Day 17 (Aug 15) - On the edge of Typhoon Krosa

Since Typhoon Krosa was to make landfall in Western Japan, the shinkansen lines were closed for the day. In other words, we were to stay in Okayama for the day. Due to being on the edge of the typhoon, we didn't get as much rain as other places. If I remember correctly, we only got about 9 mm of rain and winds were only got as high as 40km/h.

I did wake up early to grab bread from the front counter for breakfast. They had six different flavors, so I ended up taking three: a hot dog bun, dessert bun (chocolate and cream) and a cutlet bun.

Since it was about 6 AM, I ended up doing laundry. We tried staying in our hotel room as long as possible since we didn't have much planned for the day. If I remember correctly, I think I ended up reading a bunch of manga and watching clips on YouTube. We left when we heard the cleaners starting on our floor. It was raining relatively hard outside, but it wasn't torrential.

We headed to Aeon Mall via the underground passage. However, when we approached the glass doors that led to the basement floor of the mall, there was a sign. Pulling out Google Translate told us that the mall was closed, except for the food vendors and super market. Walking around the underground passage some more, we saw that a Bic Camera was open, so we went in and spent a relatively long time strolling through the different floors. We weren't in a rush.

There was apparently a large Sega arcade nearby, so we left the passage and traveled above ground to locate it. Streets were relatively quiet from what I'm accustomed to in Okayama, though the rain died down. Wind picked up a bit and there were times I had to briefly stop walking as the wind blew against me. After walking for a while to where Google Maps pointed it should be, we saw essentially an empty plot of land. It turned out that the arcade was permanently closed. I should have checked Maps more thoroughly before heading out.

It was nearly lunch time, so back to Aeon mall to look for food at the supermarket and food vendors that surrounded the market. For those of you planning to japan, always try and visit a supermarket -- selection of foods are vast and tend to be cheaper than convenience stores. After purchasing food, we headed back to our hotel. It was around 1:30, which meant that they may not be done cleaning, but fortunately they were. We then spent about four or five hours in our hotel (I think I played some MHGU at this time) before heading back out for supper.

We walked to a nearby shopping arcade near our hotel and the station. Unfortunately, it seemed like everything was closed. With only the supermarket, back at Aeon Mall open, we headed back there for dinner.

Overall, a simple day, though perhaps a good way to recharge was the last third of our trip. We were fortunate that we weren't caught in the brunt of the typhoon, and that it was only going to last a day.