WEBmikey: Japan 2005: Day 7

Latest Flickr

Latest Twitter


Japan 2005: Day 7
8.28.2005 8:33 AM \| Link 0 comments	After last night's dinner, it was time for a nice lazy morning (at least for me), so I relaxed on the couch for most of the morning, drinking coffee and watching music videos. The music videos in Japan are so entertaining to me - I love all the music, and the production quality of the videos is so great! I wrote down a few artists and songs to go shopping for later, and Matt & Kumiko went off on the bikes to water the garden again. When they got home, Matt cooked up a couple of dishes for the future (including a really yummy goya, egg, and tofu dish that we had for late breakfast), and Kumiko started preparing for her return to school (real life was creeping around the corner). Soon we left for a short train ride to Ikeda for the day's activity - hiking up Satsukiyama, a small mountain with a great view of the city. It was a really sunny day with almost no clouds, but the heat felt good and we had water to drink! The walk through the Ikeda neighborhoods was fun, and we saw a nice playground with a giant slide filled with energetic kids. We started making the hike, each set of stairs followed by another set, but soon we were at the top and enjoying the view. I thought it was cool to be in the same place where Matt had taken some of my favorite photos - it was amazing to see how he could capture things with such an artful eye! We found a little bench area and rested awhile, listening to someone practicing shakuhachi (Japanese flute) - he was really terrible, but definitely determined to get better! There were lots of grasshoppers to watch, too. On the way back to the train station, we saw Ikeda Castle, which is pretty underwhelming since it's so small. We left Kumiko so she could run errands, and Matt and I went back to the apartment to relax. That evening we met Kumiko and her nice friend Bubu (a nickname) at Umeda station so we could go to the Hankyu beer garden, on top of one of the buildings in downtown Osaka. For one price it was all you can eat (and drink!) until closing time, and there were plenty of folks already there enjoying themselves and the view of the city - we watched the moon rising behind the Hep Five ferris wheel, which I rode on my first trip to Japan five years ago. Soon we were joined by Keichi, fun and full of energy, and we all ate and drink and talked about jobs (I was fascinated that she used to work with Power Rangers live shows). After a little more beer, we were all taking pictures of ourselves making goofy faces and poses, which was so much fun! Soon we had another guest, Keichi's friend Akiko, and I had a great time talking to all these people - speaking just a little bit of Japanese got a great reaction out of everyone, so I was enjoying the attention! At 9:00 PM, the beer garden was closing, so Matt was nice enough to suggest my secret desire - to go sing karaoke! We walked to a really lively karaoke place, packed with people and full of life. For those who don't know, karaoke in Japan really isn't a bar experience as it is in America, but instead groups of friends gather in a personal room to sing (as well as order food and drinks). Soon we had our room (and were joined by yet another friend, Ueda) and started flipping through the telephone book-sized catalogs of songs (literally thousands to choose from!), and Matt kicked it off with an awesome rendition of Sister Christian (which he sang on his last big night in Austin before moving to Japan). Everyone sang great songs, including lots of American pop hits, as well as some Japanese songs, of course. The group knew that I was an anime fan, so they found the Gatchaman theme song, which was a ton of fun. The big moment was when Kumiko found the Kikaida theme song, which I have memorized in Japanese (at least the first verse), and I kind of went crazy when it came on, jumped up in front of everyone, and sang it out! I'm sure I was pretty hilarious, but the gals seemed to enjoy it, so it was a dream come true. An hour and a half later our time was up, so we finished with a Beatles medley and said goodbye. It was an incredibly fun evening! View photos: Day 7 Matt has really started kicking on his journal! Read it now! Labels: japan, photos, trips Comments Post a Comment