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!