Hotel Monterey Kobe

... Osaka is definitely known for food and we have not been disappointed. We immediately went for the Kansai specialty of okonomiaki (Japanese pancake). Washed down with some shochu, our okonomiaki meal was excellent.

Our travels also took us through a very exclusive part of Osaka with many upscale shops such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc... I was asked if I would write in this blog something that would make fun of these establishments. At the time I said that I ...

... at Steak Ron, delicious Sakuyaki at Hariju and more helpings of takoyaki/okonomuyaki/yakisoba.

S teak Ron
1-10-2 Sonezaki Shinchi, Kita-ku | Umeda, Osaka

Hariju
1-9-26 Nishishinsaibashi Chuo-ku Osaka

Takontetsu (Pizza Ball House)
1-9-20 Maru Bldg Umeda 1 Chome

Meaning to ruin oneself by extravagance in food. Heard another translation - "Eat, eat until you fall down." Why Osaka is my entry point to Japan. It also translates to eating as much Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki as possible. BTW Takoyaki - Octopus balls. Okonomiyaki - Pancake-ish dealies. Oh Osaka.

... eat and stopped to watch the dancers for a bit while we at.

Finally, even though we were all having a great time, decided we'd have to get moving if we were going to get to our hostel, by check-in ( which ended at 9pm ).

We had all planned to come back after checking in, but by the time we got settled we were all so tired we just decided to go to bed.

I will continue our Kansai adventure in the next post.

... through a lengthy japanese visitors process, and then we went on a semester at sea trip to visit a temple in Kyoto and experience a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. We couldn't find babysitting, so Barrett came along. He actually did very well for the first 30 minutes, but then I left with him to explore the temple grounds ...

... the sharks back into the ocean) to the assembly of about 200 delegates from the attending countries. Kobe The meeting was held in Kobe, Japan at the International Convention Center of Kobe (ICCK) on a man-made island off the coast. I took a monorail train called the Port Liner from our hotel to the meeting. It was always extremely crowded but otherwise clean and easy to navigate. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and my meeting started on Monday, so I had ...

Konnichiwa, Ogenki Desuka-- If I could figure out the keys on this foreign computer I would put a question mark after that sentence but hell if I can figure it out. We have successfully traveled throughout western and southern regions of Japan. Navigating through this foreign country is slightly difficult. We must have looked like complete idiots numerous times throughout the day trying to ...

It's been a hard week to be in Japan, especially knowing what so many people are going through at home with the recent massacre at Tech. It's hard being so far away, I feel really detached. I've been thinking about everything a lot this week, reading the news, watching video clips, and it's sad that in so many countries today we really aren't safe anywhere, even schools. 9/11 changed a lot, then there was the sniper in the D.C. area, in between a ton of school ...

... I guess if you're going to see a castle, you may as well see the best. Well worth it in my opinion. You're able to walk through all the grounds, and up into the castle - all 6 really steep stories. The views from the top were lovely. Even if it was snowing - AGAIN!! It's darn well supposed to be spring! Next Kyoto. Here I was staying with some friends of a friend and it was lovely to be able to spend more than 1 night in the same place. I stayed with a ...

... Thief. It's pretty good, a little overly verbose at times, but a really good story. Funny story about language barriers...before we get into the lesson, I chat with the students on random subjects. This one student was describing his weekend about going to a Zen temple and how you have to pray. I asked him how they went about praying and he says "you bow twice to the sky, bow once to the ass, and then ****!" Barely able to contain myself, I ask him to please repeat ...