Was in Himeji from June 18th to 28th (Naoko and Zen were there longer, from May 29th to June 28th).
As usual, the weeks that preceded the trip were jam packed with work, and I was busy most weekends with stuff. Â I spent a lot of time at home, eating the frozen meals that Naoko had prepared in advance of the trip for me, and working away, although I also had some fun with the band practicing for gigs. I went to the airport on the evening of June 17th for my flight out in the early hours of June 18th. Â The flight went without a hitch, and off I went to Himeji by bus, with Naoko and Zen meeting me to pick me up. Saturday afternoon we went downtown to do a bit of CD shopping and to hang out.
Sunday, June 19th we went downtown to see the Himeji culture museum, with some nice cultural displays like the one below, with the old horse, armour, ladies kimono display, old cultural artifacts (manga, confectionary, etc). Also saw some setup for the oncoming Himeji yutaka festival.
In Himeji Culture Museum
In Himeji Culture Museum
Zen in front of a haunted house they were building up for the Yukata Matsuri
Tuesday, June 21st Naoko and I went to Zen’s school to see his open day, then we went shopping for stuff, like my new leather business bag and some shoes for me, one of them a bit funky to wear casually and the other some black leather shoes to wear to work. We also had a nice ramen lunch.
Zen's schoolwork on show at the open house for parents
Hope-Ken Ramen, the best in Himeji
The rest of the week we mainly just tidied up the house. I went through tons of boxes of old stuff and threw many things away, we also threw away some old metal desks that had been in the house for over 30 years (one of them had interesting stickers on it, like Leif Garrett, and Super-Buddha), as well as some old stereop speakers from Naoko’s brother’s stereo. We took a bunch of stuff to the used goods shop and got a few hundred yen for it, not much at all. The place looks quite minimalistic now… or at least more than it did when we got there.
Zen in school uniform
Old desks going into the garbage
Desk stickers - Om, Super-Buddha
Desk stickers - Mega Punch and Leif Garrett
Saturday I arranged to go downtown to meet my friends, I first got to Koreatown in Tsuruhashi and we grabbed some Korean barbecue stuff and drank some beers, then headed over to El Zocala for some amazing burritos. Mere words can’t express how yummy those things were! We also headed to the Osaka Bridges pub, where we ran into a bunch of old friends and had some great pizza and beer.
Great use of Metallica font for a shop name that starts with "M" and ends with "A".
The world famous El Zocalo Burrito in Osaka, Japan
Osaka Burrito Appreciation Society meeting
The Matt abides...
Dave, Peter, Dave... check out how long Dave's left arm is!!
Osaka birdman
Early morning Osaka scenes.
Smoking space
Himeji Station disappearing quick...
Himeji train station – better catch it soon before they’ve torn it all down.
Himeji Station disappearing quick...
On our last full day in Japan we went to Mt Shosha, a beautiful mountain monastery north of Himeji. Â This place is famous for having been one of the places where the film “The Last Samurai” was filmed. Â Yes, Tom Cruise was in that film.
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
Zen on Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
Naoko, Zen and Naoko's mom on Mt Shosha in Himeji
Peter, Naoko and Zen on Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji - this temple was features as one of the locations for the feature film The Last Samurai; yes, Tom Cruise was here!
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji - this temple was features as one of the locations for the feature film The Last Samurai; yes, Tom Cruise was here!
Fudo Myo-o on Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
On Mt Shosha in Himeji
At the base of Mt Shosha in Himeji
One of the last things that we did before we flew back was to play a bit of softball with Naoko’s dad. Â Actually, Zen and I practiced nearly every day, a bit of catch ball and a bit of batting, and sometimes Naoko’s dad, a former baseball coach, came along. Â Zen is enthusiastic about playing and works hard at practice.
Zen practicing softball with his grandfather in Himeji