Nara Hakushikaso

... ended up dropping the money to ride the green-car for the Shinkansen (basically the first-class for the express-train) because I didn't want to sit in a smoking car for 4 and a half hours. All in all it was a pretty cool experience. A little more roomy than the normal Shinkansen (which is already very nice) along with free drinks!

Upon getting to Kyoto, Jack picked me up with his friend who was there for the afternoon, and we walked ...

... 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

... at the station in Osaka. I surprised her with a couchsurfing adventure planned for the nearby Nara Prefecture and the old city of Nara (site of the original capital of Japan). She was excited!

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NIGHT #1:

Our first night was spent with Eri (age 25) and her family. They feed us a wonderful Japanese dinner and set us up in a traditional tatami guest room. Wonderful hosts:) I only wished we'd had more time ...

... with a huge wet patch over his trousers and a crowded bar to negotiate. It was only then that he realised that if he had removed his hand from the sensor, the soaking would have stopped a lot sooner. (The four years he spent at Uni studying for an engineering degree clearly hadn’t paid off). For all their advancements in toilet design, the Japanese have not yet discovered how to make hand-dryers or paper towel dispensers (very few Japanese WC ...

Salut tout le monde Nous allons bien. Cette fois nous pouvons ecrire plus librement. La derniere fois que nous vous avons ecrit, le clavier se transformait en ecriture japonnaise a tout bout de champs. On a bien sacre apres le clavier et prit surement 30 min pour vous ecrire quelques phrases. Hier, nous avons donc partie de l'auberge de jeunesse de Nara tot pour aller faire un tour de ville. Nous avons commence par le plus gros boudha en bronze du monde ...

... are situated. It is here that hundreds of cute (and rather hungry it would seem) deers come to greet you. Perhaps even more entertaining than the fact you can stroke them (but only the ones that look clean, some people have become seriously ill after picking up tics from them, unsurprisingly something that the tourism board doesn't advertise), is watching the other visitors stroke them. For example, a group of foreign tourists come along. A few of the cute deer ...

... our guide, so we took a taxi to Sanjusangen-do temple, which contains 1,001 images of the goddess of mercy, Kannon. Quite a sight. It was such a treat having our own personal guide. We didn't have a set itinerary; she just went with us wherever we wanted to go, and helped us navigate all the public transportation. She was full of great information... and she helped us find the most wonderful bakery in the basement of Kyoto Station (it's a whole other world down there!)

Well, I am sitting here in the airport in Qingdao, China-working on two consecutive and completely unsatisfying 2.5 hour night's sleeps-with a bit of time to kill so I figured it might be worthwhile to make an attempt at beginning my next travelblog. (Quick side note: I could actually be sitting outside right now, enjoying the sunshine and what seems to be oppressively hot weather but I have surprisingly encountered a few new language issues here-strangely, no one seems to ...

... n*tion *nd the welf*re of the people of e*ch current *ge, we c*n *lso s*y th*t its rites *re const*ntly *live in the he*rts of the J*p*nese people of *ny given time. Origin *nd Aims The Shuni-e Ceremony *t the ****tsu-do w*s begun in 752 by Jitchu, the chief disciple of Roben who founded Tod*i-ji, the ceremony is form*lly * rite of repent*nce to Eleven-he*ded K*nnon in which penitence for one's misdeeds ...