Cherry Blossoms and Persimmons - Life in Japan: Showing restraint

Seven of the tea/ikebana women went to Costco in Kobe today. In two cars. Two of the people, plus me, had been before, for the rest it was a new experience. The drive took about 1 1/2 hours each way. Tolls were $72 for each car!!!! Going over the bridge to the main island is VERY expensive. So really, the savings at Costco, while quite significant itself, is totally outweighed by the cost of tolls and gas!! Unless you often go to the main island anyway, and can stop on the way back it really isn't worthwhile...
As an aside, I was very pleased to realize that I could understand 80 - 90% of the conversation that went on in the car. Not every word for sure, but the main points - the jist and some of the details of each conversation. It's hard for me to know if my Japanese has improved since I didn't really test myself when I came! But although there is still a LOT I don't get, more than what I do I suppose, I do believe I've improved. That's nice to know. It was also interesting to observe that the formality between one of the women and the other two, still exists after taking class together for over a year. The other two have known each other for 8 or 10 years (possibly more) and were much more casual when speaking to each other. I wonder if there is a time frame, or it just changes when a relationship plateau is reached. It's different for me as a foriegner, and my Japanese is very informal (unless I really think about it and try hard - which I don't) so they also adopt a more informal type of speech when we are talking. It's an interesting aspect of the Japanese language.
Anyway, back to the Costco trip. We all had a great time! I, myself, showed enormous restraint - only because I will be leaving in 3 months and I need to finish off all the odds and ends I already have, and I'll be wanting Japanese food. But I did get some coffee, asparagus (which is soooo expensive in stores here), a little chunk of apple smoked bacon, a few delicious looking lamb chops, a bottle of wine for pasta sauce and some individual packs of senbei. AND a couple of extra slices of pizza to bring home (after having a hot dog with saurkraut (YES!) for lunch). I skipped the cheese and many other delicious looking items. The others got much more, including the big guy in the picture below (for a grandchild).
The store had MANY of the same Costco items as in the US, but also some Japanese things, especially snacks. Mostly US items though. I was really tempted to get one of the roasted chickens but my small fridge held me back.
Everyone had a great time. And I discovered lemon Fanta soda. Delicious.

Such a cool 'escalator' - no steps so I don't know if can be called an escalator... but you can take your carts to the parking garage which is above the store, up this slopping moving sideway. Somehow the wheels 'magically' lock and although it's a good idea to keep your hands on the cart, it doesn't roll! Ingenious!