Kobe with Kyosuke!

4th October

Today I went to Kobe for some sight seeing and then met Kyosuke for shopping and good Chinese food! I went to the Ikuta Shrine and walked along the river before meeting up with Kyosuke. We went shopping and then went to China town! It was a great day and night and I hope to visit Kobe more often as it is a really interesting city.

The entrance to Ikuta Shrine


Ikuta shrine


Hanshin Tigers (local baseball team) sake barrels at the shrine


Plaques and paper cranes for wishes at the shrine


Ikuta river


The entrance to China town


China town


Me eating whole fried crab! Yum!


Kyosuke also attempting the crab!


The other entrance gate to China town


The manhole covers in Kobe

Arima Onsen with Marie!

30th September

Marie and I went to Arima Onsen which is a small town in the mountains about half an hour from Kobe. It was a cold, rainy day so it seemed perfect weather for an onsen. Arima Onsen town has many onsen and they are some of the oldest in Japan. We visited Kin no Yu which has reddish brown water that is meant to make your skin soft and keep your body warm for a long time after. Since it was a weekday there were only a few older Japanese ladies in the onsen but as always it is a little strange and somehow funny until you get used to being naked! Once we had washed ourselves we entered the bath which was 42 degrees - no wonder it keeps you warm for a long time! And there was another one that was 44 degrees! We didn't venture into that one! It was really relaxing but Marie and I couldn't stay in there too long as it was just too hot! We then wandered around the town, did some souvenir shopping and ate an amazing curry udon for lunch. It was a great day!

Heading to the town of Arima Onsen


The town had many old/traditional style buildings


This looked like a river but also had pool sort of things - apparently it is used during festivals and cherry blossom viewing

Beautiful scenery


Marie on the bridge


Marie in front of Kin No Yu


Outside the women's onsen


We bought steamed cakes that were steamed with onsen water. There were many places selling these cakes.


I am trying to take a photo of manhole covers in every town as each one is specific to the town.

Marie's back - well for a short time anyway!

29th and 30th September

Marie came back to Japan for a holiday and was able to spend a short time in Himeji with me. On the first night we went to Marie's favourite okonomiyaki place for dinner with a group of people which was yum! On the second night we went to Marie's friends house and she cooked us a very nice meal. But after Marie unfortunately had to leave for Tokyo to meet up with Shinya. Although it was a short time it was great to see her again!

Everyone at dinner


Marie and I - yay together again!


Marie, Kyosuke and I


Hiromi, Marie, Fumiyo and I


At Noriko's for dinner


The yum dinner


Noriko's cute boys - Hiro and Toshi at their own little dinner table!

Sangria, karaoke and more karaoke!

27th September

I had one of the best birthday parties ever here this year! Taube and Julian wanted to have a cocktail party so they organised the whole thing and did such a fantastic job! We had even had sangria with dry ice! The room was decorated so well and we even had couches to make it more like home! We later headed to karaoke where we had a great time singing the night away! Thanks for making my birthday party amazing everyone! :-)

The meeting room that was decorated amazingly by my friends here!


The sign of a good party in Japan is the amount of shoes at the door! This was only early in the night!


Yuki, Makoto, Kyosuke and Shinya enjoying the party!


Rachel, Pat, Emily and Ferra-Lynn!


Me and my cake that Rachel organised and got everyone to sing to me!


Me with my cake, sangria and a few drinks on board!


Taube and Julian with the amazing smoking sangria - thanks for organising a great party!


Taube and I singing Whitney Houston's "I wanna dance with somebody!"


Full room at karaoke - about 30 in a room for 18!


The British boys Mike and Matt with Julian belting out some tunes!

My Birthday!

26th September

I had a fantastic birthday this year! When I woke up I opened all the presents and cards you wonderful people sent me and then I went to school where some students sang happy birthday to me! A small group of us went out to dinner at Len, which is an Asian restaurant that has Vietnamese, Indonesian and Thai food. It was really yum and after we went to do puri-kura which is a photo booth where you decorate the photos after which is a lot of fun! We then went back to my apartment for cafe mocha icecream cake! Thank you to everyone that made my day special! :-)

amazing sunset on my birthday!


the cool bamboo floor and light in the restaurant


Mmm corona!


Yum cold rolls


and Nasi Goreng!


My favourite pud thai


Kyosuke and I


All of us at dinner


Me and my other love - Kitty-chan!


Taube, Ferra-Lynn and I


Puri-kura


My yum ice cream cake!


Me and my cake!

Cooking lesson! Japanese curry!

16th September

Every few weeks Yumiko comes to Taube's apartment with all the ingredients, recipe and cooking utensils to make some amazing Japanese food. I was lucky enough to get to fill in for Richard in one of the cooking lessons. This time it was Japanese curry which was amazing!

There are 3 types of curry paste/powder which are used to give it a good flavour






Other ingredients along with meat and vegetables are - laurel leaf, dried chilli garlic and stock cubes.


The curry boiling away -it needs to cook for about an hour and it tastes best the next day.


Yumiko the wonderful cooking teacher setting the table


The amazing end product


The yum dessert which was plain yogurt, figs and mint