Let me apologize in advance for the length of this update. Its only been 2 weeks since the last one, but I feel like its been months! For a quick update, I'm back in Tokyo, alive and well. I went down to Osaka for a couple unreal days, then headed to help Yoshi out at his family's english camp. I'll be in Tokyo till Friday then off to Bangkok, Thailand.
First off, the Bullet Train...awesome. This train can MOVE. Fastest train in the world, it took us 90 min to go from Tokyo to Osaka which I would later find out takes over 8 hours by bus...Anyways, once in Osaka I knew within my first few hours of wandering the city I was going to love it here. It had the big city feel, busy busy, but not overwhelming and too chaotic like Tokyo. Plus the people just seemed a little bit more welcoming. I was fortunate enough to have Yoshi set me up with a homestay at one of his Family's friends house, the Onos. Not gonna lie, part of me was nervous to be staying with people I've never met and my limited Japanese skills didnt help. The first night in town the Onos took Yoshi, his dad, and I out to dinner. Not just any dinner, an Epic meal I will never forget. It was a beef house, not a steak house, but a BEEF house. The normal parts of a cow were no where to be found. I've never eaten so many weird parts of a cow or even Thought about eating this before.
I ate Cow:
Tongue
1st and 3rd stomach
diaphram
cheeck
heart
colon
aorta
O and raw beef...
All DELICIOUS, well the Aorta and 3rd stomach not so much, but the diaphram and heart were incredible. But now I know for future referece right? Stomach..No, Heart...YES.
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| Beef Heart |
Classic Japanese style, couldnt ask for more. The next afternoon I went on a bike tour of the city lead by Mrs. Ono. Her son and my translator(thank god) Go, came with us, such a good afternoon. We toured the city and saw a tradionatiol Japanese theater, a neat Catholic church, but the best was Osaka Castle. It was enormous! I could get lost in the outer of the 2 moats alone. We toured the grounds and went up the castle and on our way down Mrs. Ono and Go insited that I take one of the coolest photos of my life. Within 24 hours I was ready to call this place my home away from home. I cant even begin to explain how incredible the Onos were to me.
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| I could defintely be a Samuri |
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| I cant figure out how to rotate..my bad, this is Mrs. Ono and I in front of Osaka Castle |
That evening after the bike tour I headed off into downtown Osaka to meet Yoshi after his last training session for his new job. Our plan was to meet up with a couple of his work friends and go for a casual dinner and drinks, but I knew from the second Yoshi got out of work the look on his face said that was going to be nothing casual about the night. This gut feeling was turned into reality when litre beers were ordered. One thing lead to another and we found ourselves walking out of an Irish pub with some new Russian friends heading to Karaoke. AWESOME. 2 hours of karaoke turned into an All nighter with All you can drink. We emerged from our "studio" with hoarse voices and the lovely scent of whiskey redbulls just in time to see the sunrise.
The next day was complete recovery. Go and I watched Backdraft until Mrs. Ono got home from work and asked if I wanted to try and make Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki, 2 dishes that Osaka is famous for..UH YES. Okonomiyaki is a mixture of shredded cabbage, green onion, and any type of seafood(squid, shrimp, etc..) and mixed together with an egg/flour base, then panfried, topped with bacon, and covered in sauce. I couldnt ask for anything better.
Takoyaki is basic balls of pancake like batter filled with octopus chunks, green onion, and ginger. Fantastic. But VERY hard to make. I couldnt get the technique down for the life of me.
The night was capped off with with fireworks that we picked up at the firework store, yes a store soley for fireworks, and HUGE fireworks. Any day of the year.
The next day I took off and wandered the city a little bit by myself just to get a feel for the city. For dinne though, Mrs. Ono took Yoshi and her kids out to an area called "New City" which is famous for its skewered, breaded, and deep fried food. Beef, chicken, veggies, squid, anything. We had beers and skewers all night, but the most interesting was the Doteyaki. It was skewered steak fat boiled & simmered in Miso. Strange, but tasty. I think by now you can see the trend of my days..Eat, Drink, Sleep, repeat. What better way could you spend a vacation?
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| Doteyaki |
After a few short but exciting days in Osaka it was time for Yoshi and I to head to his families english camp. I knew this camp was going to fun, but I wouldnt have imagined it would be that much fun. We had to take a 3 hour ferry ride to the island where Yoshis family held the camp at his grandpas school complex basically. This place was HUGE and beautiful. The camp was basically summer camp for little kids, but with english lessons. Basically we played games all day and taught a lil bit of english. Games like the Hokey Pokey, Simon Says, and then on break time wrestling, card games, and "horsie rides" soon followed. One of my favorite days was when we had to the teach the kids what all the names of facial hair were so they could play Guess Who. So the night before at one of our beer fueled staff planning sessions it was decided that the best way to teach the kids was to draw moustaches, goatees and beards on some of them, such a blast and the kids loved it.
After 5 days of 30 little kids, anywhere from 4-11 years old, we had 32 Grade 10 grls from an Osaka Highschool join the camp. That was a big change up in the teaching criteria, but we got by. Difficult sometimes and pretty stressful, but the girls were hilarious though. The days were filled with any game to make them compete like cherades, blind folded yoga, and pictionary. For their final night at the camp the girls performed a couple western nursery songs and dances as a thank you which lead into an sing a long of Old Country Road. Perfect. This inspired Yoshi and I to do our own little song and dance then following day at closing ceremonies. Again over a beer and Sake fueld staff meeting that night I was taught a Japanese Nursery song and dance. Little did I know this song wouldnt just be a big hit with the girls in the morning, but help me out through the rest of my time in Japan. Besides the teaching, lets get back to the important things...FOOD. As a final meal we had Sukiyaki. Basically homemade stirfry, but with a raw egg as the sauce, weird but so so good. You cooked everything in a giant pot in front of you, then pulled the beef, veggies, noodles out and dipped them in the egg before slurping it up.
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| Shrine in Kyoto |
I cant say enough about how amazing these kids and staff were at the camp.I met so mainly great people that I hope to keep in close contact with.After 7 days with these little klids you find yourself quite attached. Almost found myself missing them..almost. 24 hours a day, 7 days with little kids made me realize how much work that is and it made Yosh and I both realize how bad we needed a drink. A celebration was in order. We headed right from the Ferry terminal, street beer in hand and headed to Kyoto and had a night of epic proportion. I was singing the nursery song anywhere and everywhere making friends left right and center. The next day of sightseeing historical Kyoto was a struggle to say the least. We battled through a couple shrines and temples then headed back to Osaka. It felt nice to back to somewhere that feels familar, almost like home. It was great to see the Onos again. Maya their eldest daughter had made plans for us to go to an all you can eat skewer place then off to a sports stadium. So after a quick nap i was ready to go. This skewer place was the same food as Mrs. Ono took us to earlier but at this restuarant you battered and fried your own food right at the table, Dangerously tasy. After stuffing our faces we head to "Round One", a complex of every sport and arcade game you could think of. Batting cages, golf, roller blading, mini motor cycle races you name it.
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| All you can eat skewers |
Well that takes me to my last day/night in Osaka. Yosh and I just wandered around the city and ended up at the Umeda Sky Building. Its a large skyscraper with a huge observation deck on the top & awesome architecture. Lucky for us drinking in public is legal, so of course street beers were in hand. Which made for some hilarious pictures and stories, especially the "love seat" on top of the deck. I guess Yosh and mine Bro Love is off the chart...
For the night, Maya made plans to take us to a rooftop all you can drink beer garden then clubbing, dangerous combo. This rooftop was the coolest place I have ever drank a beer before. Gorgeous views and an automatic beer pouring machince. Once we found that the night gets a bit blurry, but a mixture of Wasabi filled Takoyaki roullete, dance battles, lost Ronnie shirts, Japanese chicken nuggets, and green tea followed. O, and topped off with one WICKED hangover. Luckily the only thing I had to do that next day was make a midnight bus to Tokyo. I spent my last day and evening with the Onos,of course with a delicious dinner and complimented with more beers and the best sake I've ever tasted. I cant put into words how lucky I was to meet the Onos. My time in Osaka was perfect and Ive mader lifelong friends from it. I felt like I was welcomed into their family instantly and will miss them all very much.
And Yoshi...what can I say bro? We had an EPIC time, made countless stories, and there will be more to come in December. Thanks for all the hospitality and taking me around Japan. Peace out bro
I miss all you guys back home a ton and I hope all is well!
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