２０１４年５月３日ー６日

May 3rd:

During the Golden Week holiday, Osaka University held its annual　一丁祭り Iccho Festival where various clubs on campus set up stands to provide food/other goods for the students. I went with some friends of mine and enjoyed the festive atmosphere most of the afternoon.

It was a beautiful day. Those trees are so green..

Making takoyaki, something I plan on bringing back to the states. And hey look, she's a gaijin! I'm not alone!

Great people, and they always wanna take pictures with me. Cool I guess.

Our good friend Sarah. That's Andreas (Germany) on the left and Bankin' Ban (from California) on the right.

Late afternoon sun.

In the evening, a bunch of the Osaka University bands played on the main stage. They were all mostly cover songs played, but that did not take away from the excitement. Here is a band that sounded kind of like dream theater.

After the festival was over, we headed over to 石橋 Ichibashi, basically the college town for Osaka University's 豊中 Toyonaka campus. We went with the International Student group, but it ended up being all Japanese people aside from my buddy Andreas. Here's a pic of us at the bar.

May 4th:

May 4th was an adventure. We had a good crew, and we were thirty for an adventure in 神戸 Kobe. We headed out late in the morning with the intention of getting lunch there. The place we went to was recommended to us by my good friend Suguru. It was basically a sashimi (raw fish) with rice place. Here are pics of us/food.

Selfie! The place was basically a bar with 7 chairs or so. We had to wait a good 20 minutes to get in. (Also check out my sunburn from the festival... Nice going Franc...)

Here is what I got for about 800 yen. It consisted of はまち yellowtail (my absolute favorite)、あじ jack mackarel、さんま Pacific saury.

Honestly I would have been happy just after this meal, but the day only got better. We headed away from the central station (三宮駅) and made our way to this massive hill in the city. We decided we want to climb it!

Here is the hill just north of the city we wanted to check out.

We found some sketchy gate that led into the foresty, leaf-littered hills. It didn't say entry was prohibited, but there was most certainly no marked path. We went through the gates and I managed to peer pressure all my friends to start foraging into the forest, through tons of these hanging silk worms that would get all over your clothes and face. At one point, the forest got extremely steep -- I'm talking like 60 degree incline status -- at which half the crew decided to skip out and go back to the city to find another way up the hill (it was more or less a mountain...). According to my friend, "the boys were separated from the men". Here are some pics/dramatic videos.

Forging the path for the crew.

Self-explanatory

After my friends caught up.

We only realized that we were in the Northern Koba mountains when we just kept walking, walking, and.... walking... It was amazing to be in the outdoors away from the city smog. The taste of fresh air and the smell of the woods. Of course you can't forget the amazing views from up there. Here are som pictures.

We found this old creepy abandoned RV in the woods. Also captures the personalities of my two buddies (Emilio on the left and Johannes on the right)

Couldn't read this, but it was pretty. 

A beautiful view of Kobe harbor with perfect weather

The panorama. Hopefully this will show properly on the blog site.

At the viewpoint above, we came across a middle-aged couple. I asked them what the best way down the mountain was, explaining that we had just climbed some random face. They said to follow the road, so I asked if hitchhiking was legal in Japan. They said it was no problem. So.... We started walking down the road trying to hitchhike with every car that came by. Eventually the couple that I met at this point rolled through and offered us a ride in their Mercedes. Cramped in the backseat, we made pleasant conversation all the way back to town, where they were kind enough to drop us off at their favorite Kobe beef restaurant. Unfortunately, the place was close when we returned to it for dinner later. But, before that, we started heading to the harbor to see the other part of Kobe. Here are some pics.

Right next to the strain station was this tiny alleyway. The exposed piping of the buildings/railway structure gave it a really Gotham city feel. Really cool, and the smell of food was amazing.

Finally, I am at the ocean again. This a candid shot of Johannes.

In memory of the damage caused by the 大頭地震 Great Kobe Earthquake

Kobe Harbor at Sunset

That boat the 丸大和 looks straight out of a Pokemon game.. Come to think of it, so does that tower..

The Oktoberfest in the middle of May.

After the lights turned on.

Ferris wheel at the harbor. 

神戸牛丼 A Kobe Beef Rice Bowl Set.

Back at the station at the end of the night.

Kobe might have been my favorite city in Japan so far. I will definitely return soon.

May 5th:

This weekend really was jam-packed with great activities. On the 5th I had the opportunity to visit my Sensei's house along with many of the other lab members. I arrived around 1 o'clock and went straight around the house (very big for Japanese standards) to the back where he had a big guest house. The seating was traditional, no chairs. There were just two tables about a foot off the ground with lots of the researchers, as well as former students of Professor Kondoh gathered around them. As for the food, first I ate about 2 plates of stacked, Kobe style fatty steak. Next, I was asked to make takoyaki, while my Sensei made okonomiyaki. I think I a pretty killer job because they were all impressed. They didn't know that I have been regularly making takoyaki at the dorm with my hallmates.. Next came some spaghetti with seaweed and fish eggs in a light creamy sauce. Finally, dessert and tea. This whole time we all had beers and other beverages. It was hilarious because two of his former students drank so much that they fell asleep at the table. As a side-note, it truly is amazing how adept Japanese people are at sleeping in a sitting position, especially in loud, public places. Anyways, Kondoh Sensei didn't seem to mind their drunken mental absence, which is another interesting point. Work superiors don't seem care how much you drink. Regardless, I was fine the whole time. Here's a group pic after the meal. 

Kondoh Sensei on the left: he's a boss. Imai Sensei on the right: he's also a boss.

May 6th:

I closed the weekend off with a concert. I went with Kato-san, an elderly lady I had met at the weekly "Let's talk Japanese" meetings at our dorm with the locals. Her husband was a violinist in the Suita City Symphony Orchestra, and she gave us free tickets to the concert. It turns out that the orchestra was a volunteer hobby orchestra, and unfortunately it sounded a little bit like it. The song choice was really not to my liking, and there were lots of mistakes in the performance. Also, the venue had pretty weak acoustics. The orchestra didn't resonate nicely in the concert hall. Regardless, I was happy to be there and experience a more local aspect of the Osaka culture. And I appreciated all the hard work that the people put into the music. It certainly was not easy music.

After the concert we returned home I played some sports with my friends and enjoyed a feast of a dinner.

Having a Korean BBQ feast with the hallmates

I had a wonderful holiday weekend.