April 6 - Mon.
Kimi landed. My teacher and I picked her up from the airport and then had dinner at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.
April 7 - Tue.
We went around to look at cherry blossoms. They were in full bloom just in time for Kimi's visit. After that, we walked around Fushimi Inari to look at all the torii gates. Meandering throught Yasaka Shrine to fool her, I surprised Kimi with a trip to Gion for a maiko (apprentice geisha) make-over, her belated birthday/Christmas gift. She was really surprised~!!! We took a bunch of photos as we walked around Gion. Later that night, we met up with my good friend, Kohei, and his fiancée (a friend, too), Natsuko, for some awesome yaki-niku. BBQ beef is so f-ing delicious. I could never be vegetarian.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS
April 8 - Wed.
Went to Uji for some tea shopping and to see Phoenix Hall and Uji River. After that, we hit up Kyoto for some random shopping and people watching. For dinner, I took her out to a yakitori shop I frequent.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS
April 9 - Thu.
Took a day trip to Toei Uzumasa Eigamura Movie Museum. It was actually pretty neat. It was my first time going there, but I think it meant more to Kimi because this was the actual set where they filmed some old Japanese samurai TV program she used to watch when she was growing up in Hawaii. After playing around there, we passed through Koryuji before finally hitting up Golden Pavilion (of course, a must see if you're visiting Kyoto for the first time). Did more people watching in Kyoto and had dinner at Mos Burger. YEAH~!!!
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS
April 10 - Good Fri.
This day was temple hopping. We went to Kiyomizu-dera, the Hall of the Lotus King, and Nishi Hongan-ji (the mother Buddhist church that Kimi belongs to in Hawaii). On the way, we stopped by this small bakery and had carrot cookies. We ate at a donburi shop and ended the day with coffee at Doutour. Thumbs up for all the staples of Japan, right.
April 11 - Holy Sat. We had a bunch of time, so we headed to Nara to check out Todai Temple and play with the deer in Nara Park. Check out this rad photo! Who else can say they fed a deer under a blossoming cherry tree?
After that, we made our way to Osaka to mess around Dotonbori. We met up with Kohei again for okonomiyaki and takoyaki. We also just walked around the shopping areas in and around America Village.
April 12 - Easter Sun.
HAPPY EASTER~!!! CHRIST IS RISEN~!!!
After going to church, I met up with Kimi around Osaka Castle. We walked pretty much the entire castle grounds and even ate food at the vendor booths. Finally, it was time for us to head back to the airport so Kimi could catch her plane back home.
This was an awesome week. Good food, good sites, good times, all shared with more than good company. Btw, I never used so much Japanese in one week. Yeah for practice~!!! :D
