New Costco in Kawasaki - info

I was cycling thru Kawasaki tonight, going to the Kawasaki Daish HardOff, when I remembered a Costco had just opened nearby (about 1.5km away), so I decided to check it out.
Costco is a huge place which offers you the chance to shop in bulk. Huge jars of coffee, palletts of beer, etc.
The link is here
It was just after closing time and I had no membership card to go inside, so I could only get into the entrance area.

Here's the info:

The official map from the homepage

Here's a map I made using Google Earth:

Here are 2 shots from my phone cam.

The 2nd one shows the inside and the food court area, where every costco has the American style selection of pizza (by the large slice or enourmous whole pizza), bulgogi wrap with spiced beef (quite good), ceasar salad with chicken, ice cream and various sodas. All these are handed out in generous portions.

To join as a basic member you need to fill out some forms and hand over 4,200yen for a year. This entitles you to enter the premises and buy huge amounts of stuff you probably will not ever need but somehow think you want. Consumer heaven.

I asked from some info concerning buses and where to get off, because most blogs do not give any info about that.
The guy at the main desk told me to catch buses 21 or 10 from Kawasaki Station and get off at RINKOKEISATSUSHOMAE.
You should see the building on the left side of the road somewhere near, anyway.

To join, bring with you your ID, a nice smile (they take your photo) and at least 4,200yen.

Good luck shopping.

Transforming the story somewhat

The new Transformers movie is out in the theatres and guess what?
These robots in disguise - thye're more than meets the eye.
I researched abit of info and the story is altered slightly as well as some character designs. Of course, Optimus Prime is the smae. However, Megatron is no longer a gun but something else.
Dissapointingly, there is no Orgasmatron character in this move, as I'd hoped.

Here are soem great hi-res pics of the main characters:

Optimus Prime

Megatron

Bumblebee

Here's a great clip from Robot Chicken, showing the transformers as they could be:

Fuji weather not looking so good for Saturday:

Wouldn't you know it, Friday and sunday look to be nice.
Oh well.
Never mind.

Lots to write about soon, but I'm not so happy

I recently came back from a nice but hectic weekend in Fukushima. Met some friends and made some new ones and drank a LOT of beer. Gotta put the photos, videos and stories online soon.

Also, been to a lot more recycle stores.

Alos, I bought myself a PMP! I've wanted one for a long time.
Something to

• use as a storage device for photos and information that is bigger then the 2gb I have with my SD card
• use to look at photos on a screen bigger than the 4cm ones on the digital camreas
• watch movies and Tv shows I record off the internet
• play music files and maybe some other cool stuff

Well, I researched what was available and eventually decided on a Cowon A2.
More news about that later.

Right now, I'm very frustrated about this old guy who works at a bicycle shop near me.
I took my super awesome folding bike to him and tried to ask him to look at the rear axle and the crankshaft thing between the pedals. All he did was tighten a bolt on either side of the back wheel and said it was fine and charged me 300yen.
I thought maybe it seemed a little better but when I rode back, I noticed the problem was there and was now worse. There seems to be excessive vibration coming from the rear axle.
I bought it used and I don't kow how old it is. I have used it a lot and I've noticed a change in the back wheel.
Sometimes, the bike seems to slwo down, then go back to normal.
I think the ball bearings in the rear axle may need greasing or replacing.
Alos, the shaft thingy between the pedals seems to have a similar problem.
I really wanted him to check the rear axle and the shaft between the pedals, but he didnt get it.
It pisses me of that I wasted my time with him and that he charged me 300yen. I try to give him business because he is an old guy working in his little garage in his home and working all days of the year, rain or shine, humidity or frost.
I try to help him out.
He often charges me a lot for a small job, so I may go to a real shop next.
Gettting fed up with him.

I think, to be honest, I'm really frustrated at myself for not being able to communicate fully. It's my fault.
I've been here so long and I still can't speak fluent Japanese.
Pathetic.
I will try not to reach for a beer and instead have some iced wheat tea.
Hope you all have a great day today.

On a plus, I just found what I was looking for tonight, after visiting 4 recycle stores.
I bought a caffitiere. I wanted a large sized one for my home.
A small one is often to small as I want more than one cup of coffee.
I have a percolator machine but that takes some time to set up.
I jsut wanted a simple caffetiere to use now and then, when I don't want to waste time.

I found a large metal one with a silver tray, a sugar bowl, a spoon and sugar thongs anda nice tray for the thongs, all for 699yen!

Wow!
I also bought a small, one cup size plastic cased glass caffetiere for my desk at school.
It cose me 199yen. Sweet!

I spent about 990yen getting to 4 different places, but I was already going to do that anyway.