4.24

In the afternoon, I picked Beanss and C up at Kyoto Station (they came to visit Kyoto for a couple of days). We ate dinner with the rest of the building mates on the 10th floor of Hankyu Department, and late at night my building mates surprised me with a maple sponge cake for my birthday. It was scrumptious *-*

4.23 - Kodaiji

On Friday night, I met up with a couple Japanese friends from 2 years ago and we went to see the lit-up temple called Kodaiji. It was a bit hard to take good pictures there since it was dark, but I managed to get a couple good shots.

The colors are just breathtaking. The trees were lit up with different colored lights and you could see their reflection clearly in the dark pond.

The "light-up" itself was a bit disappointing- it was like having Christmas lights placed on the floor of a zen garden.. I guess it's interesting!

4.22 Shakeys

Couple of friends and I went to Shakeys, which was an all-you-can-eat pizza place supposedly popular in SoCal. The pizza wasn't too bad, but of course, Japanese pizza can't compare to the pizza back home! It was strange that they served curry and rice at the place, and even stranger that they made dessert pizza! I tried the one with custard, a piece of brownie, some whip cream and jam on it... I think Japanese people should just stick with regular pizza..
Afterward, we went to the arcade for a bit- I wish the US had cool arcade games!

4.18 Fushimi Inari

On Sunday, I met up with some Japanese friends for lunch and they took me to see the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which is well-known for its long path of tori (the red columns). It was quite a long hike just to see the paths and we didn't reach the top, but it was definitely worth going to see it! I found it amusing that the names of the companies that made (or sponsored?) the tori were written on the tori, though.
I kind of expected it to have a more traditional feel, but the tori looked like they were newly painted. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful place.

4.30

Golden Week was April 29 - May 5, which means I had one week off from school...which means more traveling!! Since I went to a concert on the 29th, I decided to take the cheaper (but much, much longer) way to Tokyo on the 30th with my friend A. 8 hours..from ~10am- 7pm. We passed by a lot of rice paddies and green countryside places like this!
The stop was called Notogawa, but I think it's in Shiga (city next to Kyoto). What beautiful scenery..
After about 7 hours of riding the train, A went off to Yokohama since her family lives there, and I took one more train to Shinjuku Station where I met up with my friend L. It's so good to see her again! Feels like we just met yesterday :)
We had dinner and some delicious cake at a cafe in Shinjuku.
We walked around a little and L showed me Sunshine City, which was a very lively part of town with blindingly bright billboards (hence the name "Sunshine City").

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