２０１０年９月２２日
Today we go to USJ (Universal Studios Japan). We decided to meet up in Umeda, because we can get a direct train from Umeda to USJ, but because I live in the south side of Osaka, it takes me about 30–40 minutes to get to Umeda.. depending on how long I have to wait for trains, especially when changing lines *tear* but it’s alright.. I can survive no matter how tired or long it takes, because Ashley is only here for 8 days in total, and I do have the whole week off work!
Sayaka and I both pay for yearly tickets, because no doubt we will have friends coming over and it’s good to take them to USJ and also, if we just go 2 times, then we have got our money’s worth from USJ. As soon as we entered, we went straight to the roller coaster! I love roller coasters, and whilst on it, you can also listen to music (individually chosen). I picked EMINEM, and then we went on it again, and without thinking, I chose the exact same song (out of 5 different songs). Anyway, we went to many different parts of USJ, even some parts that I hadn’t been to before when I went 2 years ago with Sayaka. We also saw some parades and even though the weather forecast predicted it to be raining, we were fortunate that it didn’t rain until the last parade, and we were ready to go home anyway.
２０１０年９月２３日
Today it’s still raining.. and it looks as though Sayaka isn’t well and probably won’t be coming out today and Ashley isn’t doing much in her room at Sayaka’s place. I really want to check out the Pokemon Center ever since I’ve heard of it in Japan, and when Sayaka mentioned that there was one in Osaka, the urge to go deepened! So I messaged Ashley that I would go and check it out and she replied back saying she would come.. just to check it out. So we meet up in front of Hep 5 and then walked to the Pokemon Center. It was actually quite small, but there was still a lot of people hanging around the place with their DS’s battling each other. Maybe the fact that the new games Pokemon Black and Pokemon White have just been released (even I have to wait to buy a new DS and Pokemon Black..).
When we went to USJ, Ashley saw a MOS burger place just outside of the USJ gates and wanted to eat there, but if we left, then Ashley would have to buy a new ticket to get back into USJ as Sayaka and I had our yearly passes. But at the Pokemon Center, lucky for us, there was a MOS burger place, so we went there for lunch. After eating lunch, we just wandered around a bit more and then got a call from Sayaka to go near むこのそ where we could watch some Ballet for free. By the time Ashley and I had arrived, it was up to the last of 3 different ballet’s, but it was still good. It was my first time to watch a ballet in real-life!! Also, Sayaka’s mum was there. I think it was a good experience to see it!! ^_^
２０１０年９月２４日
This day we went to beautiful Kyoto~!! We arrived with plenty of time to go to many places, and we were fortunate enough to have Sayaka guide us around on this day. The only thing that went kind of wrong was that we got stuck shopping for the WHOLE day! We found a Village Vanguard which has HEAPS of random stuff.. looked at many different clothes stores, little boutique stores, a knife store, etc.. But the following day Ashley and I were planning to come back, so it was ok that we didn’t visit any temples or shrines..
After looking at various shops in Kyoto, we returned to Umeda and went to eat Curry~ I love Japanese curry, so I was extremely happy. Oh, also by the fact that I went to watch Biohazard 4 (Resident Evil 4): Afterlife with my new friend Kazu !
２０１０年９月２５日
So it was just Ashley and myself that went to Kyoto today. But as it has happened with me a few times now, we arrived too early! We were both hungry and wanted to start our day off by going to this delicious ramen place that Sayaka had told us about the previous day.. but we had to wait, so we decided to go back to Village Vanguard !! Anyway, the store opened at 11:30 and we returned to the store at 12:05 and it was packed! Sayaka said it was good.. but damn! Luckily there were 2 seats left! After we finished eating the awesome ramen (because it was really awesome) we met up with Naoko who had just come back from Australia and we started to go to the temples. First stop – Kiyomizu Dera!
As we were walking from Kiyomizu Dera towards 三十三間堂, I saw this guy who was walking with his girlfriend but completely stop and stare openly as Naoko walked past him. At first I just thought that he must of thought that Naoko was pretty drop dead gorgeous (which she is very pretty) and then i realised she was carring a massive box of Krispy Kreme donuts that she got for free from the train station as she was exiting because soon Kyoto will have their first Krispy Kreme donut store!! LOL
We had a look at 三十三間堂 with all the ‘god’ figures they have there and then returned to Osaka well worn out! A good last day! I went to Sayaka’s house with Ashley and slept the night there as I would travel with Ashley to the airport and also Sayaka is going to Australia the next day, but not until the afternoon, so I feel as though I should go there and spend her last few hours in Osaka with her~
２０１０年９月２６日
We wake up and go to the limousine bus which will take us to Kansai Airport. Oh god.. I’m just totally buggered from the whole week that Ashley has been here, but it has been SO good! I got to travel to many places again and spend time with her. We walk around the airport and find a K-pop store, but Ashley doesn’t know hardly anyone, well, not the newer music groups.. We try to call one of our other friends Shuhei, but I find out later that it’s his sports day at school so he didn’t answer and we didn’t get to chat with him together. Ashleyと一週間、ほんまに良かったやな！僕は疲れたけど、全部すごく楽しかった！！
Epik Travels 