Exploring Tottori City

I hadn’t heard anything from my supervisor since she left on the 12th, so I sent an email asking what I was doing today. I got a reply that I was on vacation until Tuesday! So I guess I’ve basically been on vacation this whole time and didn’t know about it. 

With nothing else to do, and tired of being stuck in the apartment, we decided to go into Tottori city to do some shopping for the apartment. 

We managed to purchase train tickets on our own, thanks to the handy “English” button on the machine. I should add, though, that Tottori is so country that I haven’t seen an automatic gate anywhere! There are actual people who stand at the gate to stamp your tickets. (Normally you buy the ticket, then go to a gate, where you stick the ticket in the machine, it opens the gate, you walk through, and get your ticket at the other end. Then you keep the ticket and do the same thing when you leave the station, except the machine keeps the ticket so it knows you’ve completed your ride.)

We got on the train, which was very busy, probably due to the Shan Shan Festival happening in the city. Justin, me, and Yana sat down in that order, and a couple sat beside us, with the man beside Yana. I noticed from the corner of my eye that the woman had her tablet out and it was on camera. I saw my face appear so I looked over and she rushed to hide the tablet. Then the couple switched spots so the woman was beside Yana. She blatantly took our her tablet and snapped a selfie with Yana! I was a bit taken aback, but the couple were very kind. They were actually from China, so I’m curious as to what they were doing in Chizu! The woman even gave Yana some jelly and a pack of crackers and a wipe when she spilled. 

Once we arrived in Tottori we were pretty hungry, so we went and got lunch at MOS Burger. It was really delicious! I have never tasted such fresh tomatoes at a restaurant. I got a mango lassi too, which was amazing. They also had this spiced meat taco thing, so I decided to try it. The meat was definitely not the normal taco seasoning, and it was really sweet. But otherwise it was tasty too.

After that we walked to the nearby AEON, which I recognized as the place where we bought our futons on our first night here. We did some shopping, and along the way we ran into two other JETs, R and K! When we finished checking out, the cashiers and I bowed to each other, and Yana bowed too! It was the cutest thing, and I’m thrilled to see how she is absorbing things without even being told.

We walked back to the station and bought our tickets, but we were a bit early for the train, so we stopped in a bakery in the station, which was delicious. I love Japanese bakeries more than I can say!

Then we went to catch our train, and amazingly the Chinese couple had caught the same one! So we smiled and waved, but they weren’t sitting next to us this time.