Okay, I really want to go to bed, but I wanted to bang out some quick thoughts on my overall experience on my last night here in 守口市。
I have a lot of mixed feelings about the whole thing. And I think that's to be expected. I'm definitely glad I came. I'm really determined to put my Japanese skills to use, and get better, and maybe even someday call myself fluent. It's good to know that I still have that resolve after spending 4 months here. I am not sure how I feel about living in Japan, though. I think that when this current 20s-ish generation grows up a little more, there are going to be a lot of social changes. So maybe I'll wait until then to live here again. But you know, this was a really important experience for me, as a young person, as an American, as a woman. It was really quite something to be in the minority. And you know that's another thing--Japan's homogeneity scares me to death. Sure, there are foreigners living here, but I think that if Japanese society would stop marginalizing non-Japanese so much, we might have an easier time. Part of this has to do with the language barrier. The general view is that Japanese is a ridiculously hard language, so no foreigner is going to know any of it. The truth is, Japanese is not a hard language to speak, not at all. You can convey entire sets of emotions and feelings with just one word, instead of having to construct an entire sentence. Compared to English, Japanese spoken sentences are extremely short. Reading and writing is a different beast however, but the more aggressive you are with your spoken Japanese, the more people will try and understand you.
I suppose next time I should try living in a smaller town. Andy has had some wonderful experiences in less-populated areas, and I've had other people tell me that the relationship you have with people in a smaller town is radically different from what you have living in a big city like Osaka, and I believe that 100%.
But you know, it was fun, I didn't work too hard, and I certainly learned a lot. And I'm really excited to go home and have my beautiful California summer and eat burritos and go to the beach and play video games and see all the people I missed so much while I was here. And I'm sure when I come back, I'll have an even better grip on things.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do about blogging. I really liked having it as an outlet. If I do decide to continue though, I'm going to start a new one at a different address. So, thanks for reading, I really do appreciate it.
それじゃ、また。
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Last weekend in Osaka
On Saturday, Andy and I met up with Ryoko, Koppun, Kana, and Maho for our last rendezvous in Namba. We went to karaoke at Jankara, which was half off because high schoolers were banned from entering due to swine flu. I'm not sure if this was because they didn't want kids going out, or because they didn't want them to spread the flu, or both, or what. The downside is that we were limited to 2 hours (you must understand that the Japanese go to karaoke for absurdly long amounts of time, especially if your group is on the bigger side). So we went in, we sang and sang, and then when our 2 hours were up, what do you think we did? We went to a different Jankara, which you could see immediately upon exiting the Jankara we were in.
There was an hour wait however, so we took some purikura in the meantime.
It's kind of funny how the brightness/contrast in purikura does not deal well with white people's skin. Either you look really washed out or really tan, or in the case of this one, really red.
The video of the day once again came from Maho, and it is this one.
It's great going to karaoke with Japanese kids, because they pick new songs which have the music videos to go along with them.
After we had finally gotten our fill of singing (or did we?), we went to this Mexican restaurant that Andy had found in an English-language Osaka-area magazine. We had been dying to go to this place, because the photos and the review indicated that it would be incredible. And BOY, was it ever! It was super authentic, which surprised me a little bit, and absolutely delicious. We had tacos, a quesadilla, nachos, enchiladas, and some kind of egg and chorizo dish. It was so freaking good. We had really good times. My Japanese friends described me and Andy as ぺらぺら fluent, and that always feels great. We discussed kanji. I decided on the kanji for my entire name. My first name I knew from some language table at Oberlin where some people picked some out for me. They are...
詩絵奈
The first (shi) means poetry, the second (e) drawing, and the last (na) is in girl's names a lot, and also places like Nara. It's pretty cute.
薔薇
My middle name is Rose, so I can go for a direct translation. "Rose" in Japanese is bara and you don't see it in kanji very often because it's really complicated. Japanese don't have middle names though.
水私
And my last name, which in Spanish means "water" and "I," I picked the kanji for "water" and "I." Ahaha.
Anyway. It was really wonderful, and I will miss them. Koppun is studying abroad in America starting in this summer, so hopefully we can rendezvous at some point. The others have another year to go before they'll go abroad, but I have high hopes.
The next day, Andy and I went to Universal Studios Japan, which was pretty cool. The best ride was the roller coaster, entitled Hollywood Dreams: The Ride, which is pretty funny considering I'm from Hollywood, and the Universal Studios in Hollywood doesn't have this ride. But it was a great coaster. We also got to go on Back to the Future, which doesn't exist in America anymore, and I have to say it wasn't as good in Japanese. But still nostalgic. Jaws was terrifying, Jurassic Park was still cool, and the Spider-man ride was pretty sweet although it kind of gave me a headache. It was half ride half 3D movie... ask me about it sometime.
The weirdest thing though, is that USJ is really trying to be Tokyo Disneyland. There was an uncanny amount of similarly themed attractions, like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Arabian Nights (aka Aladdin), Cinderella.. I'm not kidding. That was pretty much all their electrical parade (sound familiar?) consisted of. And I guess licensing rights are different around the world, since USJ also had Peanuts. And no Nickelodeon, which was sorely missed. They also had this 4D Sesame Street movie, which was pretty cute, very faithful and in simple enough Japanese for us to understand. We ate dinner at a casual Italian restaurant, which felt familiar, even if the pizza I ate was curry-sausage-and-potato flavored.
Universal Studios was never my favorite amusement park, and I wasn't really that keen on going until we ended up at Citywalk by chance that one time and I was looking at the roller coaster from the outside.
It was a really great last weekend. I don't believe that I'm really going home.
There was an hour wait however, so we took some purikura in the meantime.
It's kind of funny how the brightness/contrast in purikura does not deal well with white people's skin. Either you look really washed out or really tan, or in the case of this one, really red.
The video of the day once again came from Maho, and it is this one.
It's great going to karaoke with Japanese kids, because they pick new songs which have the music videos to go along with them.
After we had finally gotten our fill of singing (or did we?), we went to this Mexican restaurant that Andy had found in an English-language Osaka-area magazine. We had been dying to go to this place, because the photos and the review indicated that it would be incredible. And BOY, was it ever! It was super authentic, which surprised me a little bit, and absolutely delicious. We had tacos, a quesadilla, nachos, enchiladas, and some kind of egg and chorizo dish. It was so freaking good. We had really good times. My Japanese friends described me and Andy as ぺらぺら fluent, and that always feels great. We discussed kanji. I decided on the kanji for my entire name. My first name I knew from some language table at Oberlin where some people picked some out for me. They are...
詩絵奈
The first (shi) means poetry, the second (e) drawing, and the last (na) is in girl's names a lot, and also places like Nara. It's pretty cute.
薔薇
My middle name is Rose, so I can go for a direct translation. "Rose" in Japanese is bara and you don't see it in kanji very often because it's really complicated. Japanese don't have middle names though.
水私
And my last name, which in Spanish means "water" and "I," I picked the kanji for "water" and "I." Ahaha.
Anyway. It was really wonderful, and I will miss them. Koppun is studying abroad in America starting in this summer, so hopefully we can rendezvous at some point. The others have another year to go before they'll go abroad, but I have high hopes.
The next day, Andy and I went to Universal Studios Japan, which was pretty cool. The best ride was the roller coaster, entitled Hollywood Dreams: The Ride, which is pretty funny considering I'm from Hollywood, and the Universal Studios in Hollywood doesn't have this ride. But it was a great coaster. We also got to go on Back to the Future, which doesn't exist in America anymore, and I have to say it wasn't as good in Japanese. But still nostalgic. Jaws was terrifying, Jurassic Park was still cool, and the Spider-man ride was pretty sweet although it kind of gave me a headache. It was half ride half 3D movie... ask me about it sometime.
The weirdest thing though, is that USJ is really trying to be Tokyo Disneyland. There was an uncanny amount of similarly themed attractions, like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Arabian Nights (aka Aladdin), Cinderella.. I'm not kidding. That was pretty much all their electrical parade (sound familiar?) consisted of. And I guess licensing rights are different around the world, since USJ also had Peanuts. And no Nickelodeon, which was sorely missed. They also had this 4D Sesame Street movie, which was pretty cute, very faithful and in simple enough Japanese for us to understand. We ate dinner at a casual Italian restaurant, which felt familiar, even if the pizza I ate was curry-sausage-and-potato flavored.
Universal Studios was never my favorite amusement park, and I wasn't really that keen on going until we ended up at Citywalk by chance that one time and I was looking at the roller coaster from the outside.
It was a really great last weekend. I don't believe that I'm really going home.
天橋立 Amanohashidate
I am going back to the Motherland tomorrow!!! But before I talk about that I have to catch up a little bit.
Last Thursday, I took a bus from Osaka to Amanohashidate, which is one of the three famous sights of Japan (along with Miyajima).
The bus ride was a lot better than my previous experience busing to and from Tokyo on the night bus, and they even played a movie so I could practice my listening comprehension skills! I now confess I am mildly curious about what Madagascar (you know, the Dreamworks one about zoo animals) is like in English.
The walk to the youth hostel was through the little town, which was absolutely adorable, and then across the land bridge (which is what the town is famous for, because when viewed from a distance and upside down it looks like a bridge to heaven).
The hostel we stayed at was up a hill. Unlike all the other hostels I'd been to in Japan, which were international hostels, this one was a Japanese one, so that was different. The couple running the place were friendly and joked with me about Japanese people being too concerned about the swine flu.
I rented one of their bikes and we flew down the hill. We took a dip in the water, because I really wanted to. It wasn't as cold as it would have been if it were in Los Angeles.
The next day, before busing back to Osaka, we headed up the hill to get our view of the bridge to heaven.
You're supposed to look at it between your legs.
And then it looks like a bridge to heaven.
Like this.
There was a giant group of old Japanese tourists who went up with us. Andy said, "This happens to me all the time." I think old people sustain the Japanese tourist industry.
We took the chair lift down, which was awesome.
We didn't have that much time there, but I really needed the getaway. It was lovely to see all the greenery, and the water. I'm glad I got to get out of Osaka one more time before I leave.
Last Thursday, I took a bus from Osaka to Amanohashidate, which is one of the three famous sights of Japan (along with Miyajima).
The bus ride was a lot better than my previous experience busing to and from Tokyo on the night bus, and they even played a movie so I could practice my listening comprehension skills! I now confess I am mildly curious about what Madagascar (you know, the Dreamworks one about zoo animals) is like in English.
The walk to the youth hostel was through the little town, which was absolutely adorable, and then across the land bridge (which is what the town is famous for, because when viewed from a distance and upside down it looks like a bridge to heaven).
The hostel we stayed at was up a hill. Unlike all the other hostels I'd been to in Japan, which were international hostels, this one was a Japanese one, so that was different. The couple running the place were friendly and joked with me about Japanese people being too concerned about the swine flu.
I rented one of their bikes and we flew down the hill. We took a dip in the water, because I really wanted to. It wasn't as cold as it would have been if it were in Los Angeles.
The next day, before busing back to Osaka, we headed up the hill to get our view of the bridge to heaven.
You're supposed to look at it between your legs.
And then it looks like a bridge to heaven.
Like this.
There was a giant group of old Japanese tourists who went up with us. Andy said, "This happens to me all the time." I think old people sustain the Japanese tourist industry.
We took the chair lift down, which was awesome.
We didn't have that much time there, but I really needed the getaway. It was lovely to see all the greenery, and the water. I'm glad I got to get out of Osaka one more time before I leave.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
On the road
Monday, May 18, 2009
SWINE FLU PANIC
So today, I woke up, and my host mom told me that my younger host bro was not going to school today. I was like "okay, cool" and then she said "swine flu" in English and I laughed because it's become a joke in our house, since they had never heard the word "swine" vs. "pig" before, and my host dad is a big joker. So I laughed, but then she looked at me seriously and I said 本当?! (Really?!) and she goes 本当 (Really.) and I went へええええええええ (whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat). She told me that all the public middle and high schools in Osaka have been declared closed for the week.
Thinking nothing of this, I went to school and took my reading/writing final, which I had studied diligently for this weekend. After the test, I was all set to start in on studying for my Spoken Japanese final, when I start hearing all these rumors that school has been canceled.
Sure enough, it turns out that Kansai Gaidai has decided to shut down the entire school until Sunday, meaning that we won't take our Spoken Japanese finals, and our graduation/completion ceremony on Saturday has been canceled (which my friend was going to give a speech at, and also a lot of people's parents were flying to Japan for). I still have to e-mail in my Sexuality paper so it's not a total victory, and I was kind of looking forward to dressing up for the graduation ceremony, but honestly what a strange, strange thing. I, for one, am not concerned about my health in the slightest and feel that everyone is overreacting. I haven't heard anything from anyone back in the States about swine flu. Are YOU concerned about catching swine flu?
Thinking nothing of this, I went to school and took my reading/writing final, which I had studied diligently for this weekend. After the test, I was all set to start in on studying for my Spoken Japanese final, when I start hearing all these rumors that school has been canceled.
Sure enough, it turns out that Kansai Gaidai has decided to shut down the entire school until Sunday, meaning that we won't take our Spoken Japanese finals, and our graduation/completion ceremony on Saturday has been canceled (which my friend was going to give a speech at, and also a lot of people's parents were flying to Japan for). I still have to e-mail in my Sexuality paper so it's not a total victory, and I was kind of looking forward to dressing up for the graduation ceremony, but honestly what a strange, strange thing. I, for one, am not concerned about my health in the slightest and feel that everyone is overreacting. I haven't heard anything from anyone back in the States about swine flu. Are YOU concerned about catching swine flu?
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Birthday Pt III: new friends
The last part of my birthday celebration came somewhat unexpectedly yesterday at lunch at school. I met up with my new friend Yuki, and she and her friends gave me a bunch of Osaka-related presents, a strawberry cake that we all ate together, and a beautiful little book they made with pictures of us in it and letters written in English saying how much they appreciated spending time with me and practicing their English. Unlike my other Japanese friends, these girls are freshmen, so I'm pretty much their first exchange student friend. I was really moved by all the effort they put into everything. I jacked some pics from Yuki's facebook, I hope she doesn't mind (I don't have any pics of my bday lunch, these are from random times).
Birthday Pt II: Hirakata Park and Toriki
The day of my actual birthday was really wonderful. I woke up late/early (late because class started at 11 instead of 9, early because I woke up before my alarm) and opened the tiny package my family had sent me. It contained a singing card with robots on it that sang Domo Arigatou Mr. Roboto which made me simultaneously crack up and want to cry at the same time. I can't wait to see them all so very soon. I was also relieved because the rain had stopped, and they don't run roller coasters in the rain.
After my one class that day, I met up with Andy and we went to Hirakata Park, which is a local theme park only one train stop away from Kansai Gaidai. You can see it from the train, and it always looks closed because nobody is ever there, so I thought it might be worth checking out. There were indeed very few people there, and we went on the good rides twice. I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I only took pictures of the Ferris wheel, because it is giant and rainbow.
I like to interpret "circus" as a direct object here.
That night, we went to Toriki for dinner, which is where all the cool kids from Kansai Gaidai go to drink but for some reason I had never been there. It is a yakitori chain where everything costs 280 yen. Ai, Asami, and Mai came, and also fellow Californian Andrew, and we ate a lot of food and drank a little bit. I had invited a ton of people who ended up not being able to come, but in the end it was fine, since it would have been difficult to manage a big group of people. Afterward we had ice cream at 31 (which is what the Japanese call Baskin-Robbins/31 Flavors, and I am afraid I will never be able to switch back--actually they call it saati-wan). Throughout the day, I received many lovely e-mail and Facebook greetings, and felt very lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life. And now I am 21, at long last! What a strange feeling that is.
After my one class that day, I met up with Andy and we went to Hirakata Park, which is a local theme park only one train stop away from Kansai Gaidai. You can see it from the train, and it always looks closed because nobody is ever there, so I thought it might be worth checking out. There were indeed very few people there, and we went on the good rides twice. I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I only took pictures of the Ferris wheel, because it is giant and rainbow.
I like to interpret "circus" as a direct object here.
That night, we went to Toriki for dinner, which is where all the cool kids from Kansai Gaidai go to drink but for some reason I had never been there. It is a yakitori chain where everything costs 280 yen. Ai, Asami, and Mai came, and also fellow Californian Andrew, and we ate a lot of food and drank a little bit. I had invited a ton of people who ended up not being able to come, but in the end it was fine, since it would have been difficult to manage a big group of people. Afterward we had ice cream at 31 (which is what the Japanese call Baskin-Robbins/31 Flavors, and I am afraid I will never be able to switch back--actually they call it saati-wan). Throughout the day, I received many lovely e-mail and Facebook greetings, and felt very lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life. And now I am 21, at long last! What a strange feeling that is.
Birthday Pt I: Peruvian Food
So I have finals on Monday and Tuesday, but I desperately need a break from studying, so it's blogging time!
So I really need to blog about all of my birthday celebrations, because there were a lot... so let's see...
The first one was last Monday night, when I went out with Ryoko, Koppun, Kana, and Mahoko to a Peruvian restaurant in Umeda that Koppun had found. None of us had any idea what Peruvian food would entail, but I guessed that it would probably be delicious, and it really was. We had a lot of good conversation and a LOT of good food... we photographed it all diligently (the Japanese girls I hang out with are pretty big on photographing food, and I can't really disagree with this habit). I'm not going to post all of them though, just the best ones. We ordered a course so there was a lot of food.
Delicious birthday Peru cake!
I think this was potato with black mint sauce, and some egg, served on top of sea shells.
God this soup was SO GOOD, I ate most of it even though it was for all 5 of us. It was chicken and spicy and MM DECLICIOUS
This was our little assorted dessert plate. That's wine jelly, and a kind of rice dessert cake, and the same cake I got in honor of my birthday.
Sweet stuff you put in your coffee.
Maybe my favorite part of the decor was the slide projector (NOT a digital one) projecting pictures of Peru on the wall by our table. It gave it a really rustic effect.
The whole evening was a blast, and my pictures are kind of dark because my flash makes everything look like crap, but you can have them anyway.
(Koppun,) Kana, Me, Mahoko
Ryoko, Koppun
And of course what is Peru without alpacas:
On my actual birthday, they decorated my mail box at school with green sparkly things and made me a bunch of green paper cranes (they know I like green). Ryoko and Koppun gave me some stickers and little things from Tokyu Hands, a fabulous department store that literally has everything. We spent a lot of time in the stationery department once. They also printed out some pics of our various adventures and put them in a nice, brown envelope. I was really surprised, and touched. It reminded me of high school when my friends used to decorate my locker on my birthday. I hope they have the chance to study abroad and make nice friends who will do nice things for them on their birthdays. ♥
So I really need to blog about all of my birthday celebrations, because there were a lot... so let's see...
The first one was last Monday night, when I went out with Ryoko, Koppun, Kana, and Mahoko to a Peruvian restaurant in Umeda that Koppun had found. None of us had any idea what Peruvian food would entail, but I guessed that it would probably be delicious, and it really was. We had a lot of good conversation and a LOT of good food... we photographed it all diligently (the Japanese girls I hang out with are pretty big on photographing food, and I can't really disagree with this habit). I'm not going to post all of them though, just the best ones. We ordered a course so there was a lot of food.
Delicious birthday Peru cake!
I think this was potato with black mint sauce, and some egg, served on top of sea shells.
God this soup was SO GOOD, I ate most of it even though it was for all 5 of us. It was chicken and spicy and MM DECLICIOUS
This was our little assorted dessert plate. That's wine jelly, and a kind of rice dessert cake, and the same cake I got in honor of my birthday.
Sweet stuff you put in your coffee.
Maybe my favorite part of the decor was the slide projector (NOT a digital one) projecting pictures of Peru on the wall by our table. It gave it a really rustic effect.
The whole evening was a blast, and my pictures are kind of dark because my flash makes everything look like crap, but you can have them anyway.
(Koppun,) Kana, Me, Mahoko
Ryoko, Koppun
And of course what is Peru without alpacas:
On my actual birthday, they decorated my mail box at school with green sparkly things and made me a bunch of green paper cranes (they know I like green). Ryoko and Koppun gave me some stickers and little things from Tokyu Hands, a fabulous department store that literally has everything. We spent a lot of time in the stationery department once. They also printed out some pics of our various adventures and put them in a nice, brown envelope. I was really surprised, and touched. It reminded me of high school when my friends used to decorate my locker on my birthday. I hope they have the chance to study abroad and make nice friends who will do nice things for them on their birthdays. ♥
Friday, May 15, 2009
Parfait Orgy
Some of you more faithful followers of my blog may remember this post featuring photographs of giant parfaits that cost upwards of $100 USD. The parfait place, as it is known, was a favorite hangout of Jess and company, and I had the great fortune of being able to participate in the consumption of a jumbo parfait with Jess, Andy, Althea, and 5 of their AKP friends.
It was truly a sight to behold.
I tried my best to take some artistic photographs before we all dug in.
TAKE NOTE: Japanese marachino cherries taste absolutely nothing like the marachino cherries I am used to. In fact, they taste awful. The fruit in the ice cream was all frozen by the time we got to it (or maybe it was never unfrozen...) but the strangest to eat was the frozen dango. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Andy and I ate the most. I think we were probably a valuable addition to the team. By the time we got to the bottom, it was mostly yogurt, and it had all turned the same gross beige color, and I felt pretty sick to my stomach. I pressed on as long as I could. They served us black coffee in tiny cups at the end which made me feel a little better. Lord knows I didn't have to add any sugar to it.
Overall, it was fun, but perhaps not an experience I would be eager to repeat, though you could probably convince me. I would definitely go for one of the 2-person ones they serve in pitchers.
It was truly a sight to behold.
I tried my best to take some artistic photographs before we all dug in.
TAKE NOTE: Japanese marachino cherries taste absolutely nothing like the marachino cherries I am used to. In fact, they taste awful. The fruit in the ice cream was all frozen by the time we got to it (or maybe it was never unfrozen...) but the strangest to eat was the frozen dango. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Andy and I ate the most. I think we were probably a valuable addition to the team. By the time we got to the bottom, it was mostly yogurt, and it had all turned the same gross beige color, and I felt pretty sick to my stomach. I pressed on as long as I could. They served us black coffee in tiny cups at the end which made me feel a little better. Lord knows I didn't have to add any sugar to it.
Overall, it was fun, but perhaps not an experience I would be eager to repeat, though you could probably convince me. I would definitely go for one of the 2-person ones they serve in pitchers.
and then I found California
Sometimes California shows up in strange places in Japan.
At Universal Studios Japan Citywalk (which is not as good as the one in LA btw)
I went to the local theme park on my birthday, and they have palm trees.
When I started going to school in Ohio, I realized how beautiful and wonderful California is. And then when I started going to school in Japan, I realized what a great country the United States is. And how California is still the best. It's somewhat comforting to know that I'm a California girl after all. At the same time though, I'm glad I left it, so that I could really understand that that is where I want to live.
At Universal Studios Japan Citywalk (which is not as good as the one in LA btw)
I went to the local theme park on my birthday, and they have palm trees.
When I started going to school in Ohio, I realized how beautiful and wonderful California is. And then when I started going to school in Japan, I realized what a great country the United States is. And how California is still the best. It's somewhat comforting to know that I'm a California girl after all. At the same time though, I'm glad I left it, so that I could really understand that that is where I want to live.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Adventures in Osaka
Andy and I had some crazy times in Osaka during Golden Week. It was interesting to suddenly turn into a tourist after living here since late January. But that did mean that I got to take Andy to my favorite spots, and discover some new ones.
On our most action-packed day, we went to check out the Osamu Tezuka Museum in Takarazuka (which I made a post about over here). Tezuka is the creator of Astro Boy, etc, aka one of the most influential manga-ka ever. The museum was really cute, and inspiring. It reminded me how when I was in 1st and 2nd grade, the thing I wanted the most in this world was to be a cartoonist.
That's Astro Boy's hand and footprints, btw. He's a small dude.
From Takarazuka, we went to Namba, which has the iconic neon sign Glico man view of Osaka.
We went to karaoke on a whim and had a grand ole time. Big Echo has a fabulous 飲み放題.
The next day, we had a picnic in 大阪城公園 Osaka Castle Park featuring food we bought at the supermarket and bakery by my station. Here I am with cheese.
Guess why I'm smiling.
One more for the road:
On our most action-packed day, we went to check out the Osamu Tezuka Museum in Takarazuka (which I made a post about over here). Tezuka is the creator of Astro Boy, etc, aka one of the most influential manga-ka ever. The museum was really cute, and inspiring. It reminded me how when I was in 1st and 2nd grade, the thing I wanted the most in this world was to be a cartoonist.
That's Astro Boy's hand and footprints, btw. He's a small dude.
From Takarazuka, we went to Namba, which has the iconic neon sign Glico man view of Osaka.
We went to karaoke on a whim and had a grand ole time. Big Echo has a fabulous 飲み放題.
The next day, we had a picnic in 大阪城公園 Osaka Castle Park featuring food we bought at the supermarket and bakery by my station. Here I am with cheese.
Guess why I'm smiling.
One more for the road:
嵐山
Okay, catching up on blogging time.
When Andy and I got back from Kobe in the middle of Golden Week, we headed up to Kyoto to hang out with Jess (who has since returned back to the glorious motherland of the United States). She took us to 嵐山 Arashiyama, which means STORM MOUNTAIN which is totally badass, and we took lots of pretty pictures because everything was so green.
Boats!
The temple to see at Arashiyama is 天竜寺 Tenryuuji or HEAVEN DRAGON TEMPLE. Apparently this part of Kyoto just has badass names. Jess had been here a bunch of times already but actually was not sick of it. I appreciated her willingness to go there again with us.
This picture came out blurry, but this was 4-flavored soft serve for the price of 1! How could I resist such a bargain. From top to bottom: sakura (which actually tasted like Cinnamon Toast Crunch for reasons beyond all of us), hojicha (roasted green tea), green tea, and vanilla.
And for a touch of modernity:
When Andy and I got back from Kobe in the middle of Golden Week, we headed up to Kyoto to hang out with Jess (who has since returned back to the glorious motherland of the United States). She took us to 嵐山 Arashiyama, which means STORM MOUNTAIN which is totally badass, and we took lots of pretty pictures because everything was so green.
Boats!
The temple to see at Arashiyama is 天竜寺 Tenryuuji or HEAVEN DRAGON TEMPLE. Apparently this part of Kyoto just has badass names. Jess had been here a bunch of times already but actually was not sick of it. I appreciated her willingness to go there again with us.
This picture came out blurry, but this was 4-flavored soft serve for the price of 1! How could I resist such a bargain. From top to bottom: sakura (which actually tasted like Cinnamon Toast Crunch for reasons beyond all of us), hojicha (roasted green tea), green tea, and vanilla.
And for a touch of modernity:
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