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today at the 100 (or is it 150? whatever) yen shop i bought what's labelled as a 野菜干しネット "vegetable drying net":
https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20150109/19/mokomokotomoko1107/6e/a0/j/o0480036013184643625.jpg
it also claims you can store dry food in it, put in freshly-caught fish, or dry your laundry with it. anyway i searched the name and you find a ton of instagram(?) results showing what people are doing with it - drying whole persimmons and sliced sweet potatoes works just fine, and people are using it both indoors and out. now the only problem is i think i have to buy some clamp things that hook onto the cabinets in order to hang it anywhere indoors (can't hang it outside right now as it's been snowy and rainy).
but all this thing is is 2 wire circles, 4 straight pieces of wire of the same thickness crossed into an X shape with the very ends folded over the circle's wire to hold them in place, then plastic mosquito net-like fabric which has a zipper sewn into it so you can open and close the bag. meaning you could make one of these yourself in a day if you wanted. they sewed some rope and metal hooks on so you can buy more and stack them if you want.
also found more bath salts at the 100 yen shop - ALL the bath salts have a huge problem where i can never figure out what the heck kind of scent they're supposed to be! they have stuff like the names of places or famous onsen on them and that's it, or so it appears. so i just bought some at random, then after i came home noticed these ones had in VERY tiny text down in the very bottom corner "forest scent", "mountain cherry blossom scent". tried the forest one, it smelled like shampoo and turned the bathwater green. tried a cinnamon-apple one, it didn't smell like anything at all. tried an onsen one, it smelled very very vaguely like onsen but to be fair, the one onsen i've been to also had an extremely light smell (compared to Icelandic bath/tap water which is extremely suphuric in comparision and is what i expected an onsen to smell like). i guess if you want an actual strong scent you're going to have to use two at once... the hunt is still on for alcohol-scent and bamboo-scent and other weird ones, but i was told where there might be some.
haven't seen any ads for new year's parties, it seems like there's no "community/street party" anywhere like what people do in the USA but i'll keep searching a bit (i was thinking there might be one but, just like in the USA, it's not exactly something you advertise because everyone in the neighbourhood is expected to already know about it)... maybe we'll just walk around on new year's and try to find something. we live in a neighbourhood that's especially FULL of shrines so since people go to the shrines on midnight at new year's, and we haven't been to many shrines yet, i think it'll be a good chance to do a shrine tour. big/famous shrines sell stuff like fortunes and protection charms but since i haven't been in any of the neighbourhood ones i don't know if any of them have anything. they tend to either be a plain building with nothing and no one there, or have a gate and a long driveway so you can't just peek in and see everything.
one of the things i'm going to do is make a post with souvenirs i think people should get if they're going to/from japan... people's souvenir posts are always kind of stupid. you should get cheap, unique/cultural stuff i think. even though people like getting food, food will disappear after a few bites, but something like a handkerchief will last a while y'know?
https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20150109/19/mokomokotomoko1107/6e/a0/j/o0480036013184643625.jpg
it also claims you can store dry food in it, put in freshly-caught fish, or dry your laundry with it. anyway i searched the name and you find a ton of instagram(?) results showing what people are doing with it - drying whole persimmons and sliced sweet potatoes works just fine, and people are using it both indoors and out. now the only problem is i think i have to buy some clamp things that hook onto the cabinets in order to hang it anywhere indoors (can't hang it outside right now as it's been snowy and rainy).
but all this thing is is 2 wire circles, 4 straight pieces of wire of the same thickness crossed into an X shape with the very ends folded over the circle's wire to hold them in place, then plastic mosquito net-like fabric which has a zipper sewn into it so you can open and close the bag. meaning you could make one of these yourself in a day if you wanted. they sewed some rope and metal hooks on so you can buy more and stack them if you want.
also found more bath salts at the 100 yen shop - ALL the bath salts have a huge problem where i can never figure out what the heck kind of scent they're supposed to be! they have stuff like the names of places or famous onsen on them and that's it, or so it appears. so i just bought some at random, then after i came home noticed these ones had in VERY tiny text down in the very bottom corner "forest scent", "mountain cherry blossom scent". tried the forest one, it smelled like shampoo and turned the bathwater green. tried a cinnamon-apple one, it didn't smell like anything at all. tried an onsen one, it smelled very very vaguely like onsen but to be fair, the one onsen i've been to also had an extremely light smell (compared to Icelandic bath/tap water which is extremely suphuric in comparision and is what i expected an onsen to smell like). i guess if you want an actual strong scent you're going to have to use two at once... the hunt is still on for alcohol-scent and bamboo-scent and other weird ones, but i was told where there might be some.
haven't seen any ads for new year's parties, it seems like there's no "community/street party" anywhere like what people do in the USA but i'll keep searching a bit (i was thinking there might be one but, just like in the USA, it's not exactly something you advertise because everyone in the neighbourhood is expected to already know about it)... maybe we'll just walk around on new year's and try to find something. we live in a neighbourhood that's especially FULL of shrines so since people go to the shrines on midnight at new year's, and we haven't been to many shrines yet, i think it'll be a good chance to do a shrine tour. big/famous shrines sell stuff like fortunes and protection charms but since i haven't been in any of the neighbourhood ones i don't know if any of them have anything. they tend to either be a plain building with nothing and no one there, or have a gate and a long driveway so you can't just peek in and see everything.
one of the things i'm going to do is make a post with souvenirs i think people should get if they're going to/from japan... people's souvenir posts are always kind of stupid. you should get cheap, unique/cultural stuff i think. even though people like getting food, food will disappear after a few bites, but something like a handkerchief will last a while y'know?
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