CoffeeStudyTalk

I was in Shibuya and decided to check out Tokyu Hands Department Store.  They had a modest, but decent selection of Fountain Pens and Inks on the 5th Floor.  Prices are fantastic @ 1500 Yen and I picked up my 2nd Iroshizuku Ink - Murusaki Shikibu (Purple).  I always wanted this ink and its actually cheaper here than on Amazon. The name is a play on words as its both the name of a famous Japanese Author and a Japanese Berry.  The Author was fond of wearing Purple and the Berry is also a Purple Color, but then it could be that the Berry was named after the Author and they made this ink the same color, so who knows... It's not as vibrant as Kon-Peki, but that subdued characteristic is what I like.  It flows better, but then that could also be because I left a few drops of water in the Platinum Pen after rinsing it out before Inking.  I'm quite pleased with this color and happy I took a chance with it. Tokyu Hands was also fun and they let me try a variety of Pens and Colors.  They

Took advantage of the 3-Day Weekend and went to Tokyo via Haneda Airport.  I hit up six (6) places in my short blitz: Shinjuku / Kabukicho Akihabara Shinagawa/Sengaku-Ji Ginza Shibuya Haneda I had several objectives for this Trip: Indulge in my Hobbies (Headphones, Fountain Pens, Shoes, Coffee & Reading) Finish a Novel Stay within Budget Have Fun I was able to achieve all three, but the best part that made this trip Fun, was I stayed within Budget and got to do most of the things I wanted. Budget (Rough Approximations) Took 66,000 Yen with me and only used Cash so it was easy to tell how much I spent as I had 50,000 Yen remaining (5 x 10k Yen Notes). 3,600 Yen -- Lodging 2,000 Yen -- Transportation (Trains) 8,900 Yen -- Food, Drink, Misc 1,500 Yen -- Iroshizuku Ink 16,000 Yen -- TOTAL I am quite pleased by this as that is roughly $ 75 USD / Day and only in Japan can you enjoy traveling that cheap.  The reason being anywhere else I would have to factor in $200 USD / Day Hotels + $1

Took a break from Mishima and purchased 'Snow Country' by Yasunari Kawabata.  I've been wanting to read some of his works and while I couldn't find anything at the Used Bookstore, they had a new copy @ Barnes and Nobles.  Granted it's cheaper online, but I feel its better to just purchase items at the physical store, otherwise what's the point of having Brick n' Mortar Stores anymore? The book is surprisingly a short read of just 177 pages.  I should be able to finish this over the weekend and see what next I'd like to read. Update 5/28/17 Took a bit longer than I anticipated and finished the novel while in Japan.  Figured that would be a more suitable venue to read this book.  Overall, it was okay and I got the general context of the story between Shimamura, Komako and Yoko.  Very simple list of characters, yet it does provide a good story of their interactions. However, the English translation from Japanese probably lost some meaning as I didn't qu