Let's Go Tigers, Let's Go!

It's been pretty full on since the last post. We've been to a place called Mino-o, which has a waterfll and nature trails. We even saw a wild monkey (quite big!!). It was such a fantastic day - we walked for a few hours there. Their local specialty is momiji-no-tempura, which is the leaves off this tree, battered and deep fried. It was actually quite nice! There was a look out point, where you could see the whole of Osaka, it was amazing!







We went to Himeji castle, which is about an hour's train ride from Osaka. It was so beautiful, the grounds were covered with cherry blossoms, and the castle looked amazing! The inside was a bit scary, becasue it was jam packed with people and you couldn't move around much, but the grounds were breath-taking.







After that we went back to the hostel and had a bum around afternoon. We met a couple of Aussies, Adrian and Samantha, who were thinking of going to the Hanshin Tiger's game, and we thought we'd go along as well. After we figured out where to go, we jumped on the train and tried to find the stadium. After getting a bit lost we eventually found our way there. We decked ourselves out in Tigers merch and got our seats. There were Asahi girls roaming the aisles selling beers from kegs strapped to their backs! We met one called Mariko, who had spent some time in Australia, and her english was really good. Our dinner was iffy looking rice and curry and a yakitori stick. I also had a sardine (UGH GROSS!). We met these two guys who took us to a small foodhall type place foor a couple of beers with other Tiger's fans, and along the way we saw the tiger-leotard man (see below) who was leading the crowd in a Tiger's chant. Oh, the tigers lost as well!! When we were at the foodhall we met these two ladies who were quite excited to speak to us. One had been to NZ twice, so was stoked to talk to me. In the end the two ladies start giving us all of their Tiger's merchandise!!! We didn't know what to do, but it was just so lovely of them!







In the morning we packed up our stuff and got on the train to Hiroshima. I wasn't feeling tip top, so I had a nap while stacy went out and got lost roaming around the city. When he came back he'd already eaten, but I was starving so we headed out to find food. Somehow when I asked for noodles with pork it was lost in translation as "Spaghetti with cabbage, mash potatoes, and tentacles" *sigh*. After I took the tentacles out it didnt taste too bad, so oh well :D




till later!
xx Laura

Mr Fujimoto

The funniest evening so far:

Were eating dinner when this old man comes in (we call him Mr fujimoto) with this friend (Kaizen) who speaks like hes in the japanese mafia and smokes 50 packets a day... Mr Fujimoto gets tipsy and then demands that we drink with him, and gets the bar tender to pour us a giant glass of japanese vodka each. He then questions us in japanese, which im trying to decipher (getting better! kind of) and when we dont understand, he just repeats himself louder. By now his speech is getting a bit slurred. Kaizen sits in the corner and comments a little. He's said "Japanese memories" a couple of times, but the rest is Japanese. He nods a lot and chuckles at most of the things Mr Fujimoto says. He also laughs when we obviously dont know what Mr Fujimoto is talking about. The bartender is also commenting, but his english is minimal and he cant translate for us. Mr Fujimoto is now telling us to drink up fast so he can pour us another one. We're saying noooooo, but as soon as our glasses are finished he gets the barkeep to pour again. The barkeep does a sneaky im-pouring-water-but-pretending-it's-vodka, and we drink and pretend that its super strong. He keeps asking us questions that we dont understand, and after about 20 mins, we finally come to the conclusion that he's asking us where Nyuu Jirando is... which means I then have to draw a wobbly map of the world and point out where we are. He keeps questioning us, not quite understanding that our Japanese vocabulary is about 20 words long, and mostly consists of "toilet" and food related words. We sneakily pay the bartender and get ready to leave. We ask Mr Fujimoto if we can get a picture with him and he gets all shy and says no. Kaizen comments "muh muh muh Japanese Memories" and chuckled to himself, but Mr Fujimoto is still too shy for a photo. With a big Arigato we leave the bar.

Japandamonium! ..... FINALLY!

Wow, after 4 years of waiting we're finally here in Japan. We flew into Osaka on zero sleep and were pretty munted. Muddled our way through customs and somehow managed to get the right train to Osaka Central. Walked in circles for a bit and reached J Hoppers in the end! Our backpacker's is pretty mint! We're in a dorm of 10, but have our own little corner with shelves, our own locker, and its so clean and neat. We even got a pack of postcards when we arrived! Free Wifi AND a vending machine in the kitchen with Asahi in it! We had a bit of a wander around, ate some food, and fell asleep at 6pm. Here are some of the random things we saw:






We got up bright and early and discovered SOMEONE STOLE OUR EGG! We bought some eggs to make breakfast with, and from 6pm til 6am this morning someone had been to my clearly labelled egg tray in the fridge and taken one! I'm so disappointed in my fellow backpackers... I'm eyeing them all with suspicion now....

Anyway, we decided to drown our sorrows with a big dose of Universal Studios! We got there about 1/2 an hour before it opened and the lines were madness! We were practically the only foreign people as well. As soon as people got through the gates they were sprinting off into the distance. We didnt realised what it was all about until we realised the lines were about 60 mins long! EACH! So we ended up buying a special pass which let us jump the queues which was the best idea we had all day! It was such a great day - universal studios was pretty awesome, even if we didnt understand a word of what was going on! We met this cute family whose son tried to translate for us - he seemed pretty stoked to be practising his english! We were getting a lot of shy looks from kids everywhere!












After universal studios we had a bit of daylight left so we headed to Shitennoji Temple... well, we got a bit lost on the way, but we got there in the end! Lets just say that my Japanese isn't really up to scratch with the amount of "Wakarimasen"'s I got!! We got there after everything had closed, but the grounds were still open, and its just beautiful. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom at the moment, and the trees look like the have clouds of fluffy snow around them.













In regards to the boob picture... yeah I dont get it either! We hope to get back there before we leave Osaka, during business hours, but Im glad we got to see it in the fading light, the sunset lit up the buildings and warmed up the whole place. After the temple we hot footed it over to the Umeda sky building to go up to the top and see Osaka by night. It was really beautiful! The sights were breathtaking! It's marketed as a "lover's spot" and they have a chair where you sit on it and hold your partner's hand, then each of you grab this metal thingy on the chair and the ground around you lights up into a heart and swirls around. In the same place there is a wall of heart padlocks with names engraved, which you can buy, and then lock onto the wall. We bought one, but decided to keep it as a memento of Japan. I did my fortune from the shaky-box thing (if you dont know, im not going to explain it - too tired!) and my fortune was as below... Barely Good Fortune was the header :(







Afterwards we headed downstairs and stumbled into this cute alleyway of food places. I should probably explain that there are these litte underground rabbit warrns all over the place, mostly at train stations, where one alley looks like a regular marble or plaster corridor, and then parallel to it, there's a quaint little street filled with izakaya and bars! We stopped by this woman selling something odd looking and she offered us some to try... turns out it was mochi in like, a giant lump, which she would cut into little pieces and box up for you!!







FINALLY...... heres some photos of things I cant really explain, or just cool stuff!
enjoy!










bye bye!
xx Laura