Mom & Dad have arrived!!

My folks arrived in Japan on the 28th and it was great to greet them at the airport after not seeing them for the past 7 months! We quickly made our way to the shuttle bus that conveniently dropped us off down the street from our place. That sure beat lugging all the luggage around on the train!

We once again took advantage of the "open alcohol is ok" factor and welcomed them with some beer and chuhai on the bus. Once we got them all settled into our apartment, we went for dinner at the local izakaya. Like we have done with everyone else, we introduced them to some of Osaka's local cuisine. Unfortunately Jamie and I weren't too pleased with the food. We weren't sure if they had a new chef or what, but everything tasted different and was served differently. Not good when you are trying to tell your guests that okinamiyaki really is good!

The next day we just hung around Osaka by showing them some sites and getting their rail passes activated etc. That night we decided to have some drinks and a home cooked meal at home. It was definitely a FUN night had by all!

Jamie and I had to work on Saturday, so my folks headed to Nara where they spent a long time walking around with the deer and checking out many temples, including my favourite Todaiji temple!

Sunday night we attended a Hanami party at the famous Osaka Castle. The cherry blossom season is quite popular in Japan and what people do is go to a park with some food and drinks and sit under a cherry blossom tree to enjoy good company and the surrounding flowers. We were supposed to meet some people at the castle, but it was PACKED and near impossible for us to keep together.

At the base of the castle there was a live reggae band playing and everyone was drinking and dancing with portable fire torches! It was wild. Eventually, we headed up to the beautifully illuminated castle. Jamie and I have seen the castle in the day, but seeing it lit up at night was breath-taking. Unforuntatley we didn't get any decent pictures because it was raining a bit and we regretably left our tri-pod back in Canada. Once we found a place to sit, we unloaded our food and drinks and had our own little hanami party. Nearby was a group of girls who eventually got up enough courage to come over and talk to us. They were soooooo funny and drunk. It was hilarious. Hanami parties rule!

Once we called it a night we made our way home to get ready for the following few days away from home.