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.