japan 4.17- Osaka!

Our Doshisha friend K met us at Umeda station (Osaka) on Saturday. 2 of Oppa's friends, Y and N, also met up with us and we went as a group to a big shopping mall near the station.
There were two big shark figures hanging inside the department store!

Later we took the train again to Namba (still in Osaka). We took a group picture at the famous spot in Osaka :P

Osaka is so lively and metropolitan! (compared to Kyoto) There's so much good food there and so many things to do and see. Even though things still close relatively early at night, it still beats Kyoto nightlife!

I fell in love with Osaka when I walked down this street (below):

We ate okonomiyaki for dinner somewhere on this street. It was the best okonomiyaki I've ever had!! さすが大阪、「天の台所」。

Osaka written with mayo (above), Okonomiyaki with all the stuff added (below)

We wanted to go to Sweets Paradise (all you can eat dessert) place, but unfortunately it was closed...
Us in the elevator going up to Sweets Paradise.

japan 4.12-16

I signed up for way too many classes and it's been so tiring going to all of them everyday!
On 4.13 though, Meimei made a new friend at the school cafeteria and so me, Meimei, Oppa and Meimei's new friend and his friend ate dinner at an izakaya nearby. After that we went to Cafe Independent, a cafe that a British exchange student recommended. The cafe was cool inside, but the drinks weren't that great..

I've had better chai lattes....but it made a nice picture.
On Friday night, a bunch of us went to karaoke at a place nearby. It was only $11 per person for 3 hours! Good deal! It was all-you-can-drink (there was slushy there! XD) and for some reason there was also a desk and a computer in the karaoke room for people who want to use the Internet.

japan 4.11

I slept in today and did a whole lot of nothing until dinner time. In the evening, I met up with 2 friends (T and Y) who came to Berkeley for study abroad 2 years ago. It was nice seeing old friends again! They took me to an Izakaya for dinner, and then we went to a nearby arcade.


After the arcade, we went to T's friend's bar because I wanted to play guitar (his friend had an electric and an acoustic guitar at his bar). The bartender guy introduced himself as "Thomas" to me (he was quiet, but amusing lol). haha weird guy..
I forgot his real name. (he's the guy on the left)

T played guitar so well that I didn't want to play after him! It would've been too embarrassing :P

japan 4.10

We went to Kiyomizudera, one of the famous temples in Kyoto on 4.10. It was so crowded that day! It was a beautiful place (great view from the top!), but I have to admit that Arashiyama was prettier! We walked up a narrow path to get to Kiyomizudera.



I got to ring the bell thingy and make a prayer :3 (I don't know the kid..)


Us UC peeps :3


On the way down, we passed by a pond covered with cherry blossom petals <3 br="br" pretty="pretty" so="so">
And there were 2 fat turtles there too!

Group pic~

japan 4.8

In between class, I walked over to the Imperial Palace (it's right across from Doshisha University) to look around. A lot of cherry blossom trees were in full bloom, so I decided to take some sakura pictures (a lot of other people were there taking pictures too).




My friend N who studied abroad in Berkeley 2 years ago took me to a cool night-viewing spot later that day. The path going up to the place was so narrow and dark! But it was really pretty at the top. Cherry blossoms at night <

japan 4.7

It was such a beautiful day! Meimei, R, M and I went to buy bikes at a bike store near our school. The seat was too high when I first rode it and I wasn't used to riding a bike yet (it's been a while since the last time I rode one!) so I kind of crashed into this signboard that was leaning against the store next to the bike shop!

I love how there is a lock on the front wheel of Japanese bikes. You use a key to unlock/lock it rather than a combination lock or the locks you use to chain it to a post.
We rode our bikes down Kamogawa (river)..It was a sunny, blue skies, feel-good kind of day.


Cherry blossoms were in full bloom on the path along the river and the petals were falling gently on us as we rode our bikes~ It made me think, "Ah, so this is Japan!"

Japan 4.4

I don't quite remember what I did that day, but I think I went shopping for some more clothes (I should have brought more winter clothes with me!). At night, my apartment mates and I ate the delicious roll cake our Doshisha friend bought for us from Arashiyama.
Umma and Oppa
K, meimei, R

Japan 4.3 - trip to Arashiyama （嵐山）

Arashiyama is one of the most beautiful places I've seen so far in my life.

On Sunday 4/3, two of the Doshisha girls took us to Arashiyama by train (it didn't take super long) to see the cherry blossoms in bloom. It was the first beautiful day after a period of bad weather and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, so it was really crowded at Arashiyama that day. We first went to Monkey Park, but we passed by that body of water on the way (picture above). The place was gorgeous!

It was a long hike up to Monkey Park, but the trail was surrounded by a lot of tall trees. Once we got to the top, we saw a lot of monkeys (the ones in the monkey house were kind of aggressive!) and an amazing view of Kyoto :)



We also went through the bamboo forest.. it felt really nice and cool walking along that path. The pictures in my guide book look better though :/

We got to this place with the temple and pond. All the sakura trees were in full bloom around the temple.. the place itself was amazingly picturesque!


So, so beautiful! I don't know what else to say. :D

Japan 4/2

This is probably the only building that looks different than the others on campus!
This morning, we went to school again to turn in our registration form for classes (it's Saturday and we still had to go to school T_T).
Two building buddies and I went to a nearby cafe called Papa Jons. It was very small and quaint! I had a vegetable pot pie and split a blueberry cheesecake with my friend.

I ate half of my pie already o.o It tasted okay.. too small though!

The blueberry cheesecake was really rich and delicious! Again, too small. Maybe I just eat a lot.

Afterward, we head back to our apartment. I woke up from a long nap not too long ago, and now I have to go separate my trash (we have to separate them into 3 bags: 1) wet stuff..like food scraps etc. 2) pet bottles..which are the bottles that say ペット 3) plastics and metals). So time-consuming!