Today we hung out in Iwakuni and did some shopping. We toured the Exchange here on base and then went out into Iwakuni. We visited a Japanese hardware store first to check out the furniture, which was all pretty tiny. In fact, we sometimes had a hard time determining which furniture was for kids and which was for adults.

The best part is when we heard Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” playing and started singing along, only to find a Japanese couple also singing along, but in Japanese!We went to the “dragonfly” store, which is a second-hand store where we found a lot of great souvenirs. We also visited a couple of 100 yen stores, which are like dollar stores on steroids. We had dinner at Coco, where all of the menu items are curry. It was very good, but very spicy!

After dinner, we visited an electronics store, where we had to try out the massage chairs. If you’ve read Charles’ blog, you’ll know that the massage chair experience was a strange one. In my defense, I’d like to just say that the massage chair was not gentle in the least and I, understandably, became worried when it tightened its grip around my hands and feet while landing several kidney punches. About the time it started going for the butt, I decided it was time to get out of that chair… quick. After recovering, I became curious about whether that massage chair was representative of all massage chairs, so I tried another one. In case you’re wondering, the answer is “yes”.