This weekend included a lot of shopping. I'm lacking warm clothes, and Kobe became cold more quickly than I originally anticipated, so I decided to brave the crowds and check out the stores in downtown Kobe. On Saturday afternoon I went shopping with Yoko, and that was an interesting experience. She took me to a bunch of stores that sold cute clothes with intricate patterns and designs, and I while I admire Japanese women for wearing their fashion sense, I could never picture myself wearing the same style. So I didn't feel like buying anything at those stores, and we ended up at a karaoke store instead, singing the afternoon away (me in English and Yoko in Japanese). Today I went shopping with an elementary school friend of Ryosuke's whose name is Yuri (her name means "lily" in English). She is about my age, so she took me to stores with sophisticated yet still cute and modest clothes. I wasn't too interested in those types of clothes, but when she took me to a different shopping area that had simply designed yet form-fitting clothes, I perked up. I found out some interesting rules about clothes shopping in Japan today. One must remove her shoes before entering the dressing room, and if one is wearing makeup, she must place a disposable gauze net over head while putting on or removing the store's clothes to avoid rubbing facial makeup on the clothing. I felt so silly standing in the dressing room with a huge gauze net over my head. But I purchased one shirt today, so I guess in that sense today's shopping trip was slightly more successful than yesterday's.