Dai-Ichi Osaka

... beer selection! Our server was a british bloke and we also met a fellow from Vancouver there. We had a nice chat about the Canucks and our travels so far. A nice English speaking interlude. We're now back at the hotel trying to fit today's shopping into our suitcases (not as easy as it may sound)! It was an interesting day of shopping! Thursday (tomorrow) off to finally see Haruna and her family in Yamaguchi!

... zigging and zagging getting more and more turned around. Finally we came to a corner we recognized and then we knew where to go. This restaurant John had seen the day before with everything fried on a stick, rolled in panko. We went in and sat at a dark table. Cig smoke filled the air and large sake bottles lined the walls. I ordered more sake, John and beer and we shared a plate of skewers. Fish, shrimp, toro and a ...

... placed on us, as in Kyoto felt more like we were stopping at someones house rather than actually paying to be somewhere! Went out the first night with some other people from the hostel who had the air of the really annoying travellers who think they know everything, they insisted I tried octopus which was one of the most disgusting things ive ever eaten! We visited Miyajima a little island ...

When I first arrived in Japan, I didn't realize just how big it is. Sure, it looks sort of big on a map, but its still dwarfed by its over sized neighbors, China and Russia. Japan may be smaller than those guys, but really, its a TARDIS. There are so many cities here that go unnoticed by travelers, because they are seen as boring small-towns. Boring? Small? Half of these places are bustling, buzzing and each have a unique atmosphere of their own and I am amazed and glad that we ...

... out of for who knows wh*t re*son, which involved folks sitting *round * gi*nt m*n m*de pool to c*tch koi with * rod; the weight of which would determine the *mount of mool*h you r*ke in th*t night. This, combined with the f*ct th*t every other corner w*s serving Os*k*'s delicious speci*lty dish, Octopus Dumplings, m*de for *n over*ll gre*t visit.<br><br>The following d*y w*s b*ck to temple-town, with * visit to the 'sm*ll' town of N*r*, which is home to * number of f*scin*ting n ...

... Shogun*te. Its dec*dently l*id out with gold-le*fed p*intings *nd wood c*rvings, *nd h*s wh*t *re c*lled 'Nighting*le Floors' which *re like *n *ncient house *l*rm system. The floorbo*rds *re so tightly bound together th*t they m*ke high pitched 'singing' sounds when stepped on, me*nt to w*rn the residents of *n intruder. Prob*bly m*de the trip for * secret midnight ice cre*m binge kind of tricky.<br><br>AND th*t is th*t, for now. Until l*ter,<br><br>R*ch*el Out.<br>

... as well as an entire arsenal of baseball-ish snack foods ranging from hot dogs to beer and wedges which can be carried into the theater on a little table or tray that clips into your cup holder. I thought it was amazing. Almost as amazing as the Sega Central top floor of the complex, which is essentially a gamer and gamblers paradise featuring everything from track races to lottery - only entirely electronic - in which hundreds of Japanese nerds sit around at little ...

... We went outside, showed her some flowers, took more pictures, and went back inside. We took her back upstairs, and I couldn't help noticing that they'd took all the people out of their beds and put them in their wheelchairs in the hall. A lot of them looked pretty old, and Obaa-chan actually looked younger than them. Turns out, Taka says most of them were over the age of 100. It's weird how Japanese people live so long. I imagine that they hadn't ...