Japanese Funeral

I had the unfortunate experience of attending a funeral recently. A few weeks have passed since the day, so I feel comfortable enough writing about it now. A funeral is a personal and private thing, so I won’t share specific details with you, nor will I tell you who I attended the funeral for. All you need to know is that it was someone I cared for, and I am very saddened. However, since there are some differences between Japanese and American style funerals, I thought it might be useful to explain for my readers who may at some point have to attend a funeral here in Japan.

First of all, I want to point out that I am a novice. I have only attended one funeral here and listened to my boyfriend’s stories when his grandmother passed. I haven’t done any research, I didn’t understand a lot of what was going on, and this particular funeral may have been different from others in some ways. I don’t know because I have nothing to compare it to. I just want to tell you what I experienced.

So first, I did not attend the wake. I’m assuming there was one the night before, but wakes, I believe, are for family only. In Japanese, wakes are called, “otsuya.” From what my boyfriend told me, it’s a time where the family gets together and reminisces and tells stories of the deceased. This is the same as America, however, a big difference is that someone must stay awake with the body all night without sleeping. Family members will take shifts. They must keep the incense lit. Since I’ve never been to this, I can’t provide any other information.

The funeral (or “osoushiki”) takes place the next day. This is what I attended. It’s a formal ceremony. Anyone who knew the deceased is welcome. Same as in America, you must wear all black, formal clothes. There are also funeral kimono that people wear. In my case, the funeral was at a formal funeral hall from 1pm. It lasted 1-2 hours. When you arrive, you fill out a slip with your name, address, phone number, and relation to the deceased.

After that, you take a seat. Seats closest to the body (and maybe in some cases, ashes?) are reserved for family. Everyone must bring their own juzu. Juzu are like a braclet of beads with a tassle that you hold in your hands while you pray/reflect. You hold them the whole time. I guess they are kind of like a rosary. Luckily, one of the people I went with had a spare one to lend me. I asked if we needed to bring any gifts or money. I feel like I heard before that sometimes money is given. I’m not sure what the rules are on that, but the people I went with told me I didn’t need to bring anything. I noticed that they didn’t bring anything either. Maybe there is some guidelines to who is supposed to bring money.

While sitting, up front by the body, there are several (about 5 or so) Buddhist priests chanting prayers, playing gongs and drums, and I singing. I have no idea what they were saying at all. The chants were hard to comprehend, but I feel at some points they were repeating “Amida Buddha” over and over. I should also mention that the inside of the hall was pretty similar to ones I’ve seen in America, except for where the body is placed up front. The flower arrangements were styled differently, all white in like paths. Sorry, it’s hard to explain. Also, there was like a mini, carved, wooden temple-looking structure where the body was placed.

The most different part for me was what happened next. One by one, starting with the family, then close friends, colleagues, acquaintances, etc., we went to a long table up front. On the table there were four incense settings. Four people would stand at the table, take little incense leaves, and sprinkle them into the burning embers. You would bow to the body and then to the family sitting by the table, then go back and take your seat.

Once everyone has gone, there is a short break. The staff hands out what seems to be like gift bags which I’ll explain in a second. Then, they wheel the open casket into the middle of room. Next, they bring huge baskets of flowers. This is the final goodbye. The staff will hand you a big handful of flowers to put inside the casket. This is when you can get one last look at the person, and for me, this is the hardest, most heart wrenching part. You can also give you thoughts and prayers to the family, which I did.

After the flowers are gone, the casket is closed, and the pallbearers walk the casket out to the hearse. The attending people form a path from the hall to the hearse. The Buddhist priests exit first. There is a lot of bowing. You basically bow, and don’t stop bowing until the hearse is out of sight. That’s when you can put away your juzu and leave.

When I got home, I opened the bag to find a message that basically said, “Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to attend the funeral,” and there was a small gift of appreciation. In this case, it was a white dish towel with blue rabbits. There was also a little packet of salt which I had learned from my boyfriend that you are supposed to sprinkle outside your door before entering your home. I’m not Buddhist, and I didn’t know the salt was in there when I went home, so I didn’t do it. That’s basically all I can say about this topic. One more important thing, it is custom not to send New Year’s cards to any family who has had someone pass away that year. So if you know someone who has passed away, don’t send their family a card at the end of the year. My boyfriend also taught me this. I hope this explanation will prove useful to someone. Thank you.

Music Circus 2016

As most of you know, I’m an avid concert go-er. I usually go to about 3 or so big ones a year. I kind of went to this one on a whim. This was actually my second time to go to Music Circus festival. I also went to the 2014 one. Steve Aoki headlined that time, too. To be honest, since I had already seen Steve Aoki, there wasn’t anyone in particular I really wanted to see, but it had been a while since I went to a concert, and I was getting the itch. Plus, this year it was on a beach which excited me because I had never been to a beach concert before, and since a few of my friends were going, I knew it would be a blast to drink, dance, and enjoy the music with them. I love EDM music.

The concert started at 11 am and went until 9 pm. Since going there all day would be exhausting, I decided to get there at about 4pm. Plus, I’m super prone to sunburn, so I thought it’d be better to go later. All the DJ’s I am interested in didn’t start until 5 pm anyway.

The great thing about this concert was how cheap it was! It was ¥9,000 for the whole day which may seem like a lot, but there were two stages with DJ’s playing the whole time. Also, FOUR DRINKS were included in the ticket price! You get little drink tickets at the entrance. Since a drink was like ¥700, a good third of the ticket price went to drinks which is awesome in my opinion because I would drink nonetheless at an EDM concert.

The concert was sponsored by Red Bull and Jose Cuervo, so all the drink stands were either tequila or Red Bull vodka. I haven’t been into tequila lately because of too many bad experiences with it, but drinking Red Bull vodkas is too filling, so I sucked it up and drank tequila after one Red Bull vodka. The shots were vile, but they had different flavored frozen margaritas which were awesome! I just ended up dumping most my shots into my margaritas lol. Did I mention this concert was on a Sunday and I had work the next day? :P

Despite drinking a good amount, the dancing and sweating made the alcohol wear off quicker than usual, and since I didn’t want to miss any of Steve Aoki’s set, I stopped drinking at like 7:30 when he went on. Also, the venue was far away and I didn’t get home until like 11:30 pm. By that time I was sober and ready for work the next day.

So anyway, let me tell you a little about the concert! First, the beach setting was awesome. The fashion and people at this particular event were super different and cool! I got a lot of my enjoyment just out of looking at everyone’s outfits! Dressing up crazy to go to concerts is kind of a thing in Japan.

My clubbing buddy.

The first DJ I watched was O-man on the smaller stage. He is a local Osaka DJ that I had seen at Club Joule before. I like his mixes. Then, on the main stage, I watched the famous, Turkish DJ Ummet Ozcan. This is when the booze really started kicking in, and I started dancing like crazy with my friends. It was incredible to me how fast time was passing. The unfortunate side of drinking is needing to pee. When I don’t drink, I can watch a whole concert uninterrupted, but at this event, I had to pee like 3 or 4 times due to drinking! The toilet lines were super long and annoying. There were no actual bathrooms. It was all porta-potties which was disgusting…but when you have to go, you have to go.

DJ O-man.

Ummet Ozcan.

After Ummet Ozcan, Blasterjaxx went on. That was probably the height of my buzz, and all I can remember is just dancing, dancing, dancing! When Steve Aoki went on, it was dark, and everyone was all lit up with lights and glow in the dark items. So cool! Steve Aoki’s set was awesome, as expected. Half way through, I started to feel the comedown and exhaustion but stuck it out until the end. One of my friends got too tired and left.

Blasterjaxx.

Party crew!

Glow-stick bracelets.

Steve Aoki.

One cool thing about Japanese music festivals is that there are usually fireworks at the end. After watching the fireworks and seeing Steve Aoki up close, we made the long journey home. The trains were crowded with sweaty people. When I got home, I showered, ate something, and went to bed. I would consider it to be a successful night!

Fireworks.

Steve up close.

Taken from Steve's Instagram.

Ise Jingu

Yay!! I got to mark a place of my Japan bucket list for the first time in a long time! My first two years in JET, I was living the life. I didn’t have to pay any taxes in Japan or America, and the exchange rate was in my favor which made loan payments much easier. From my 3^rd year, income and residence taxes began to burden me, and the yen became so weak, that I had to send home almost double the money…aka 1/3 of my paycheck. D: For these reasons, my travel funds have become nonexistent. I’m living from paycheck to paycheck.

However, when my friend told me she was talking a day trip during Golden Week to Ise Jingu (Ise Shrine) in Mie, a place I’ve had on my bucket list since moving to Japan, I felt like I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go with her. I always thought I’d have to go alone. Since Ise is somewhat close and doesn’t require an overnight stay, I just barely fit into my budget.

We woke up early, and met a Tsuruhashi station. From there, we took the Kintetsu line all the way to Mie which took about 1 ½ hours by limited-express train. You can save money by taking a much slower train that takes more like 2 ½ hours. We had three main goals. First, eat all the Ise food, second, see Ise Jingu, the most sacred Shinto shrine in all of Japan, and third, see Meoto Iwa, a famous and scenic spot.

On our way~

I think we made it 5 steps out of the station when I saw a man grilling oysters on the street. Oysters are one of Ise’s specialties. I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was like ¥400 for three oysters, very cheap! The oysters were huge, plump, juicy, and delicious! I was impressed. After eating them together, we took 5 more steps and found a shop selling Ise’s famous rice cake, akafuku mochi. So of course, we went in, sat down, and shared some of the mochi. It was tasty! It was like reverse mochi because the red bean paste was on the outside instead of the inside of the mochi.

Grilled oysters.

We made an agreement to at least see the outer shrine of Ise Jingu before eating more. I’ll get in to more detail later, but Ise Jingu was unlike any other Shrine I’ve ever been to… which I guess was to be expected because it’s famous for its simplicity. Despite it being Golden Week, it surprisingly didn’t seem that crowded to me.

Part of the outer shrine.

Since my friend is awesome, she looked in to money saving details ahead of time. So thanks to her craftiness, we were able to get all-you-can-ride bus passes for ¥1,000. Since we had to ride the bus three times to get around, it saved us some money. After checking out the outer shrine, we took the bus to the inner shrine, but before going in, we popped in to a little café to get Ise’s famous udon noodles. They are special because they are particularly soft with a more flavorful broth. I really enjoyed them! There’s a main street lined with shops that draws a lot of tourists. We started to walk down it but decided to come back to it later after checking out the temple because the street seemed long and daunting.

At the entrance of the inner shrine, I had my first jumping picture taken haha! That was fun. Now about the temple itself… Unfortunately, I was kind of underwhelmed. Maybe confused is a better term. Ise Jingu didn’t really look like what I thought it would. I had seen pictures, but it seemed a lot different. Perhaps this is partly due to it being newly rebuilt. They rebuild it ever twenty years to keep it fresh, and it had just been redone 3 years ago. The wood was pale yellow, not mossy and brown like I had expected. The thing that was most confusing to me was the layout. The inner shrine and outer shrine basically looked the same to me. Maybe to a more trained eye it’s different, but even though I tried to research some of the history and whatnot before going, I just couldn’t grasp what parts were most important.

My first jumping picture.

I’ll try to explain the best I can, but basically, you walk in to the temple grounds under a gate and over the Uji Bridge (which confused me because there is another really important bridge in Uji called the Uji Bridge). Once you get in and walk a bit, you come to a small building that looks like the other small buildings from the outer shrine. Then you walk more and come to another of what looks to be the same thing, but it’s not. Then you walk more, and come upon what is apparently the most sacred and main building, but it looked exactly like the others. Then you end up back at the entrance you came in. When I got back to the entrance, I was confused, and thought to myself, “Wait, did we miss it? Where was the main building?” We figured out that we had already seen it but didn’t realize it as we were seeing it. This is the image I had in mind, but I never saw this angle.

This apparently was the staircase up to the main building.

Like I said, I felt a little underwhelmed, but I will say that the style and architecture of the buildings was unlike any other shrine I’ve seen, and I thought it was really neat, although simplistic. The roofs looked all fluffy, and there were no nails or screws. Everything is made of interlocking wood kind of like Lincoln Logs (for those of you who know what those are).

Fluffy roofs!!

I’ll tell you a couple more things I liked about the shrine. There was this really clear, sparkling river which apparently is considered to be holy, purifying water. Many people touched the water. My friend and I sat by the river and enjoyed the atmosphere. Also, the trees here were incredible. I’ve never seen such huge, thick trees in my life! They were unbelievably wide. The big trees I think are good luck because many people touched them, and the wood was all shiny from being touched so much. I made sure to hug a few trees lol.

Sacred river.

Fat tree. <3

After exploring the inner shrine, we headed back to the street lined with shops. The buildings were all built in the same traditional style, and it was really pretty! Even Family Mart looked like old Japan! We went in and out of little shops in search of more mochi but didn’t find much. Instead, we found THE BEST fried oysters I’ve ever had in my life!! We took a break to sit down, have a couple oysters and some alcohol. During that time, a little boy came up to us and practiced his English greetings on us. He was so cute!

Main shopping street.

Awesome Family Mart!

All the Ise foods: udon, grilled oysters, fried oysters, and
akafuku-mochi.

Once we had our fill of exploring the street (which was pretty crowded), we took the bus to Meoto Iwa. Oh, before that, I was sure to buy some souvenirs for my boyfriend and his family. It’s custom.

We went on Children's Day.

We saw a real tanuki!

...and stray cats. :)

Meoto Iwa, or “the wedded rocks” or “married couple rocks” as they’re called, are two rocks in the ocean that are connected by a one ton rope. These rocks are considered sacred and celebrate marriage. Couples come here to pray for a good marriage or relationship. The big rock represents the male and the smaller one, female. At this shrine, there are also a lot of frog statues. Frog in Japanese is “kaeru” which also means “to go home.” The frogs represent safe travel home. This place was very pretty and my favorite part of Ise. The water was really rough, and waves would crash up on to the walking path and smash against the rocks. It was really exciting. The rocks were beautiful. Be sure to go during high tide.

Meoto Iwa.

Frogs.

My only complaint is that the area this shrine is in is a bit out of the way in a dilapidated area. There was a really small and depressing aquarium that we didn’t go in, but there was an outside exhibit in front with two large seals in it. The exhibit was filthy and tiny for these massive seals. They looked depressed. One was just lying there motionless, and the other was trying to climb out over the wall, screaming. It really hurt to watch and unfortunately left a scar on my image of Ise.

Overall, I’m glad I went to Ise, though. I hadn’t taken any sort of trip in a long long time, and it felt great. I also really enjoyed my friend’s company. There are some places I want to travel to alone, but Ise wasn’t one of them. It was nice to go with my friend. I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect at Ise! I suggest researching before you go to get the best experience.

What you all have been waiting for…White Day!

Sorry I left you guys hanging with my Valentine’s Day post…Will my boyfriend remember White Day this year? What will he do? Should I remind him?

Thanks to your guys’ advice, I decided not to be the conniving girlfriend and reminded him about White Day two days before lol! I said, “Do you remember that White Day is in two days?” to which he replied with a shocked noise, “Ah!” He totally forgot this year as well…men… BUT he promised to do something nice for me this year since it would be two years worth of White Days, and he did not disappoint! Although the celebration didn’t take place until a few weeks after actual White Day, he surprised me by taking me to a nice restaurant. He reserved a private room! It was there that he handed me a bouquet of 14 pink roses, baby’s breath, and daisies. I was so excited because he had never bought me flowers before! So sweet and romantic!

After dinner, he took me to the bar where we had our first real date. It’s super nice, and it had been quite a while since we had been there together. It was the perfect setting. We went back to our town around 11pm, and stopped by the bar we met at to end the night.

Actually, it didn’t end there, he stayed the night, and when we woke up the next day, we went to a café nearby that we’ve been wanting to go to for several months. It was such a pleasant, relaxing morning, and a perfect White Day celebration. J

Sakura Date

Hanami season has come and gone. This year I was able to go to three different hanami parties! They were all super fun! Good food, good drinks, good company, and good atmosphere.

I don’t think I wrote about my hanami date with my boyfriend last year, so I’ll write about it this year! Last year we went to the Japan Mint Bureau at night to see the illuminated sakura, so this year we thought we’d go on a day date.

Although I have been there before during hanami season, I think one of the most beautiful places to see sakura is The Path of Philosophy in Kyoto. I wanted to take Shinya there. So, on a perfect Wednesday during my spring break, we went. He’s usually off on Wednesdays, so it worked out. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! Not too hot, not too cold, and the sky was clear as could be!

We arrived at Keage station and from there, made our way to the path. Since this area is pretty rural, it felt super refreshing. It was quiet, and we could hear the birds chirping and the water trickle in the canal. The sun was shining, there was a cool breeze, and the air smelled and felt fresh. I felt so light-spirited.

To be honest, we were a little early to see the sakura in full bloom. Some trees were fully bloomed, but others weren’t. I thought it was beautiful nonetheless. The plus side of it being early was that there weren’t many people. Last time I went during hanami season, it was so busy I could hardly walk!

Full bloom.

We made our way up the path stopping by a couple temples. We also took breaks to sit and take in the atmosphere, eat some street food, and watch the stray cats. The finale was Ginkakuji aka The Silver Pavilion, which is a famous temple in Kyoto and contrary to the name, not silver at all lol.

Stray cats.

Potatornado!

Ginkakuji.

After spending a couple hours exploring the path and temples, we went to an izakaya for dinner and ended the night with a couple drinks and Yu Yu Hakusho at home. It was such a wonderful day!

Double Stephanies!!

Since moving to Japan, I’ve had five different people come visit me from America. My first four visitors all came within my first year and a half of living in Japan. It wasn’t until recently the fifth person came to visit towards the end of my four year. If you do the math, you’ll realize that it had been well over two years since I had a visitor! The amount of things, places, and people I know in Japan have increased exponentially…not to mention my Japanese ability! I was soooo excited to finally have a visitor again who I could really show my Japanese life to even better than before.

The person who came to visit me is my high school friend and neighbor, also named Stephanie! She had always wanted to come visit me in Japan, but since she was in flight school, she couldn’t spare the time or money. A couple years later, she is now a pilot, and thanks to that, she could fly over to visit me almost for free (she still had to pay for her connecting flights from Seoul to Osaka and from Osaka to Tokyo on the way home). The timing finally worked out!

Double Stephanies!

Actually, it was a very short trip because she couldn’t get all the time she wanted off of work, but still, it was a great mini trip! So let me tell you what we did!!

She got here on March 22^nd at night. I met her at Kansai International Airport, and we rode the train back to my town together. I learned something new, actually. Before, I always told whoever visited me to prepare their Japanese money in advance. Credit cards are hardly used in this country, so you must have cash. Of course, it is still a good idea to prepare your cash in advance to give yourself peace of mind, but I found out through Stephanie that for a smaller fee than what you’d usually pay at a bank, you can withdraw yen from 7 & I Holdings ATM’s with your American credit card. It might be the cheapest way to convert your money, and there is one of those ATM’s in the airport. I’m not sure I it works for 24-7, though, so be careful.

Once we got to my town, we stopped at a Family Mart (convenience store) to get whatever snacks and drinks Stephanie wanted in the house while she was here. Living in Japan for as long as I have, I have become quite used to everything here. I am no longer surprised my most daily things. Of course, when I first got here, I would spend a half hour in the convenience stores looking at all the different things for sale. It was so interesting! Watching Stephanie look at all the different foods and asking me what things were really made me feel nostalgic about when I first came here. In fact, one of the most fun parts about Stephanie visiting me was seeing her reaction to everything and remembering how I once felt that way.

It was pretty late when we got back to my place, so after chatting and snacking a little bit, we went to bed. Actually I had to work till about 11am the next day. It was my last day of work before Spring break started. I figured after Stephanie long trip here, she’d need time to recover and sleep in anyway.

When I got back from work, Stephanie was in a dead sleep haha! I eventually woke her up, and we went downtown to Shinsaibashi/Namba. First we got lunch at an okonomiyaki place. Stephanie can’t eat fish, so I think the fishy flavor of the okonomiyaki was a little too much, but she loved the yakisoba! We made sure to get pictures with the Glico Man, one of Osaka’s famous landmarks. There was a little shrine nearby, so I thought I’d she enjoy seeing that too before we started shopping.

Glico Man selfie.

Yakisoba.

Splashing water on the shrine.

We went in several stores, played in game centers, and did purikura before heading to a cat café. It was actually my first time to go to a cat café in Osaka, so I was pretty excited! There were lots of cute kitties. :3 Before heading to dinner, I made sure to show Stephanie the Glico Man lit up at night and also gave her a brief love hotel tour haha! Something she pointed out was that it’s amazing how the Japanese make use of every available space. One small building will have like 20 different stores or an unmarked staircase down to a basement can lead to a nice restaurant. Very true!

Purikura #1.

Purikura #2.

Cat cafe.

Cat cafe.

Cat cafe.

Cat cafe.

Doutonbori at night.

Due to jetlag, Stephanie’s appetite was pretty messed up, so she wouldn’t get very hungry in the evening, and at about 6 or 7pm, she’d crash of exhaustion. So we made dinner a quick event. There’s a standing sushi place in Kyobashi that has become my favorite sushi place because it’s high quality, fresh, delicious and very cheap! They bring the sushi out to you as soon as you order it, so we were able to get in, have a few pieces, and get out quickly, so we could go home and sleep. Stephanie said it was the best sushi she’s ever had in her life! Like I said, she doesn’t eat fish, but she loves shrimp and some other shellfish, so she could eat that. I also introduced her to chu-hi (like alcoholic flavored soda) that night which she enjoyed.­ ­

Best sushi everrrrr.

The next day, we slept in, hit up the dollar store in my town so she could by some more souvenirs, and grabbed a snack of takoyaki and taiyaki before we headed in to town to eat lunch. Again, the takoyaki was a little iffy for her, but the taiyaki ended up being her favorite food in Japan which took me by surprise haha! For those who don’t know, taikyaki is like a pancake shaped like a fish that’s filled with usually bean paste or custard. Stephanie loved the custard ones. For lunch, I took her to my favorite place to eat in all of Japan. Kushikatsu Doteyaki in Kyobashi.  I have a whole post about this place. Not exactly the healthiest lunch, but we both enjoyed our delicious lunch of kushikatsu and deep fried gyoza (potstickers).

Kushikatsu.

Our next stop after lunch was Osaka Castle. There was some huge concert going on at Osaka-jo Hall, so it was really hard to get around the crowds, but eventually we got to the castle, took a few pictures, and then headed to a game center again to take more purikura and play games haha! We also bought sweaters in a store. She got one with a panda on it that says, “pandaaaaa” in Japanese, and I got one with sushi on it that say, “osushi” in English. So cute!

Osaka Castle.

In the evening, I had an English conversation class to teach, so after resting at home for a couple hours, we headed to the class. I made her participate in the lesson, and I think she had a good time. I know my students were excited to have her there. After the lesson, I took her to kaitenzushi (rotating conveyor belt sushi) since I knew she’d get a kick out of it, and believe me, she did! Even though she wasn’t that hungry, she was having so much fun ordering the food and having it come out on a little train, that she actually ate a good amount.

Here comes the train!

She was starting to hit the jetlag wall after dinner, but I wanted her to meet my boyfriend once, so we met him at my favorite bar nearby for one drink. It was short, but I’m so happy I could introduce him! I figured I give her some peaceful resting time alone. So I walked her home, and went back to the bar for one more drink (ok two) with my bf before calling it a night.

Her last full day, we made a trip to Kyoto. Stephanie’s favorite animal is monkeys, so I wanted to make sure she could see wild monkeys! I took her to Arashiyama. We got a lunch of tendon (tempura on rice) and noodles before climbing the mountain up to the monkeys! She was so excited to see them! We went into the hut to feed them, and even though it was like my fifth time to feed the monkeys, I had something happen to me that’s never happened before! There was an old grouchy monkey that Stephanie was feeding apples to. I went to feed it a peanut which I guess didn’t want because it got pissed and grabbed and pulled on my finger, knocked the peanut out of my hand, and screamed at me. LOL! We got a slow motion video of it. It was…interesting, to say the least.

Tendon and udon.

Bitch monkey.

Pretty monkey.

Our feet were tired after the climb, and we still had a lot of walking left to do. I wanted to take her to the bamboo forest in Arashiyama next, but on our way we saw the rickshaws, and even though it was expensive, Stephanie decided it’d be worth the price since our feet were hurting, so I got to ride a rickshaw for the very first time, and it was so much fun! It took us right through the forest! That was probably my favorite part of the trip!

Rickshaw!

So much fun!

Bamboo forest.

The final stop was Kiyomuzu Temple (after getting more taiyaki haha). Stephanie had two requests when she came to Japan. 1) She wanted to eat sushi and 2) She wanted to see a temple. I figured Kiyomizu Temple would be a good one to show her. After enduring the Kyoto busses on the way there, we made it up to the Temple. It was super cold that day! We were both exhausted, but I think Stephanie was impressed by the temple. After appreciating it, taking pictures, and stopping by some souvenir shops, we made the long journey home. This time we skipped the bus back to Kyoto Station and took a taxi. I felt rich haha! We were too exhausted to get dinner that night, so I just ate some mac & cheese that Stephanie had brought me, and she went straight to bed.

Kiyomizu Temple.

The next day, the 26^th, we got up, went to the dollar store one last time, and stopped by the convenience store to get snacks for the train ride to the airport. Stephanie’s favorite convenience store items ended up being these little maple pancake things and bubble tea. It was sad for me when she left, but I was so happy she came and visited me.

In my sadness, I decided to do some day drinking in Kyobashi to lift my spirits while I waited for my boyfriend to get off of work. Lol! I started drinking about 1pm, and it definitely took my mind off the sadness of Stephanie leaving. I thought my boyfriend would get off around 3 or 4 at the latest, but he ended up working really late until 6, so needless to say, I got blasted haha…thanks to the old man at the standing bar who kept paying for my drinks. :P

Since Stephanie can come to Japan for cheap, I hope that she gets another chance to visit some time! I still have many other places I want to show her!  It warmed my heart when she told me that this was the best trip she’s ever taken. She’s even been to Europe and stuff! Her reason was that Japan is so different from America whereas the European countries she went to weren’t. It really felt like a different world. Also, she appreciated Japan’s cleanliness. I’m so happy I had the chance to show her my second home. Come again any time, Stephanie!