Japan

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[chopsticknotchapstick]

Tomorrow is my last day in Japan, but, I still have tons of photos that I would like to put up on my blog. I will do so after returning home. For now, I'm going to be spending my last night doing other things. 

[chopsticknotchapstick]

After so much food I decided to take a picture of my dinner and my breakfast. Dinner isn't always the same this is just one example. 

She boils usually broth or something that and water in the pot on the table at dinner and we add a sort of meat and vegetables to it, like mushrooms, leeks, lettuce/cabbage, and tofu. 

That night I was having fish with rice, miso soup, meat with boiled spinach, some other substance I can't remember, and then whatever was in the pot~

For breakfast I always have a salad, some sort of fruit, egg, and then a type of bread. The salad is either lettuce or cabbage, it often has tomato, broccoli, some sort of sausage or ham, and corn in it. 

The fruit is either apple, banana, kiwi, or persimmon.

The egg is usually fried, scrambled, or hard boiled.

The bread is usually just normal white bread that I will either put jelly or peanut butter or even garlic butter on. Sometimes it's special bread that's often delicious. Also to the right is a small yogurt drink that's supposed to be good for your stomach and it tasty. I will then either have milk or orange juice to drink. 

[chopsticknotchapstick]

After the port/harbor area we went into a GIANT MALL. But I didn't take any pictures. After that we drove back which it takes from about 1 to 2 hours depending on traffic and I and Akane both fell asleep... From China town though I did receive these and took a picture of them!

The one on the left is a nikuman but it's a piggy~ And the right wasss like filled with a black bean paste. 

[chopsticknotchapstick]

We then went into a shopping area by the port where I found another Ghibli shop~ We looked around. 

There's also a museum here for the famous Anpanman character here. He was Akane's favorite as a child so she was very happy. We didn't actually go through the museum but we did go into the shopping part of it and her mother bought these little sweet bread things and they were sooo delicious.

[chopsticknotchapstick]

After China town we walked over to the port/harbour! There was a giant fish statue, then some other odd shaped statue, the ferris wheel and the kobe tower~

It was pretty nice but it was cooooold. I didn't wear enough of a jacket and was cold. 

[chopsticknotchapstick]

After korokke, in Kobe we walked over to China Town! I ate a lot of different foods there but because I was too focused on eating I forgot to take pictures! 

This first food is called nikuman and let me tell you it is the best thing in the entire world. It is called a pork bun in English google has informed me. I've actually had it before going to china town. It's basically a dumpling filled with meat and it's hot and delicious.

Another food we had was called Gyoza (Jiaozi in Chinese) whiiich I'm pretty sure you can find this in the states but... I honestly cannot remember what we call it sorry. I've gotten so used to saying Gyoza. They too are delicious.

I also had a bit of something Akane's mother had but I have no idea what it was. It was like cabbage and other stuff in a wrap with some brown sauce and it was all right.

[chopsticknotchapstick]

The Sunday right after the Saturday 'cause that's how weekends go, I went to Kobe with my speaking partner Akane!

Her parents drove us there so I hung out with them but I was nervous because of them not knowing English! It was very nice of them though because they drove us there, which saved me a lot of money for transportation. They also paid for me for food stuffs and I felt bad but was thankful.

The first photo is a picture of an advertisement for Kansai Gaidai that we saw in Kobe which is our university! I thought that was funny.

The second picture is of her parents waiting in line to give us this food known as a croquette, which in Japan they pronounce Korokke. If you don't know what this is, in Japan it is potato, some vegetables, and a little bit of meat mashed up together and fried in a breaded way.

Here is a picture: 

It's pretty popular here to eat as a little snack. You usually put a brown sauce on it known as tonkatsu sauce which is pretty good. This korokke was very hot but very delicious. 

Then the last picture is, of course, Akane!

[chopsticknotchapstick]

So after sushi the next stop on my list was going to Umeda and Shinsaibashi on a Saturday way back with Kathy, but since I've been there a thousand times I'm going to refrain from posting up pictures because I didn't really take any. 

We went around Umeda to look for the Ghibli shop again because she hadn't been there and then we went in search of the Kit Kat store in Shinsaibashi which was fun.

[chopsticknotchapstick]

Today I also went for lunch to a place called Kappa Sushi. 

At Kappa sushi next to your table is like a conveyor belt that sushi circles around on. You can take whatever you want and are charged per plate. Unless you order something special, each plate is about 10 cents under a dollar.

Above the lower conveyor belt is another one. On the screen in the second picture you can order specific sushi that you want. Then, on a little train the sushi will be delivered to you.

I went with my speaking partner Akane, her friend Akari, and then with my friend Kathy. We had a joke that Akane was my mother, Akari was my older sister, Kathy was my aunt, and I was the bad child.

There are some pictures of the sushi I ate, but I also had sushi with hamburger on it! I had another one with egg and I guess something else I can't remember.

It was pretty delicious. I'm still stuffed from it. All in all I paid about... maybe 6 or 7 dollars total.

[chopsticknotchapstick]

Today, they were selling little bagged cookies at the cafeteria for a dollar so I got them. They were cute and tasted good.

This is a girl that was there with me. My other friend Shara was there too. This girl's name is Sara, I believe. (We call each other by our last names so I could be spelling that wrong. It's pronounced Sah-ra, not like the normal Sarah.) She's from Kenya and is in my Japanese speaking and reading class.

[chopsticknotchapstick]

After Kiyomizudera we went back to Kyoto station and ate there. The food was pretty good and they had like a half past half doriya dish deal including a drink and dessert. 

The drink is melon soda which is really delicious here.

We also found a Godiva store in Kyoto station. I just got a bar of dark chocolate. I've already eaten some of it and it was SO good. I wish I'd gotten another.

[chopsticknotchapstick]

The past weekend I went to Kyoto again and went to Kiyomizudera. I went because my friend had never been before and I heard in the fall that when the leaves begin to redden it's really pretty. It rained on me again though! Twice now.

It was nice though because this time I got to get a sort of fortune and then I tied it to a post. Mine's the ugly one on the right and my friend's is the pretty one to the left of it. It was hard to tie because it was wet.

I haven't translated the fortune yet so I don't know if it's good or bad luck. We'll see~

[chopsticknotchapstick]

This is the non-electric version of a rice cooker.

I believe it's called a donabe? You put it on the stove and cook the rice that way, which makes it more delicious than cooking in an electric one~ It's really old but I have to say that the rice is the best. The school's rice cannot compare to it.

The spoon is always soaked in water too. You open up the top lid and then there's also a second lid you have to take off too. Then get the rice.

[chopsticknotchapstick]

This is my Okaasan (host mother) and my Otoosan (host father), along with Momo who frequently curls up in his lap like that.

This is right before dinner time so we're getting ready to eat.

My Okaasan is around 65 and my Otoosan is about 76. 

They're like the cool grandparents you have I suppose. Usually after dinner is when I have most of my talk time with them. Because during the day I'm gone at school and my Okaasan is gone at work.

[chopsticknotchapstick]

She has two squeaky balls that she likes to play with.

When she comes up and pushes it against my leg she does this a lot to get me to play with her.

You can hear my okaasan saying the onomatopoeia for the squeak of the toy. 

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So this is Momo. She's a three year old miniature Italian Greyhound. I've been told she went to doggy school for about one year but didn't like to listen to the instructor. She's pretty smart though, at least more so than Dil (my dog).

She also has a lot of different shirts that my Okaasan likes to put on her. This one shirt has her name written on it in hiragana. The word Momo actually means Peach.

[chopsticknotchapstick]

That was basically the end of my Tokyo time.

The next morning I got up, checked out, and headed towards Tokyo Station to get on the shinkansen to go home.