Clubbing

I wasn’t that much of a party person in college, but I enjoyed dancing every now and then. It wasn’t until I came to Japan that I could really indulge in that interest. Osaka is a huge city with many dance clubs. The more I go, the more and more I’ve come to love them.

It seems like dance clubs get a bad rep and for good reasons! Half of the men there are trying to get with girls, and many girls play right into it. It can be very dangerous! If you set boundaries for yourself and go with a group of people, however, I think it’s totally fine! I’ll be honest, I’ve broken boundaries before and have drunk too much, but once you make that mistake once, you never want to go there again.

I’ve never been a particularly good dancer, but once a have a few drinks in me, I don’t seem to care about that anymore (the magic of alcohol)! Something about dancing makes me feel happy and confident…even when I’m sober (I can just dance a lot longer and enjoy myself more when I’m drinking). I love hard electronic/dance music. There’s nothings that makes me feel more alive currently then dancing with friends to bass pounding music. I feel connected with everyone in the club. Some people go to clubs to hook up, but my sole intention is to listen to good music and dance my face off!

Recently, I went to a new club called Club Jaws. I went with a group of friends after fueling up at torikizoku, and ended up staying all night! It was a really fun place! Yes, there were creepers, and yes, someone grabbed my butt, but since I was with friends, I felt safe, and Nari-chan told off the guy who touched my butt haha! Thank you! Good thing I’m there just to have a good time otherwise maybe I’d be mad lol!

The neat thing about Jaws was that if you signed up for their email and showed it at the entrance, it was I think free for ladies and only 500 yen for men to get in. Best of all (or worst of all if you are weak haha), the drinks are completely free until midnight for women! WHA?!? We got there at like 9:00 or 9:30 haha! Needless to say, I took advantage of that! My guy friends kept asking me to get them drinks. :P Good thing I’m nice! Here are some pictures from the night:

Getting pumped up before the club at Torikizoku.

I think we were in the right mindset!

We were the first ones there to get the party started. By
12 am, the place was packed!

I've been to several different clubs in Osaka: Pure, Owl, Bambi, Live and Bar 11 Onzieme, Club Jaws, Giraffe, Club Joule, Circus, Sam & Daves (Bar One), Azure, Club Wax, and Ammona. Let me know if you are looking for any recommendations!

Takoyaki and Hiking

This post has two parts: the takoyaki part and the hiking part. I’ll go in chronological order. One a random weekend, a group of us girls decided we wanted to have a sleep over takoyaki party. It was my first takoyaki party. For those who don’t know, takoyaki is the staple food of Osaka. It’s basically balls of batter with octopus inside. You cover them with sauce, mayo, fish flakes, and seaweed. Sound gross, but they are pretty addicting! You can buy takoyaki from any vendor on the street, but another popular option is to have a takoyaki party. So, five of us JET girls got together and made takoyaki. It was fun! We chatted, drank plum and yuzu wine, and ate takoyaki until we were about to burst haha!

Homemade takoyaki.

Itadakimasu!

The following day, we woke up early and met more of our friends to go hiking in Takarazuka-shi. I’m not particularly an athletic person, nor do I enjoy hiking that much, but this was different because there was a unique allure. The hike was in the mountains along a river and old abandoned railroad track that involved walking through pitch black tunnels. You had to bring a flashlight (or torch as my kiwi and aussie friends called it haha) in order to see.  In any case, the hike was beautiful! The tunnels were so much fun! It wasn’t that strenuous of a hike either. I’d recommend it to anyone.

It was a nice area!

The first tunnel.

Emerging from the dark.

This river was full of rocks. It was cool!

We had to walk over this bridge...It was scary!

At the end of the hike.

Tea Ceremony

Recently, I’ve been getting very involved in my tea ceremony class. I really like it! It was always a goal of mine to practice the tea ceremony in Japan since I practiced it back in the U.S. for two and a half years. It’s been over six months since I started practicing again in Japan. There were two main events related to my tea class recently.

First, I went to my first real tea ceremony as a guest. It was a lot different than I imagined. I always imagined a tiny tea house in a garden of a temple; very intimate with one tea maker and around 4 guests. This scenario is true of the past and possibly for rich people today, but these days, large groups of people will come to a temple to watch a tea ceremony. It costs around 2,500 yen to attend.  I watched two or three different performances. We were in very large rooms in a temple in Kyoto. Guests could wear kimono or formal western clothing.  There were about 20-30 guests watching one person make tea. It was fun and interesting, but not what I was expecting. It was less formal than I thought it would be.

My Japanese tea ceremony teacher.

Second, I actually performed my first real tea ceremony in the same temple!! I was SO nervous! I thought I would for sure mess up. I was the last to perform of my classmates. It was the same set up as before. I performed in a large room full of about 20-30 people. I was in full kimono all day. It was so hot! It was a very good experience, though. All of the guests were surprised to see a foreigner serving them tea and okashi (Japanese sweets) haha, let alone perform a ceremony! One of the best things was that my American tea ceremony teacher who is living in Tokyo now came all the way to Kyoto for the day just to watch me perform! I hadn’t seen her in like over two years! I was so happy and excited! She sat in the 2^nd position of honor so she was very close to me when I perform. The main guest of honor was an old man. My friends warned me before I performed, saying that the old man was a “talker.” They were not wrong. He was really distracting and kept asking me questions in Japanese and asking if I understood while I performed. He said, “Wow, this is the first time I’ve been served by a foreigner!”  I just tried to channel him out like I was instructed to. I ended up doing my ceremony perfectly for the first time! I was so proud of myself!

Kimono time!

My previous teacher came to watch! So happy!

Me performing!

Afterwards, my American teacher and spent some time together. We walked around Kyoto a bit and browsed the shops. We went to this really nice traditional Japanese style restaurant that specializes in yuudofu (basically tofu in hot water that you dip into sauce and put other things on top). We sat on cushions at a low table with a view of a beautiful Japanese garden out the window. She treated me to dinner. I felt so gracious seeing as she came all the way to see me (shinkansen (bullet train) tickets aren’t cheap), gave me gifts, and took me out to dinner. I don’t know how I can ever return the favor! She said that getting to see one of her past students move to Japan and continue practicing the tea ceremony and perform at a real tea ceremony was gift in itself. She said she thoroughly enjoyed watching me. At dinner, she picked my brain about ideas on how to run her class better when she returns to America. I still feel like I owe her so much. She was the one who wrote me a letter of recommendation for the JET Programme to begin with. I’m sure that because of her, I am able to be in Japan now.

Garden view.

Yuudofu.

Teishoku (meal set).

Field Trip

I was lucky enough to be invited on the first graders’ field trip (first grade of junior high school, that is). My favorite thing about my job is interacting with the students. They are so funny, cute, and nice (mostly)! They all think of me as a superstar which is a great ego booster. Haha! This was my first time going on a trip with the students. This is how it went…

We left the school a little after 8:00 am. In Japan, they don’t have school buses so we rode in huge charter buses! On the way, students played games and sang songs. I got to join in as well. The first part of the trip was going to a museum in Suita, Osaka. That was my favorite part. Then, we got back in the buses and headed over to Ikeda, Osaka to go to an “athletic park.” Basically, it was a hiking path in the mountains with about 30 different obstacles on the trail. It was pretty hot outside. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but the students seemed to enjoy it, and I enjoyed watching them. Before doing the hike, we had a picnic. I sat with three girls and chatted. I particularly like the 1^st graders this year. They are a good bunch.

It was a long day, but I enjoyed it! After the trip, the group of us teachers who went on the field trip went to this amazing restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It’s called Mukune-Tei. They make their own sake there. It may have been the most delicious Japanese meal I’ve had! It was high class, and I got to try a couple types of their homemade sake.

First course (Japanese pickles, aged tofu, and fried chicken).

Second course: Soumen. You dip the noodles in sauce.
 The sauce isn't in the picture though.

Third course: Tofu with sticky potato and octopus on top.
You cook it up on this grill.

Fourth course: Sake flavored jelly.

Fall Illumination

As I was going back through all my previous posts, editing them and adding pictures, I realized that I never wrote anything about the fall illumination I went to. Fall illuminations take place a various temples and shrines in Japan. Some temples and shrines will be open to the public after dark during the fall. Bright spotlights are shined on the colorful trees. They are illuminated in the darkness, and it’s very beautiful. It’s like the trees are ablaze! This was something I had wanted to do since I learned about it. Since it’s now summer again in Japan, hopefully this post will come as a nice escape from the heat.

I went to Kyoto for the day with my friend Marielle (unfortunately, she isn’t in Japan anymore). We went in order to see the fall foliage. It was raining almost the entire day, and it was a little chilly. However, we still had fun. We went out for lunch at an Italian buffet that had been recommended to us. It was good!  It was Marielle’s first time in Kyoto, so we hit up some of the major sights.We went to Kiyomizu-dera. Afterwards we went to Kinkakuji. We got there right before it closed! It was finally dark, so we made our way to Eikandou to see the fall illumination. Eikandou has a reputation for being a good place to see a fall illumination, and it did not disappoint! By the time we got there, the rain had let up, too!

Fall is my favorite season. So for me, this was right up my alley. I can’t wait to go again next fall! Please enjoy some pictures! 

Marielle.

Me.

I was so happy!

So pretty!

This was like the grand finale.

Me being a dorky narrator. Anyway, it's cool

to see the trees in the video.

Japanese Ghosts and Eerie Creatures.

One of the more famous works I got from Google. "Mitsukini Defying the Skeleton" by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

 A few weeks ago, a group of us (JETs) went to probably the coolest art exhibit I’ve ever been to in my life. It was called “Japanese Ghosts and Eerie Creatures.” It was a special exhibit at the Osaka Museum of History. I had taken a class about the East Asian supernatural folklore when I was in college which really sparked my interest in the subject. The exhibit was a few rooms big and organized by type of supernatural being.  For me, the creepiest were the pictures of ghosts (holding severed heads). Anyway, although I couldn't really afford it, I went ahead and bought the exhibit art book because it was so awesome.

After the museum, we went to a place called Slices for dinner in Amemura. I had never been there. I wish I would've known about it early because it was sooooo good! It’s a Canadian restaurant that sells all sorts of stuff (mainly pizza) like calzones, poutine, wraps, milkshakes, and delicious appetizers.  I got a veggie calzone and jalapeno mozzarella sticks. Andrew and I split a Reese’s milkshake for dessert. *drools* After dinner, we hung around Triangle park, people watching, until a few of us went to L&L for some drinks.  A perfect little day. 

At the museum.

I liked this one in particular. A cat person haha!
I also got this from Google.
Japanese Monster Nekomata from Hyakkai Zukan -
 Illustrated Catalog of 100 Monsters.

Slices.

Travis in Japan (Part 3)!

This will be the last installment of Travis in Japan. It will cover the rest of the activities we did until he returned back to America. I’m writing this about a month after he left. It has been difficult, but I have been keeping busy.

I think I left off with stories of cherry blossoms in bloom, but after they fell from the trees, our activities became less nature oriented. First I will tell you about a simple and fun date we went on. We went to Uncle Steven’s, a Mexican restaurant that I love. Travis said he’d treat me to dinner once while he was here, and I chose this place because I love their food and margaritas. Plus, Mexican is probably my favorite cuisine. We had tried to go once before, but they were booked the entire night! This time we got in just fine. We ate delicious burritos, and I had three different margaritas! They were so good (and strong…just how I like them)! A highlight of this visit (because I've been here a few times before) was that they let us borrow a huge sombrero for taking pictures. We had a good time. After that, we made our way to Tower Records in the Namba area. It was my first time going there. Travis was the one that discovered it on his own one day. It was really fun to explore their stock of Japanese and foreign CD’s. I ended up making a purchase there; A really cool album called “All in Black” by a dance/electronic music artist named Kiyoshi Sugo. We spent about an hour in there sampling music. It was a fun date.

1 margarita.

2 margarita.

3 margarita.

All in Black - Kiyoshi Sugo

The next event also surprisingly took place in the latter half of Travis visiting: the infamous all-nighter. We had a blast! First, a group of us met at El Zocalo Burrito which is always delicious. After that, we went to Cinquencento (where all food and drinks are 500 yen) and drank a lot. ;) A few others joined us there. I had so much fun just chatting with everyone (including the bartenders) and trying weird martinis. I was happy because Travis seemed to be at ease chilling with everyone. After that, a small group of us went to a night club called Onzieme on the top floor of the OPA building in Shinsaibashi. It was a house music event with several different DJ’s. I think we got there around 10 pm and stayed until about 3 am. The time passed pretty quickly until about 2 am when we all started to get really tired. The interesting part for me was that I got to see Travis do shots with the other guys! I had never seen Travis do shots before haha! When they closed down and turned the lights on, we headed to McDonald’s to rest until first train. Strangely enough, at about 4 am, McDonald’s closed despite the fact it was a 24/7 McDonald’s…WHAT?! So, we walked across the street to Burger King where one of our friends was chilling after her separate all-nighter. We returned home on the first train around 5:30 am and got to bed around 7:00 am. It was a success.

Good vibes at Cinquencento.

Time to dance!

Haha, I think we were all getting tired near this point.

So, the next thing I want to write about is Universal Studios Japan (USJ)! I've always heard that it is incredibly crowded. I lucked out because the last work day before Golden Week started, I had no classes to teach, and I took the day off. If you go to USJ on a work day, it’s less busy. So not only did I get to go on many rides at USJ, I extended my Golden Week break by a day, giving me 5 days off! I have the rare opportunity of USJ being extremely close. It’s a famous theme park in Japan so people from all over the country come to enjoy it. I had wanted to go since I came to Japan, but it seemed like I could never find anyone to go with because they've already gone or because it’s expensive. So, I made my boyfriend go with me haha! When I got there, I felt like a kid on Christmas! I was very excited, and it felt like I was in America again! We went on many rides like the Hollywood roller coaster, Jaws, Spider-man, and more! My favorite was the one called Space Fantasy! We also saw a show where we got to see the Japanese version of Beetlejuice…that was interesting… We ate at this Irish Pub that was pretty tasty. It was the first time I had seen an onion blossom for sale in Japan. Of course, we got it! All in all, it was a super fun day and a great way to start my vacation. I got to check USJ off my list.

Universal Studios entrance.

Japanese Beetlejuice.

The next day of my Golden Week was probably the most fun! I’m so happy Travis had such a strong desire to go to a baseball game while he was here that he convinced me to go. I’m not a huge sports fan, but I've always kind of liked baseball. It had been a several years since I had been to a professional baseball game. I had an absolute blast!!! The main/popular team in the Kansai region is the Hanshin Tigers. So, we went to see them play against the Tokyo Swallows (aka Yakuruto) at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo prefecture. Koshien is the Hanshin Tiger’s home turf. When I had told friends and coworkers that I’d be going to a Hanshin Tigers game, everyone said the same thing, “Hanshin Tiger’s fans are crazy!” I didn't really know what to expect. The weather was perfect! Not a cloud in the sky and not hot or cold, just perfect.  When we got there, we got some snacks and found our seats. We soon realized what everyone meant by the fans being crazy. Basically the entire time, the whole crowd was chanting and singing as if we were in a coliseum. Everyone had two mini bats that they banged together. People were so intense and into the game. The singing never stopped. It was so much fun! Also, this was the first time I had been to a game since I turned 21. So, I enjoyed several chu-his. I began to see the allure of baseball games.  Around the 7^th inning, everyone took out balloons, blew them up, and released them into the air. It was an amazing sight! The two ladies behind us were nice enough to give us some balloons too! We slaughtered the Tokyo Swallows. It was such a great day!

Koshien Stadium.

Chu-hi!

Balloons!

The next day of Golden week, we went to Kobe. Despite how close it is, I hadn't been there yet. It’s another nice port city. You may have heard of it due to its Kobe beef. There were several things I wanted to see in Kobe. I wanted to see this waterfall on the outskirts of town, Kitano historical village, Chinatown, and Harborland. First, however, we rode the train past Kobe a little ways to have a picnic on Suma Beach. It was a little chilly, but it was nice to be by the water and in the sand. After that, we headed downtown. We kind of got started off on a bad foot. We tried hard and walked a really long time, but couldn't figure out how to get to the waterfall. I threw a fit, and we moved on to Kitano village. That place, in my opinion, was a little underwhelming. There were some old, western historical buildings and overall, it was a nice little place to stroll, but it was kind of boring. The best part of that area was a street performer with a monkey that could do many tricks. We watched the monkey for like a half hour. After that, we headed to Chinatown. I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to find it, but we did. It was really cool! It was this long strip packed with food stands, shops, and people. We were planning to get dinner in Harborland, so we didn't eat in Chinatown (even though that’s basically all you could do there), but it was fun to see it nonetheless. We headed to Harborland next. There was a very nice view there of the port and skyline. We walked around the open-air shopping center a little and found a nice Italian restaurant to eat at. We got coffees and chocolate after dinner at Starbucks and Godiva. As we were leaving to go back to Osaka, it had become dark out, and the buildings and trees and whatnot were lit up. It was really pretty! Kobe definitely has its own little feel. I’d like to go back sometime and chill in some bars around the station and experience the nightlife. Apparently there is a good jazz scene in Kobe.

Beachin' it.

Chinatown.

Kobe

After Golden Week, we only had one more weekend together. D: We decided to go on a couple dates. I can’t remember exactly if we did this during Golden week or on the last weekend, but one night we went to go see Iron Man 3 which was really fun! On Friday night, we went to Namba Parks to make our own kushi-katsu. Seeing as it’s our favorite Japanese food, we wanted to eat it for one of our last meals together. It was really fun to make it ourselves! When we left Namba Parks, it was cool and drizzling out. We descended the building through the roof gardens. It was really romantic.

On our last full day together, we went to Round 1 Spo Cha to play. It’s a multilevel building with arcade games and sport activities on each floor (I've been there once before so I might have described it in a previous post). We had a ton of fun! We did batting cages, bowling, roller skating, arcade games, and more! We went to El Pancho for dinner since we enjoyed it so much before. We got lucky because there was live music this time. We ate our meals and continued to drink and listen to the music. It was a nice last meal out.

Travis left on Sunday May 12^th. It was a really hard day for the both of us. His flight wasn't until the afternoon so we spent the morning packing and cuddling. I’ll admit, I cried a few times. I took him to Kyobashi station. On our way there, a bunch of junior high school girls said Travis was cool, tall, and looked like he was from One Direction. >_<  At Kyobashi station, we said our final goodbyes before he boarded the train to the airport. It was incredibly sad. I felt like an idiot crying on the platform for everyone to see, but I couldn't help it. I felt so empty as the doors closed and he rode away. I had to do a little therapy shopping, but it didn't help that much. The first week after he left was really hard. I didn't feel like doing anything. Hanging out with friends has helped though. I won’t see him again until Christmas. Despite being a bit sad now, I had such an amazing time while Travis visited! We will have these memories forever. Now he understands my life here in Japan. Thank you for visiting me Travis!

Goodbye Travis.