Robots, cone pizza, and shopping

Today I went shopping in Japan.

Do you know how long I have wanted to be able to say that?

A long time.

I found a huge underground mall full of fun stuff. I love the clothes here. They have the cutest stuff for girls, but a lot of it is pricey, so all I bought was a pair of tall socks. I also found a lingerie shop named "Triumph International." I guess they take lingerie very seriously. Some of the bras had tags on them that said "For girls only"...I don't really want to think about that too much. There was also a kimono store, which I was stoked about.

I also went to the Robot Museum today. On the first floor they had robot-related activities for children. I stood off to the side and watched, mostly in confusion, until one of the employees got me to join in the activity. So before I really knew how it happened, I was standing in a group of tiny Japanese children and their moms as we watched a girl on a screen do a robot dance and tried to imitate her, hilarity ensuing. It was pretty ridiculous. Escaping to the second floor, I looked at an exhibit about the history of robots, beginning with the amazing little mechanical dolls Japan made in the 1700's. At the end of the exhibit there were a few robots to interact with. I went up to one that looked like a small R2-D2 with an anime-style face. I leaned close to it and said, "Konnichiwa!" To my surprise, the robot actually looked up at me, smiled, and said "hi!" There were also some cute little robot dogs that would wag their tails when you pet them, and baby seals that looked like stuffed animals but could move their heads and tails and make cooing noises. I've heard that they're supposed to be "therapeutic robots."

For lunch I went to "Kono Pizza," which is basically a pizza slice rolled up into a cone. Brilliant.


This is Nagoya TV Tower, which had a lovely park around it:


And I have nothing to say about these shoes: