Sunday, November 6, 2011

Honey Bunny Bon Bon

As promised, this is the story of how I got honey bunny bon bon.

The story last left off with my boyfriend and I having the best weekend in Japan so far while in Wakayama. On our way back, we stopped in Osaka for dinner. I wasn't that hungry, so we walked around for bit before deciding on a place to eat. This very serendipitous decision led us to come across a pet store. My eyes found guinea pigs, hamsters, and then I saw them - rabbits.

Now, before I even came to Japan, I had been wanting a pet rabbit, but with the prospect and eventual acceptance to come to Japan, I obviously wasn't going to buy one in Miami. However, I had definitely considered buying one in Japan since I was going to be here for at least a year. After I arrived though, a pet was the farthest thing from my mind. Adjusting and surviving became more of a priority. However, once I started to become accustomed to my new life, my thoughts returned to getting a bunny, especially since I had been missing my miniature schnauzer from back home. This coupled with my trip to the bunny cafe in Nagoya fueled my wanting a pet despite my limited time in Japan. That being said, I still wasn't actively pursuing it, just giving a lot of thought.

This pet store had quite a variety of rabbit types from the long hair, floppy eared kind to short eared miniature dwarfs. I had a dwarf rabbit as a kid, plus I don't have a backyard, so I went straight for the latter. There were only two mini dwarfs to choose from - one that was white with black patches and one that was light brown with a white trim. I was more attracted to the white and black one since it was the smallest, but when I asked the sales clerk, she said that it was already sold and waiting to be picked up. I was admittedly disappointed and thought that maybe this wasn't the serendipitous chance I thought it had thought it to be. At this point, we went to dinner and talked about it the whole time. I thought life was being cruel to lead me to bunnies and then not let me have the one I want. Despite this feeling, we went back after dinner. The sales clerk saw me looking at the bunnies again so she came over and opened the cage. The little brown one came running while the white one stayed behind.

THIS was the sign that I should have been looking for. When I got Joey (my mini schnauzer back home), almost nine years ago, he had also been in a cage with only one other of his kind and he ran right up to me. Bunnies can be quite nervous creatures so they don't typically run right up you off the bat. Seeing him up close, I fell in love. I certainly hadn't been thinking when I left that weekend that I would be returning with this adorable little bundle of fur, but it was looking like that was the case. But, fate had one more hurdle to jump. Because of the unpreparedness on my part, I didn't have enough cash on me to buy him and all of his essentials. I don't have a Japanese credit or debit card (just a cash card that can I use at ATMs) and it was almost closing time for the pet store. Thus began my frantic run around Namba station in search of a convenient store.

My crappy little bank has no branches outside of my area, so whenever I'm in another town, I have to hope that my card is accepted (always with a additional fee) at different ATMs. I ran to three different chains of convenient stores before I found one that took my card. During that time I was cursing fate yet again for being so cruel, but quickly took it back once I had the cash. I rounded the total up in my head and took out a bit more than what I had calculated. Once we got around to picking out things for the bunny though, I realized that what I thought had been a special for a cage with some basic essentials in it, was actually just a set up for everything you would need for a rabbit. This meant that I had only calculated for the cage and not anything else he needed like a food dish, water bottle, pellets, hay, a hutch to sleep in, litter, etc so I asked the clerk in Japanese what he needed for just the night. I already looked a frantic mess after my running around plus the store closing which made me seem like I was even more in a rush, so the clerk appeared apprehensive. He was probably wary of whether these foreigners were really going to take care of the rabbit correctly, so I wanted to explain the situation but I was quite literally out-of-breath. [As a side note: we bought the rest of his stuff the next day and ended up back at this station on another occasion so we stopped by and showed the clerk pictures of how happy and big he's growing]
Baby Bon Bon at 1 month old!

So I finally have a bunny!!! She had me sign a paper and give my name and address. In return I got a paper stating what type of bunny he is and when he was born. This turned out to be the last sign I needed. He was born on the Japanese holiday of Obon, August 16th. This is a holiday that turned into a nightmare for me the mere month before. Long story short, I had been looking forward to seeing daimonji lit on fire in Kyoto during Obon for four years. I had never been in Kyoto, let alone Japan during the month of August so I was finally going to get my chance. Due to a minute error, I missed the lighting ceremony by only half and hour. I had a special reason for wanting to see this event, at this time, with a certain person, but it didn't happen. I can't express how devastated I was to miss this event...

But lo and behold, on a day of great sadness, a great happiness was born. Thus his name would be bon bon.
The honey bunny came later for dramatic effect. ~.~
















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