This was another one of those hotels in a building with several floors of restaurants and shopping, but I was readier this time, so found the office with minimal fuss (it was only on the second floor, this time, although the rooms start on the eighth floor). Downtown Akita here (I guess you could call this downtown, dunno if it has an actual proper one) is fairly nice, and certainly less, er, ostentatious than the area around the station in Niigata. Shinier in a nice way, not shinier in an excessive-neon way.

Found me some nikudon (at the chain Dusty was talking about, er... I forget the name, but I recognize it. Been looking for it for days, actually, but this time I actually found one). Didn't like it quite as much as the stuff in Shinjuku station, but still pretty good. Shouldn't have gotten the large, though. Oy.

I know it can't possibly be true, but I really feel like my Japanese is getting worse as time goes on here. I barely survived ordering today, and the last couple of check-ins have been a bit rocky as they threw me extra stuff I wasn't expecting and completely didn't understand (well, at first, anyway). Unfortunately for me, I found out early on that I could pretty much get away without ever saying anything at all, and since then, I've barely uttered a word. In a way, being able to read a bit of kanji has hurt, because I have had zero trouble figuring out the train schedules and such, so that I've never have to ask for directions, ever. I'm getting almost no practice with my Japanese at all.

A few more days of this and I'm afraid my language facilities will waste away completely. :(

So, tomorrow, Kakunodate. I think. Maybe Oga instead.