The Rest of the Trip

Tuesday (Dec 22)- we went to a soba restaurant for lunch, and my mom, grandmother, and I got haircuts

Wednesday (Dec 23)- we went to Kobe, and strolled through their Chinatown.  My mom encountered one of her coworkers from NJ around here!  We bought a lot of cookery, as well.  That night, my uncle and aunt treated us all to fugu (pufferfish) in Osaka.  We also walked around some of the shopping areas, and my grandmother led us all to this cute bakery/cafe.

Thursday (Dec 24)- my grandmother, mother, and I took a train to Kyoto.  We visited the Kyomizu Temple, bought some souvenirs at a fan store, and headed to the place we were staying for the night- Utano Youth Hostel.

Friday (Dec 25)- my grandmother's friend picked us up from the hostel, and we walked the souvenir shop streets of Kyoto.  We had lunch at the Grand Palace hotel, and went to my grandmother's friend's house for a short break.  She then drove my mother and me to Kinkakuji Temple (also aptly named The Golden Palace). Eventually it was time for us to leave Kyoto, so she drove us all to a subway station, where we connected to a train that took us back to Nishinomiya.  That night, my mom treated my grandparents, my cousin, and me, to dinner at Kobeya Kitchen.

Saturday (Dec 26)- lunch at a kaitenzushi restaurant, and dinner at my uncle's house

Sunday (Dec 27)- after church, I met up with a friend who had studied at TCNJ through a global exchange program.  We went to Hep5 and Hankyu Sanban Gai, swinging by SnoopyTown before grabbing some refreshments and meeting up with my mom and grandmother at the Hanshin Department Store.  We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant.

I need to upload the photos I took Monday and Tuesday.  My memory's a little fuzzy about what we did those two days (I know one of them was spent back in Osaka)... another post to come soon.

Chasing the Sun

Well, this was really supposed to be posted on the 17th or the 18th, but I've been having connectivity issues up until now.

Anyway, it was a fun flight to Tokyo because it was always bright as we were flying. The sun had finally set by the time we reached Tokyo, and we got to see the airport in all its brightly lit glory.

Here's a brief summary of what's been going on:

Saturday- we lunched at Ajisai, a little cafe run by one of my grandmother's friends. That morning we went to this department store, Midori, and that afternoon, we went to this huge mall, Nishinomiya Gardens.

Sunday- church in the morning (it was interesting sitting in on a Chinese-Japanese service), lunch after service, and then shopping at Takashimaya in Osaka.

Today (it's currently 9:35 p.m. in Osaka; I need to change the timestamp for this account)- we went to Kobe, and rode a monorail to take in all the sights.