ago. There is a Don Quijote store near the mall, and a Loft store inside. Loft is like Tokyu Hands, which is my very favorite store. It's hard to describe, but they have lots of neat, useful things and an amazing stationery section. At both Tsutaya and Loft, I found Life notebooks for ridiculously low prices.  

I had wanted to get a Hobonichi techo (planner) at Loft, but the selection was slim since we are halfway through January. But I found a cute Weeks version of the Hobonichi, with kitties on the outside. The selling point to the Hobonichi is that it uses Tomoe River paper.

Of course McDonald's is in Japan -- but apparently, this one delivers!

Here are my food choices since I got to Okazaki:

Potato Croquettes

Maguro rolls (uncut)

Dango

After all that walking, I was really tired. But I don't really need an excuse to go to a sento. A sento is a public bath, similar to an onsen. Technically, an onsen is a natural hot spring, and a sento heats the water.  

Trivia: the "sen" in "sento" refers to an old monetary unit, the sen, which was 1/100 of 1 yen, and how much it cost to go to a sento.

Not trivia:  If you get the chance to go to an onsen or sento, try to get over any problem you have with being naked in front of your own gender and enjoy!  41C is very hot water and very nice. Your body will thank you. Mine has already forgiven me for today's walking!

Here's  link to the one I went to:  http://www.rakunoyu.com/okazaki/