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.

Under Construction

I wanted to give people a heads up that for the next month or two, I'm going to be editing my blog a bit. I plan on going through all my previous posts and actually proofreading them haha! ^^;; Also, I plan on adding pictures to my previous posts. You may have noticed that my more recent posts have pictures. I think it's more fun that way! So please be patient. Hopefully you will find my blog more enjoyable once I fix it. Thanks for reading! :) -Stephanie

Tokyo Trip with Travis

For those of you who read my blog, you know that Travis and I had our big trip to Tokyo a few weeks ago. We decided to choose Tokyo as our destination for my spring break because you can’t very well come to Japan for two months without seeing Tokyo. So basically we had to go there by default. Although I have been to Tokyo many times, I was ok with going because it’s fun, there’s always something new to do, and I of course wanted to show Travis Tokyo. Plus, it was my first time going back to Tokyo without an alternative motive like just passing through, picking up a friend, or for work. It actually worked out great because when we got to Tokyo, we had no idea that the cherry blossoms were in bloom there! It was our first time seeing them! At first I didn't even realize that that was what they were because usually the cherry tree front, as they call it, starts from the south and makes its way north.They hadn't bloomed in Osaka yet so I never imagined they'd be in bloom in Tokyo. We looked it up online and found out that for some reason, the cherry blossom trees bloom a bit early in Tokyo. We were so happy! It also worked out that when we left Tokyo to go back to Osaka, we were arriving as they were blooming in Osaka. What luck?!

This trip was quite nostalgic for me really because we stayed in the same business hotel I stayed in the first time I came to Japan. It was great to stand in the same place and recall the excitement and wonder I had during my first time here. Everything was so new and amazing then! It’s not that Japan isn’t amazing anymore…it’s just not new to me. It’s kind of like a famous saying used in the tea ceremony (here’s my rough translation): “You can’t experience the same thing the same way more than once.” In other words, each time you encounter something, your feelings will be different so every moment is precious and can’t be replicated.

Anyway, we stayed for a total of five full days. On the first day of my spring vacation (Saturday), we got up early and hopped on the shinkansen to Tokyo. We were going to take the night bus both ways to save money, but I thought Travis should experience the shinkansen at least once (even though he ended up taking it to and from Hiroshima anyway) and to be honest, I prefer taking the shinkansen even if it costs more. We arrived maybe around noon or so. After dropping off our bags at the hotel, I took him to my favorite place in Tokyo: Shinjuku. We started off by going to a cat café that I had been to before called Calico. It was just as fun as I remembered! This time we bought treats to attract the cats because otherwise they don’t really want to be touched. After that, we spent some time just walking around the city and taking it all in. We went shopping and whatnot. One thing I was pretty excited about was dinner. I learned about this place near Kanto station called Devil Craft that specializes in deep dish, Chicago-style pizza. Seeing as I have grown up around the Chicago area and have been downtown to eat real Chicago pizza many times, it’s been frustrating not having it in Japan. We got to the restaurant and put our names in (the place was very small). They said they’d call me on my phone in about an hour when our seats were ready. So, we went down the street to this wine bar place. We were starving so we got a little bread basket and a couple drinks. I had a lot of fun there drinking and talking with Travis. We laughed for a while about how the menu said “pain” instead of “pan” on it. “Pan” is the Japanese word for bread written in the Roman alphabet. We ordered “pain” and had a good laugh. After over an hour had past, we got a little anxious and decided to go back to the restaurant and see what was going on. When we got there, we noticed people who got there later than us were already sitting and eating! We were ticked! We should have just stood there and waited to begin with. So, we stood in the restaurant for like 20 more minutes until we finally got a seat. Although I was pretty annoyed that they just forgot about us, the service was good, the waiter was friendly, and the food was worth the wait! We got some chips and spinach dip for an appetizer. It was good, but there wasn't enough dip for the chips in my opinion. The pizza was delicious! I really liked the crust! As someone who comes from the Chicago area, I can say that they did a pretty good job. My only thing was that the sauce was a little tangier, which is something I have found in all the pizza sauces I've bought at stores in Japan. We left the restaurant full and satisfied. A fun fact: The restaurant is owned by Americans and not only do they specialize in deep dish pizza, they also make a large variety of their own craft beers. We went back to the hotel pleased about our first day in Tokyo.

My favorite cat at the cafe.

"Bread" Romanized hilariously wrong. I know
I'd like some pain for 250 yen!

Deep dish pizzas at Devil Craft.

Day two in Tokyo was perhaps my favorite day. We did so much! Now, I’ve always been told and read that if you are in Tokyo on a Sunday, you should go to Harajuku in the late morning/early afternoon to see the “Harajuku girls.” There is a whole culture and fashion that has been dubbed “Harajuku.” Basically just think of the most ridiculous outfits possible, and there you have it. There are people dressed up like pretty little baby dolls, ultra gothic, cartoon characters, etc. Occasionally in any big city in Japan, you’ll run into one or a group of these people, but Harajuku is supposed to be the place to go to see them gather in one place i.e the Rainbow Bridge that connects the Harajuku district to Meiji Jingu (shrine).  The first time I went, I didn’t know about the bridge, so I just walked around the streets in Harajuku and saw nothing. This time, I was equally disappointed. I got there at like 11am. I went to the bridge and…NOTHING! Where were these groups of “Harajuku girls” that all the guide books tell you about? I thought maybe I was too early so I went back after an hour or two after walking around to be disappointed once again. I just don’t get it. If anyone out there knows what I’m doing wrong, please teach me. I’ll admit that as I was walking around the streets in Harajuku, I ran in to more “Harajuku girls” than usual. So I was happy about that, but it just wasn’t the huge display I was expecting. Rant over.

So, like I said, we were in Harajuku in the morning and early afternoon. We walked around and looked at all the interesting shops. Travis bought me a cute owl backpack from Forever 21! We had lunch at an organic buffet called Hiroba. I had been there once before, and I really enjoyed it. It’s all just really fresh and healthy tasting. I was surprised to find a Garret’s Popcorn and a Wendy’s in Harajuku. I didn’t get food from either of those places, but I was still surprised. I later saw another Wendy’s in Tokyo. I guess that they have simply made their way over to Japan now. Speaking of food, I forgot to mention that I finally made Travis get a crepe for dessert after lunch. Crepes are all the rage in Japan, and you can’t come without eating one. After Harajuku, we went all the way across the city to the Asakusa area. We went to the new Sky Tree, a really tall and cool tower that just opened. When I came to Japan around 2 years ago, it was under construction. The Sky Tree City was really cool. It was just a big entertainment center with shops, really interesting restaurants, a planetarium, and more. We walked around there for a while and then tried to go to the top of the Sky Tree (which was the goal all along), but we found out that getting in is a really complicated process since it is so new and popular. You had to wait in line for a ticket that allows you to come back after a while to get in line for another ticket that tells when you can enter. What?! Anyway, it didn’t seem really possible so we just starred at the Sky Tree from the base which was still pretty cool and headed over to Sensoji Temple (a really famous temple/shrine in Tokyo).  We both got bad fortunes (mikuji) at the temple so we tied them to the little bars so our bad fortune would be blown away. Another Fun Fact: I later told one of my coworkers that I had gotten a bad fortune, and she told me that some people see it as a good thing because you have nowhere to go besides up. That made me smile…even though I don’t believe in fortunes haha! I believe we stopped into a kaiten sushi place (sushi on a conveyor belt) for a light dinner. After that, it was getting dark so we went to somewhere with lots of night lights by Travis’ request.  We went to Akihabara: the anime/gaming /electronic district. We had so much fun walking around there at night! We went into an anime store, Don Quixote, and an arcade. We had a blast at the arcade! We played competitive Tetris. There was even Dr. Pepper in the vending machine (score!). Travis got second place in the daily ranking for Tetris! They had some really good games there like classic Mario Bros. We finished off the night by going to an izakaya near the hotel in the Ochanomizu area. I've never had so much fun at an izakaya before! It was Travis’ first izakaya and nomihoudai (all you can drink) experience. He didn't believe that you could actually drink all you want for such a small price. Welcome to Japan! He said that there was no way you could do this in America because Americans can drink so much haha! He’s probably right. However, I think the reason nomihoudai are successful is because you order lots of snacks while you’re drinking.There was one of those touch screen things at our table so anytime we wanted to have more food or drinks, we just pushed the button, and it came to us! We’ll just say that we got our money’s worth, and they had to kick us out at closing time haha!

Hiroba lunch buffet.

The Sky Tree.

Senso-ji.

Tying my bad fortune to the bar.

Akihabara.

First time at an izakaya.

Day three was just as eventful as the first two days. After grabbing lunch, we went to the Ghibli Museum, one of the happiest places in the world! I was so happy Travis could see the museum since animation is his favorite thing. After the Ghibli Museum, we headed to the Roppongi area. First we went to Tokyo Tower. We go to see the view as it was getting dark. There was a really cool complex below that we couldn't figure out what it was. It looked like a little Japanese fairy-tale land from above. I’m still wondering now… Anyway, we walked to downtown Roppongi from there. It was my first time going there! We planned to eat at a Mexican place, but when we got there, we found that it was very ritzy and didn't look like any Mexican food we've ever seen. So we decided to go to A TGI Friday’s we saw on the way. Trav couldn't have cared less about going there, but I was super excited to have real American food again! Before I get into dinner, I’d like to add that Roppongi was a bit different than I expected. I liked that it was very diverse in its food options and stores, but it was more upscale than I expected, and everything was really expensive! I learned that Roppongi was actual an artsy district which began to make sense. One thing that was cool was that I got to see some illuminated cherry trees next to a fancy mall. They were so beautiful! One thing that wasn't cool was that we walked by a pet store that was selling little monkeys in small cages. It was really depressing because you could tell that the monkeys were intelligent and were going crazy and suffering in their cages. The worst part is that you know they will probably never be bought because first of all, who buys a monkey? Secondly, they were ridiculously expensive.  Sad… So back to dinner. Travis was irritated when he saw how expensive everything was on the menu. I had to remind him that we were in Japan and that American food is expensive. I went crazy and just ordered us a bunch of appetizers for our dinner because I wanted to taste a lot of different things. We got chicken fingers, chips and guacamole, caesar salad, and breaded mushrooms. I also got a couple strawberry margaritas! Our waiter was really awkward and funny. That made the dinner more fun. In Japan, if you order guacamole at TGI Friday’s, the waiter makes if for you at your table. That way, you can kind of personalize it by having him put what you want in it. Of course, we liked all the ingredients. After he made it, he explained that you eat the guacamole by dipping the chips in it hahaha! Thanks for the tip. Dinner was delicious. After, we wanted to go to this tequila bar that was mentioned in my travel guide called Agave. It sounded cool. We walked in, and it was really neat and big inside. One problem: we were the only ones there for like the first 20 or 30 minutes. Another problem: Holy Jesus was it expensive! It was a really high class place that had around 400 types of tequila. I think the cheapest thing on the menu was either 1200 or 1500 yen (like $15). You could even do tequila tasting courses. I thought about it, and then decided against it because I didn't want to do it alone. At first we just got frozen margaritas. Mine was regular and Travis’ was banana. They actually cut up a real banana and blended it into his drink. They were good! I decided I could afford one more drink. I bought this drink called perfect patron margarita. It was around $20! It was the most expensive drink I've ever bought. It was really strong and well made, but I wouldn't call it delicious exactly. I think you must really appreciate the taste of tequila more than I do to thoroughly enjoy the drink. Anyway, it was an experience. By the time we made it back to the hotel, my throat was hurting a bit and I felt really heavy and tired. I figured the strong tequila had burned my throat and made me tired.

Ghibli Museum.

Tokyo Tower.

What is this fairy-tale land?

TGI Friday's. YUM!

Poor monkey in a cage...

Illuminated cherry blossoms.

Agave.

Perfect Patron Margarita.

I woke up the next day feeling like I got hit by a bus, and it wasn't a hangover. Our plan for the day was to go to Shibuya. I wasn't exactly feeling up to it, but I didn't want to ruin our trip so I tried to suck it up. We got to Shibuya and walked around a little bit, we decided that it’d be a good idea to just go see a movie because firstly, it’s fun to see movies and it’s something Travis and I always do together. Secondly, Travis had never been to a Japanese theater, and for those who have, you know that they are very nice and classy and you really get your money’s worth. It’s like going to an actual show or performance. Thirdly, since I was feeling terrible (and Travis wasn't feeling his best either), we figured we could relax a little. We saw “Oz (The 3D one with James Franco).” It was a fun movie. I knew I was getting really sick when I started getting really feverish with the chills. I was in the theater with two winter coats on and gloves, and I was still shivering. It wasn't even cold in the theater, but I felt cold even though my skin was on fire. After the movie, we walked around a little more. We saw the Hachiko statue, Shibuya crossing, and went into that Shibuya 109 mall which is very popular. After that, I decided that I just couldn’t continue anymore. Travis wasn’t feeling too sick so he wanted to explore some more. It was sad, but I went back to the hotel and slept while Travis walked around a little more in Shibuya and then went to Meiji Jingu Park for a little bit. I was burning up! My mom told me that it was probably because we went too hard the first three days in Tokyo, and my body became exhausted. She’s probably right. When he came back, I woke up. He bought me a present! It was a funny hat we had saw in Harajuku before that says “FUKK” on it haha! We talked for a bit, and went to bed.

Hachiko statue. If you want to know the back-story,
Google it. Be warned, it's sad.

Shibuya Crossing.

First Japanese movie theater experience
together. Before my fever got bad.

I had tried this hat on earlier and thought it was hilarious.
 Travis ended up buying it for me. :)

During the night, my fever broke. I had sweated a lot. I woke up happy to find my fever subsiding, but still felt pretty tired and sick. My throat was hurting pretty bad. There was a park somewhat close by that Travis had wanted to see. I told him to go without me while I slept a little longer. He met me around check out time. I decided that I needed to get some medicine. I went to a doctor and got the medicine. It took a little bit, but I got much better after taking it. We went to Subway for lunch. We decided to take it a little easy again because we both were a little under the weather. We went to the Sony building in Ginza and saw lots of nice electronics. After that, we went back to Shinjuku because it turns out that it was his favorite place, too. We decided to see another movie because even though I wasn't feeling good, we still had a lot of fun going to a movie theater together. It reminded us of our college days together. We saw “Jack the Giant Slayer.” It was pretty entertaining! We went to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner in Shinjuku Station, my treat. I also treated us to Coldstone Creamery for dessert. The people who made our ice cream sang us a song. They were crazy! After that, we had to go pick up our bags from the hotel and then return to Shinjuku to go to the bus station. We were taking the night bus back to Osaka. While we waited for our departure from Tokyo to get closer, we sat in a Royal Host and had drinks (hot tea and Coca-Cola I believe). We were taking a Willer Express bus. I believe it was like 5,000 yen one way. We were horrified when we got on the bus because despite how the website said there was room for overhead storage, it was greatly exaggerated. The website said you could fit a carry-on on the bus, but it was a lie! Literally, you could fit something about the size of a women’s purse overhead.  Travis had a huge backpack and shopping bag, and I had a carry-on size suitcase and my purse. The only way to fit (by the way, the seats were small, and there was hardly any room for your legs even though I’m short. Not to mention the people in front of us were reclining their seats) was to put your entire luggage on your lap. I literally could not do it, so I did what some other few misguided people were doing. I put my suitcase in the aisle, blocking it entirely. I put my purse under my feet. Travis was barely able to fit his shopping bag above in the storage area. He put his huge backpack between his legs, making it really uncomfortable for him. So began the night from hell. Good thing the medicine was kicking in enough for me to not feel super sick anymore. So, imagine this: An eight hour drive on a bus full of people who are snoring. No room in your seats. No possible way of getting comfortable. Lastly, hot. Very hot and muggy. This was the worst night ever! We eventually got to Osaka feeling miserable. We rode the trains home like zombies. We showered when we got home because we felt disgusting and went to bed at like 9 am. We tried not to sleep too long so our sleeping schedules wouldn't be so messed up.

The Sony Building in Ginza

Almost back to my apartment. Feeling like death. 

In any case, despite the night bus and getting sick, Tokyo was a blast! I hadn't gotten to experience it like that since the first time I went. It was wonderful to experience it with my boyfriend. I could tell he really liked it, and we will both have the memories forever.

Travis in Japan (Part 2)!

In this post, I will write more about our adventures together in Japan. It’s always fun showing someone who has never been to Japan different famous places. It reminds me of my first time in Japan and how wonderful it was.

The first full weekend Travis was here, we stayed the night in a ryokan (traditional Japanese style hotel) in Kyoto. We didn’t stay in an expensive, nice one by any means, but I figured that it would be fun for him to sleep on a futon and wear a yukata. Plus, it gave us more time to explore the city for two days.

The first day, we did the Southern Higashiyama walk. Basically, you start in the Southeast corner of the city at Kiyomizu-dera (a famous temple), and work your way up until you tire out. We did pretty well! We made it all the way to Heian Shrine. This walk is my favorite in Kyoto because the streets are lined with traditional Japanese arts and souvenirs, you can see many beautiful temples right in a row, and it’s very scenic because you are walking along the mountain edge. We really enjoyed ourselves. Travis really seemed to like Kyoto. He’s an artist, so he just kept talking about all the things he wanted to draw throughout the day haha! We went to Kyoto station and got some pretty good Chinese food for dinner and called it a night.

Kiyomizu-dera.

The next day, we did a lot of hopping around. First we went to Arashiyama to see the river/mountain view and the bamboo forest. We saw maiko there (geisha in training). Oh, I should add that the day before, for the first time, I saw geisha/maiko (I’m not positive which) up close for a brief moment. It took my breath away. I turned a corner, and there were two of them in a rickshaw right in front of me! They looked me in the eyes, and I froze. Once they had turned the corner, I let my excitement and disbelief out. I had tried to see geisha every time I went to Kyoto, but was always unsuccessful. Back to the next day…After Arashiyama (where we also shopped and had lunch), we took this little tram to Kinkakuji (The Golden Pavilion).  Our feet were killing us because of all the walking from the previous day and the current day. We had to walk a really far way from the tram stop to the temple. So, we took an ice cream break. Travis was really impressed by the temple which made me happy. We got to see a big bird (a crane, perhaps) catch a fish out of the pond and eat it. He got a picture of it in action! After that, we made our way to Fushimi Inari, a shrine known for having hundreds of red tori (gates). It was only my second time seeing it so I was pretty stoked. It was a lot more fun being there with someone compared to when I was alone the first time. Unfortunately, I had to work the next day so we didn't have time to climb the mountain to see all the gates, but it was fun nonetheless. We were planning on getting okonomiyaki at Osaka Station on our way back, but the place I wanted to go to had a really long wait so we decided to try this place called The Mango Tree Café. It was an upscale Thai restaurant. The portions were small, but it was super delicious! All in all, it was a great weekend.

Ginkakuji.

Geisha/Maiko in Arashiyama.

Fushimi Inari Taisha.

I should add that during the weekdays before we made our big trip to Tokyo during my spring vacation, we did a lot of other little things in Osaka. For example, I introduced him to kushi-kastu in Tennoji (which has turned out to be his favorite Japanese food), we shopped around Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi, I took him to a nice yakiniku restaurant in my town for a date (you can grill the meat and veggies on your table), and we also visited the shrine in my town. That was the first time I had seen it. We climbed up the mountain in my town a little bit which was interesting. I also took him to my favorite bar in my town. We've gone there a few times now, and each time, we are given free gifts and drinks from all the customers. I really need to bring some sort of gift for them!

I’m going to skip the Tokyo trip for now and write only about that in my next post since there is a lot to say. So, I will continue on about some of the other things we did after getting back from Tokyo. We still had a little over half of my spring break left when we got back from Tokyo. We went on a double date to an okonomiyaki place with my friend Aimee and her boyfriend who was also visiting from America. We went to L&L (a bar that we often go to) after dinner. We met some interesting people there…but not in a good way. There was this really drunk Japanese guy who was blatantly hitting on my in front of Travis which was really awkward… Anyway, we had fun spending time with Aimee and her boyfriend.

There was a random festival in my town one day. It wasn't that spectacular, but it was good because Travis got to try a lot of different festival foods. Speaking of food, we finally made it to El Pancho (because there was over and hour wait the first time we attempted going).  Also, I have really been enjoying cooking for Travis a lot. I cooked a lot of intricate meals for him since he came. We went to this foreign food store somewhat close to where I live and bought a lot of stuff. I was able to make him things like homemade chicken and avocado enchiladas, falafel, spinach/mushroom/chicken gnocchi, and more! Another random date of ours included going to the Osaka Pokemon Center (which is basically just a store selling a bunch of Pokemon stuff), the Umeda Sky Building (which Travis thought was amazing), and to the HUB (a British pub chain that has a great fish and chips and a good happy hour).

One day of my spring break, we went to Nara. It was beautiful because the cherry blossoms were in full bloom! We ate lunch at the maccha café I am growing to love. Travis liked his lunch, but not the dessert he got which was a parfait that had mochi (rice cake), azuki (sweet beans), and jellies in it. We got to play with the deer. Travis feed them deer biscuits which was entertaining. We took our time walking around Nara Park and Kofuku-ji. We got laughed at by a bunch of Japanese girls when they saw us bow to the deer even though you are supposed to. We sat by a pond full of fish and turtles and got laughed at again when Travis helped me up from the ground. I’m not sure why the lady laughed at me. :S She seemed nice enough, though so I didn't take it personally. We made our way to Yoshikien garden. After that, we went to Todai-ji and saw the giant Buddha statue. We then continued to Kasuga Taisha (a shrine known for having around 3000 lanterns. On our way there, we came across a beautiful park chock full of cherry blossom trees. We stopped there for a bit. After leaving Kasuga Taisha, we headed home. It was a great day!

Cherry Blossoms in Nara Park.

Kofuku-ji.

We also went back to Kyoto for a day during my break. This time we went to the North Higashiyama mountain area. This day was special for a few reasons. First, this was only my second time doing this trip so I was able to discover new things. Second, it was 70 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside which was the warmest day we had had yet! It felt pretty hot. Third, the cherry blossoms were still in full bloom, and for those who don’t know, North Higashiyama is known for the “Path of Philosophy.” The Path of Philosophy is a stoned path that runs a long a canal and the mountains. It is lined with cherry trees. Since it was cheery blossom season, we were very lucky to be there. It was absolutely gorgeous! The only problem was that it was very crowded for this reason. We went to Nanzenji (a temple known for its cool aqueducts) at first. After that, we went to Eikando Temple. From there, we started on the path of philosophy. Despite how crowded it was, we were surprised to run in to Aimee and her boyfriend not once, but twice! As we approached Ginkakuji (The Silver Pavillion-which isn't actually silver unlike the Golden Pavillion which is actually gold), I saw some touristy streets that I had never seen before. I enjoyed that because touristy streets are usually filled with fun food stands. I got something called a potato tornado which was yummy. We went to Ginkakuji and made the long journey home after that. All I will say is **** Kyoto buses. They are terrible.

The Path of Philosophy.

Potato Tornado. Wahhh!!

On the last day of spring break, I met a lot of friends for hanami (flower viewing-a Japanese tradition during cherry blossom season where people get together and eat, drink, and socialize/play games under the cherry trees) at Osaka Castle Park. It was my first hanami experience so I was very excited. Unfortunately, the day before, there was a big rain storm and almost all the flowers had come off the trees, but we made the best of it. Despite it being a little damp and cold, a lot of people showed up, and we had a lot of fun! Perhaps the bottle of wine I drank to myself had something to do with it :P We met around noon, and headed home around 5 pm because we all had our first day of work the next day after the spring vacation. I was sobered up by seven and went to bed early. I can’t say the same for Travis, though. He was so drunk when we left that he ran into a wall, told me he did it on purpose, and then didn’t remember doing it the next day bahahaha! It was a successful first hanami in my opinion.

Hanami.

Since work has started back up, we have enjoyed doing little dates and fun things. We got Indian food one night and saw Paranorman in theaters. I really enjoyed the movie. Actually, we tried to go to one of my favorite Mexican places for dinner because Travis has been planning to treat me to a meal there, but when we got there, they said they were reserved for the entire night! Wtf? We got there right when it opened, too… So that’s why we got Indian. It was good, though. They gave us the biggest naan I've ever seen in my life! A different night, last week actually, we went for kushi-katsu a second time and went to the Japan Mint Building. It’s the building where they mint all the coins in Japan. The regular cherry blossoms are gone, but at the Japan Mint, they have this event where they do a very popular cherry blossom illumination event for a week. The cherry blossoms are a different breed. They are fluffier and pinker. The event attracts around 82,000 people in a week! Needless to say, it was crowded. It was really cool though! It was along the river somewhat close to Kyobashi Station. We stood by the river and looked at the lit up suspension bridge, the water, and the riverboats. The streets were lined with the most festival food I’ve seen so far in Japan. They actually even had makeshift restaurants put up for the event! It was insane! It was too bad we had just come from dinner (even though it was delicious) because there was so much interesting food to try there, but we were full. The blossoms were really nice, and it was free!

Cherry blossom illuminations at the Japan Mint Building.

One night, we went out to dinner with three of the English teachers I work with. I really wanted Travis to meet some more Japanese people and get a sense of some of the people I work with. We went to an izakaya called Shirokiya (Japanese style bar called "White Tree"). I love going out to eat with my coworkers because they always know what to order, and I get to try new things. Travis ate cow intestines and loved it haha…gross! I ate escargot, I think. It tasted like a mushroom…or really it was just a mushroom. I’m not sure.

Besides also having a lot of nights in together where I cook, we watch movies, and cuddle, that’s what we have been up to. I will write all about our trip to Tokyo in my next post.