Week 1 with Hopson & Alex = GT's!

Last Sunday Hopson and Alex arrived in Oooooooooosaka! They got to our place around 10:30pm and were bushed as they flew from Vancouver to Korea..then to Japan. That's is a long dang time!!! In true Sara and Jamie fashion we greeted them with some bevies and got them settled in. Understandably enough it wasn't too long after that they hit the hay.

The next few days Jamie and I had to work, so on Monday they did some local sightseeing (i.e. - Osaka Castle etc.) and on Tuesday Jamie got the day off so he took them to get their rail passes activated and they did some more touristy stuff in and around Umeda. Wednesday we were back at work, so they went to Nara for the day.

The nights were spent chatting and consuming a fair bit of G.S.T's (gin/sprite/tonic). Once again, it was great to have some familiar faces around.

Finally our weekend had arrived! Let the fun begin! Thursday we got up and headed to Kyoto for the day. First we went to a place in Kyoto called Kameoka where we went on a 2 hour boat ride down the Hozu river. It was a really nice experience...just to be outdoors and have that "camping" smell in the air! It was funny because the brochure says "raging torrents and breath-taking ravines at times dousing you with water, at others passing in calmness." Yes we did get wet. Yes the scenery was nice....but raging water?? Ha ha ha ha!! The Japanese ladies on the boat were acting as if we were white-water rafting in class 5 rapids and about to die! It was hilarious!

After that we made our way to a bamboo forest for some photo ops and then took a train to a different part of Kyoto to check out the Nijo temple. Unfortunately we got there 30 min. too late as the admission gate had already closed. From there we went to Nishiki food market and then headed back to Osaka.

Since it was dinner time and we had been drinking throughout the day (we even cracked open a bottle of wine of the train!!), we decided to take them to one of our favourite places Da Sponge. From previous posts I told you that these guys love Hawaii and SPAM. So the guys had a SPAM burger and Alex and I had my fav....Hawaiian/SPAM pizza. SO GOOD!!!! A lot of tasty Shochu and Chuhai was consumed and we had a grrrrreat time!!

Friday we woke up...some a little rougher then others....and made our way to Kobe. That night we had tickets for the Hanshin Tigers baseball game, so we decided to spend the whole day there. We arrived in Kobe at around lunch time and proceeded to find this famous restaurant called Moriya as it is known as Kobe's best steak house. It was at that time that we discovered that the map provided at the train station sucked. After asking for directions we finally found it. They said that they were full and to wait because he would call another place. We all thought it was a different restaurant all together, but it was the exact same restaurant just down the street. One of the waiters walked us there....only in Japan!!!

Once we got there we were sat right at the grill. Our orders were taken and we were all looking forward to some good Kobe beef! Yes---even me! I am now a meat eater!! I'm still not a ground beef fan, but I have had quite a few steaks since being here. It was cool to watch the chef cook everything in front of us. Before he gave us our food he gave us a plate with salt, pepper, & dried garlic and a couple of bowls of sauce....one a lemon soy sauce and the other a miso sesame. As he cooked several pieces, he would put some on our plate and have us dip it in the salt first....then the other things if we wanted. IT WAS AMAZING!!! According to the guys it was the best steak they have ever eaten!! We couldn't stop talking about how good it was throughout the day!! My taste buds have never been so excited! If you are ever in Japan, you MUST make a pit-stop in Kobe and go to this restaurant! YUMMY is a huge understatement!!!

After that the plan was to check out a sake brewery and go for a tour. This was the 2nd time in the day we realized the map we had sucked. It was not drawn to scale at all. After walking for 1.5 hours we finally stopped to get some help. The people in the bakery said it was still a long walk, so they called us a taxi. They were right....if we continued walking we would have missed the ball game! Unfortunately sake is only made in the winter...didn't know that....so there wasn't anything to be seen in terms of a tour. We enjoyed some free samples though :)

At about 5pm we made our way to Koshien stadium...home of the Hanshin Tiger's ball team and supposedly the most dedicated fans in the country. We stopped in the grocery store beforehand to pick up some munchies and drinks. I have never in my life seen a supermarket sooooo busy....everyone else had the same idea as us! It is cool because you are allowed to bring food and alcohol into the stadium as long as your drinks are poured into a paper cup. When we found our seats and sat down we all burst out laughing! The actual seat is super narrow so ones hips don't fit AND there is not enough leg room for anyone over 5'5"!! We were so squished....once Steve was in his seat and someone sat beside him, it was physically impossible for him to move. We scouted out our section and found some seats a bit higher up without a row in front. It had all the leg room in the world so we moved. No more then 15 minutes after settling in, the people who purchased the seats came. Instead of going back to our original seats we all took an aisle seat so we all had a chance to stretch our legs out. The game wasn't sold out so thank god no one came to claim those seats as well! I think Steve still has some indent marks on his knees!!!

I am not much of a baseball fan, but since baseball is Japan's most popular sport we had to check out a game. The atmosphere was insane!!! People from 1 year old to 80 years old decked out in Hanshin Tigers attire with their plastic bats! It was awesome! I don't think the crowd was silent at any point during the game. You know how you watch a soccer game on TV and the crowd is chanting non-stop? Well, this was what it was like. Cheering, chanting, singing, clapping bats to different beats was all we heard for 3 hours. Another cool thing was during the 7th inning stretch everyone would blow up a colored balloon and at the same time release them. The Tigers won 4-1. It was definitely a fun experience!!

Well, today is Saturday and unfortunately Jamie and I had to go back to work! Steve and Alex left this morning to go to Hiroshima. They still have another week here! Yay....so stay tuned for another entry and more pictures :)

***videos posted soon***