After our trip to Costco, Dina and I decided to check out the Mitsui Outlet Park at the Yokohama Bayside Marina. A quick selfie before getting our shopping on.


The outlets had several name brand American stores. Eddie Bauer, GAP, Coach, UA, Nike, and New Balance, just to name a few. It also had a gigantic whale tail in the center and windmill at one end, because it’s Japan.



I was pretty excited about seeing an Eddie Bauer. The funny part, the store only had petite sizes.

At Under Armour, I was able to find a solution to my latest problem. I found two new pairs of gloves. One pair for running and one pair for going out on liberty.


Here is an explanation of my problem. When riding the train on date night and during the weekends I typically enjoy a Chu-hai or three. It is a cold drink. In the winter, I have on gloves to keep my hands warm from the cold air and the Chu-hai. I hold the drink in my left hand leaving my right hand available to use my phone to scan my train card, check the train schedule or message as required. Under the influence of a couple or four Chu-hai, even with tech-friendly gloves, I need to remove my glove to accurately and efficiently type on my phone. This resulted in me losing my right glove not once but twice on the trains this past weekend! I needed a solution and I found it at UA. Mitten tops that fold back with a cut out for the thumb! Amazing! Absolutely amazing!


Performance ready! I’m excited for our date night on Friday! Fingers crossed I make it home with two gloves!


Another wonderful discovery of our shopping adventure was a store called Franc Franc. The store carries very cute household items. I purchased an aroma humidifier.


To compliment my aroma humidifier, I purchased the Love Beach aroma water. It smells delightfully like a beach. The label made me happy as well. It has the “wabi-sabi” motto.


“Being happy doesn’t mean everything is perfect. It means you’ve decided to see beyond the imperfections.”

One last funny story for the day. While shopping at Franc Franc, Dina and I both had accumulated a carry style shopping basket full of items to purchase. The baskets were awkward because we had the humidifier balanced precariously in them. One of the store workers came up to us and asked in Japanese and charades if she could take our baskets. Having no idea what she said we said, “hai” or yes. She took the baskets and Dina and I were laughing because as normal, we had no idea what she said. We decided she didn’t want the already tall and space taking up Americans to take up any further room. We were obviously interrupting the store “wa.” She returned with two cards. They were the markers for our baskets which were located behind the counter.

The Japanese can be amazingly efficient at times.