Last Sunday we went shopping. We just wanted to buy some cheap souvenirs for friends and families from the 100 yen shop. We ended up buying a lot of chopsticks and erasers in the shapes of sushi and other Japanese food.

My husband has no office to visit and he might have no time to meet up with friends, but just in case we bump into any. I will visit my office to apply for an extension of my no-pay leave. I've heard from someone that the maximum unpaid leave we can take is up to 3 years. That means I can apply for only slightly above a year more. After that I might have to opt for an early retirement. But we'll deal with it when the time comes. Who knows I might be allowed a longer leave.

I'm not so worried about my colleagues. When I came to Japan in 2004 under JICA, I had already brought back souvenirs for them. This time, we're on a tight budget. Maybe just some Japanese chocolates or sembei (rice crackers) for them.

I'm still contemplating on buying a lacy parasol for myself. Maybe I won't use it much, but it is a unique souvenir from Japan, other than fans and yukata (cotton kimono). Japanese women use very nice lace parasol during the summer. They are really scared of getting dark skin. Or is it due to fear of skin cancer? The one that I like cost almost 2000 yen. I know with that amount of money I can buy 20 plastic umbrellas from the 100 yen shop. I've tried to look for a cheaper parasol. But the cheaper ones don't look so nice or they come in black colour. To me, a parasol should be white or cream or any light colours. Black would seem just like an ordinary umbrella. If I can't find a cheaper one, I might buy it.

I also finally bought a dress that I'm going to wear on the flight home. The ones at the maternity section in JUSCO are rather pricey. I found a baby-doll dress which is not meant for pregnant women, but the price had been reduced from 3,900 to only 980 yen. My husband asked what I'm going to wear it with. I said some black pants. I could still wear my old pants, but at BIRTHDAY, a store that specialises on children clothes, I found a maternity pants for only 300 yen! That's less than RM10 going by the current exchange rate. I know why it's cheap. It's rather off-season. No pregnant Japanese women are going to wear that thick pants in the summer. It's corduroy. But I'm going to England whose summer is definitely a lot cooler. And if summer in Japan ends in October, autumn in the UK begins in September. We saw my sister-in-law's family picture last August where they were all wearing jackets. There is no way we are going to need a jacket in August, here in Japan. Not even after sunset.



The black part of the dress is made of knitwear material so it's very light. The inside is just a t-shirt. It has a small bow but you might not be able to see it in the picture. Anyway, the bow will be covered by my tudung.

So I'm very happy with my purchases. I won't buy any shoes here because the shoes that I have are still okay. Malaysia definitely have better choice of shoes, so why should I waste my money.

For my husband's graduation ceremony on the 27th, I think I'm going to wear my dark purple maxi. I have 3 of them jubah, 2 black and 1 purple. I don't want to wear baju kurung or kebaya because I've worn them many times during other international events.