Anyway, last Saturday (the day after my birthday), Yoli midnighted to my place. She wanted to hang out in my area and do some Christmas stuff before our trip to Tokyo (which is in 2 days, btw). When she got to my place, she decided to take a nap before we headed out to 大阪 (Osaka) to meet up with my friend, Yuko.
Around lunch time, we met up with Yuko near 難波駅 (Namba Station) and walked to a place called WIRED Care. Yoli and I ordered Loco Moco, but it was TOTALLY different than the actual Hawaiian-style version. Instead of gravy, they used this demi-glace burger sauce. It was weird. Oh, and there was this f-ed up lookin' ketchup bottle...looked frozen, but it wasn't. Why was that? I don't know.
We took the train and made our way to USJ (Universal Studios Japan). We had to walk through Universal Citywalk to get there, so we did some side-shopping along the way. And, yes, we had to stop at the Takoyaki Museum, of course~!!!
The main reason why we went to USJ was to see the Christmas show. Yoli and I wanted to feel the Christmas spirit full-blast since it's known to be really commercial here in Japan. We rode the roller coaster, the 3D Spiderman ride, even watched a Peter Pan show. Churros? Had to eat some. We even ventured into the souvenir shops that were more packed than early morning commuter trains.
Dang, we DARK...jk.
Yoli & Yuko
Christmas Tree Hat?
3D Glasses x 3 (+ a random woman)
The Spiderman Ride Car
Christmas Churros
The Christmas show itself was amazing. There was a normal looking series of buildings on the lot. That night for the show, really colorful and winter-ish images were projected on the surfaces of the buildings. There were dancers and singers, people dressed up as angels., and a fireworks finale. It was hard to get good pictures because all these old people kept pushing their way through the crowd to get a better view of the events as they unfolded. And it was dark. And some tall-ass Japanese people were there.
All the songs they sang were traditional English songs, so I started to feel REALLY homesick. After all, it was my first time being away from family for Christmas. Finally getting our fill of "home," we parted with Yuko, and went back to my apartment.
The next day, Yoli and I went to 京都市 (Kyoto City) to do some shopping for our trip to Tokyo.We took a leisurely pace until we met up with Yuko for dinner. We had DE-LE-JUSS Japanese food and weird, but tasty-times drinks.
Monday rolled along, and I had to go to work. It was closing ceremony. After I got back home, Yoli and I headed down toward 宇治 (Uji) to get my haircut, but I didn't realize that all barber shops closed on Mondays. So instead, we just walked around the city; even got some 宇治抹茶ソフトクリーム (Uji Matcha Soft Cream). We went back to my apartment because I had to get ready for a school social in the city with the school staff. Yoli spent time solo in the city during that time.
Tuesday was Yoli's last day before heading back home. We pretty much spent the rest of the day up until Yoli left to soak in the scenery at 伏見稲荷大社 (Fushimi Inari Shrine). It was fun being able to explore the unbeaten paths that were hidden behind the obvious ones. We ended up going through a bamboo forest that suddenly became what looked like a pine forest (seriously looked like the California mountains at a point). We passed some vegetable farms and ended up in an area that NO tourist would normally end up (possibly a residential area behind the hill).
We even cut through a forested area and ended up on the other side of the viewing area f the lake. It was cool exploring the area with a good friend. Finally it was time for Yoli to head out. The both of us had fun during the long weekend. Down cuz we're brown~!!!
This is what goes down when brown people unite. WE OUT, SUCKAFISH~!!!
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