Umeda Sky Building & Last Weekend

UMEDA SKY BUILDING
梅田スカイービル

The last week day, I went to Umeda Sky Building. It's a little off ways and was hard to get there because there's not really public transportation access to it...maybe a bus but I don't like buses too many bad San Francisco bus smell experiences. Finally I saw a Ritz Carlton and figured someone spoke English there and asked how to get to Umeda Sky Building and they called me a cab. How nice.


Umeda Sky Building! This is what you see when you look up. Apparently there's a big new years bash up there. It's an observation deck so you can go up there and look down. I meant to do that but I forgot because I got distracted. I found a mochi restaurant and had some mochi soup. That's not what it's called but it's some name I don't remember. Not Chikara...just don't remember haha. The quadrants of the building (in the legs!) had nice little aesthetic gardens in it, like with waterfalls and rock gardens and such.


Then I went to...


JESUS DIAMANTE
ジーザスディアマンテ

I went to Jesus Diamante! I have loved their designs for years and finally I got to go!


And the designer was there too! He was so nice and funny. He even ran out and got a taxi for me and held my stuff while I got in! So polite! Men learn a lesson! And the sales assistants all look like dolls. Amazing. I wonder how many hours it would take me...


I'm surprised I didn't cry! I didn't even go in the part of the store with Versace, I think then I'd have a nervous breakdown. Well I did cry after I left. Lol and then I went back to my hotel room and took a nap, and when I woke up I wondered if it was all a dream. So thank goodness I took photos. I wish I could buy everything in the store...but I would need thousands of dollars for that:/ Two dresses alone would be approximately 1000 US dollars.:/... That's what careers are for!:D Go to college kids!:p

During the weekend I went out with the friends I made there. What did we do...Kayo, Aki, Takeshi, and I went to eat at a traditional style Japanese restaurant. That was fun. I ate interesting food...they had creme brulee though! That made me happy. I'm surprised I didn't break any paper screens. I almost messed up the tatami mat though:/ But I didn't! Then we went clubbing. Then the next day I went to a cafe with Takeshi, then went to Don Quijote with Aki, then went to MCDonald's with Aki and Kayo cos I was cravin a burger really bad and was told I had to go to McDonald's in Japan by foreigners. Umm...they have good bacon cheeseburgers, and the burgers are bigger than our McDonald's burgers...thats the opposite of what everyone told me. I'm sure they had shrimp burgers or something, but I was in Shabushabu land if I can't have skirt steak I want beef. Then Takeshi met up with us and we went to this cafe where I guess him and Kazumori were waiting and they surprised me with a goodbye cake! So sweet! Well it was like...a goodbye multiple cake scuplture with a firecracker stick thingy and writing in chocolate on it. So cute! I wish I had pics but Aki has them all...so I have to wait more. So sweet. Then I had to say goodbye to Aki and we cried. Then Takeshi and I had udon and I said bye to him. And I cried. And I called people to say goodbye and I cried. And I cried so much I didn't even sleep on the plane except 2 hours. Because Sacramento...eh do I even have to say LOL

Bye bye!

Comfort Food

After I had my cakes, my nose started bleeding uncontrollably! It wouldn't stop for the longest time, and security was going to call an ambulance, but I said it was alright. I haven't had a nose bleed like that in a long time. It scared me, but I'm glad it didn't last 2 hours at least. Well, after that scare, I decided to lay low on the last few days of my trip. I was planning to go to Nara and revisit Kyoto, but...I thought it would be unwise, not only because of my nose, but while walking back home from the patisserie, I almost fainted! So the next few days I just stayed local, going to some museums here and there, but working on recovering. And what better way to recover than eat one's favorite foods?:p


Moccina was a Mochi vendor selling fresh fruit mochi in a subway station.　They have a website! Click!


There was strawberry, mandarin orange, melon, pineapple, strawberry cream, and one other type of strawberry flavor lol.


Here's the pineapple one for instance.


Look! A surprise! A real pineapple chunk inside! In fact they all had real fruit in them, and it was frozen so it was icy cold and juicy. The mandarin orange and pineapple were my favorites. So now we can say that dessert is healthy:p


Look what I found in Lawson's! Mille Feuille Hagen Daaz, which wa snot only Mille Feuille flavored but contained actual Mille Feuille. They also had Creme Brulee and Tiramisu.

And what day of healing is complete without macarons?

Five different types, you can choose your own.


They come from Sourire d'Ange, which is also located in a subway station, under Keihan Mall.　They have a website! Click!


I chose Chocolate, Vanilla, Coffee Bean, Mont Blanc, and Strawberry Creme

And really, what is the best food ever but Chinese food!

It was surprisingly hard to find Chinese food, like a sit-down Chinese restaurant. But I did. At the top of Keihan Mall. And it was in a really nice place, but they had a lunch special! Yay! I had the spicy tofu combo. The combo somes with salad, rice, soup, pickled radishes, and an eggroll. Oh and mango gelatin for dessert


and for dessert,i ordered in addition to the complimentary mango gelatin: Lil dim sum Sesame buns!

Nakanoshima and Osaka Business Park

NAKANOSHIMA AND OSAKA BUSINESS PARK
This probably will be a boring entry for you guys unless you are an architecture nerd like me. I love structure!

Hmm so I took the Nakanoshima river tour which goes down the river whose name I forget and shows you important things in Osaka from the river. It cost...approximately $10 i think, and they have snacks, drinks, and alcohol too. This mom and daughter were loud and drunk-_- I didn't have anything because I had something in mind for later.

This is gonna be the worst entry ever because I forget what everything is.


So...this is...the...capitol building? something like that. Where politicians go...lol not sure if its equivalent to the capitol but that seems pretty close right? Lol. This building is in an obvious Western style because it was built in the Meiji period during the Westernization movement in Japan. In fact you see many government buildings and old mansions of the rich from along the river built in the style of the 1850's American structures. It almost feels like a little sliver of Gone With The Wind, with creeping Willows and Roman columns included. Very Neoclassical styled structures, like straight from Palladio himself. Alot of them still have bullet holes and structural damage from American fighter planes from WWII.


This is just a pretty willow tree lol. Hey see all those trees beside it?


All these trees? In Spring (now), they bloom! They are cherry blossoms! I left too early to see this beautiful sight, but yes, they all are in bloom now. I think it's romantic, especially with the park, and the Gone with the Wind scene, and the water, and the willow and cherry blossoms. Ah! I've gotta do a picnic next time! You're all invited:p


Some important bridge. It represents the trade route from Osaka to other places for centuries past. Err...this river too. Lol. Yeah this bridge is really important I was told several times by friends...but I forget why:/


Tall square mirrored buildings. Ah I love it! I don't know why. I just do. And this is...


Osaka Business Park!


I absolutely fell in love with this building. Isn't it so genius?



It looks under construction but thats a frame on the outside. Reminds me of Mondrian or something. So quirky! I wish I could live in it haha.


This should all be filled with cherry blossoms by now.


Not a touristy area really, but where the river boat tour ends. And...I know that the best food is always in business areas because professionals don't settle for crap food! I don't either!


Illuminations! Always a pleasant surprise when wandering around looking for a...

French Patisserie!

I found it! And I had a green tea cake set including fresh made vanilla ice cream and coffee, with an extra Mont Blanc cake.

Busy Weekend

SATURDAY

There are more pics from this weekend but unfortunately I don't have them, other people have them-_-. So this is mostly text. Hmm basically, on Saturday I went to lunch with a friend's girlfriend who lives in Osaka. We talked for a couple of hours actually, and it was the first time I met her. So that was good:).

In the morning when I turned on the TV, there was a woman dancing to "Smooth Criminal" with a walrus, so I thought i'd take a picture of the TV screen in case no one believed me.



Arisa took us to this delicious restaurant whose name i forget atm. A delicious bacon burger with pumpkin corn soup, and a spinach and pepper salad. It was yummy. Eating spinach and peppers with chopsticks is kinda hard.



The restaurant was children's book themed...yeah I know kinda strange haha. But it was cute. GOOD FOOD. Oh how I love hamburgers!


Hmm So after that, I ran home and changed, then met Akiko, her boss, and her coworker in front of Shinsaibashi OPA department store for a night of fun! We went to dinner first...a very strange Italian place. Then we did karaoke for a while! So fun. LOL I AM NOT ALLOWED TO SING BEYONCE EVER AGAIN. Everyone agrees. Haha.

Afterwards we met up with Akiko's bf who was out with coworkers, and we all went to a bar together. I guess it was American themed because it had American newspaper clippings on the table tops and played all American music from Led Zeppelin to Mariah Carey. We had beer, of course, and I tried picked radishes and fried lotus root. Actually very yummy. Tastes nothing like how it sounds at first. Well I have had lotus buns so I suspected I would like them. No one knew what lotus buns are. I guess that's strictly Chinese. They do have pork buns though. Those are called nikuman. Yummy. Only $1 too.

SUNDAY

Sunday I got up early to go to Uji...or was it Monday...lol I think Sunday. It took forever to get there but mostly because I was on the slow train for a while, half awake, and when I woke up I realized I should have just taken the super rapid train, so I had to get off and wait for that transfer. Eh on the way back was much faster. So what's in Uji besides cute little neighborhoods?

That I photographed like such a tourist



Aww a mom and kid were arguing inside when I took this. Hey I'm a tourist. I don't know what anything is until it's too late lol.Well besides this residential area, there is...


BYODOIN





Which is like, one of the two places I must go before I die (the other is Versailles), and I did. So now I am halfway satisfied. It was amazing. I am one of those people who can just be amazed by architecture that is "whatever" to others, which you will see later. I love the composition of structure and fluidity and ah...I'll spare the tangent. And you can go inside! You have to pay, but you get to see the huge wooden Amithaba Buddha inside and all of the beautiful art work, and there is even a Byodoin museum within the garden walls which I highly recommend. You can spend a nice time in Uji and there is even good food. There are other sites in Uji, but I came to see Byodoin, and I left seeing Byodoin.

Afterwards...I believe this is the same day lol. I went to dinner with Akiko, Katsu, and Akiko's dad at her dad's favorite Italian restaurant. It was fun! I tried new things like escargot and cuttlefish...and other things I don't remember the name of that were really really tasty. It was so nice! I am so fortunate to have met such wonderful people like this. It truly would not have been the same.

Kyoto with Maki

KYOTO





On this day, I went to Kyoto with Maki. She fixed it up! I got to wear a kimono! It's a rental place owned by this sweet little old lady and you can pick kimonos, obis, purses, and accessories from a wide selection. I was feeling purple that day. Maki chose a red one. It looks so nice huh! They kept us warm too. Which is good because where we were going was at a high elevation.

The garden in front of the house



You wash your hands before prayer with this



Geisha!



Geishas! Not sure if they are real or tourists dressed up haha. But Kyoto does have a Geisha district.



Just lookin down the street




Koi at...



What is this?



Huh?



THE GOLDEN PAVILION! (KINKAKUJI)



In front of a Tres Zen garden




So perfectly preserved!



In front of Kinkakuji



Pictures do not do this justice. I love shiny things heehee



Delicious ramen lunch.



Cheese!




After you pray you ring the bell.



I sucked at praying hahaha. I couldn't ring the bell! Too weak I guess.



I ate gold! These are black sesame odango with gold flakes on top. I love shiny things.



The best store on the planet earth! Black sesame everything!



Me enjoying my black sesame ice cream in the freezing cold, savoring the moment



Like a kid in a candy store.




Err...I honestly don't remember what this red thing is called...I think it was a bell, but it is in front of...
KIYOMIZUDERA



A beautiful scene. I love these flowers more than cherry blossoms. I am not sure if all the flowers I've seen are plum blossoms, I think some maybe apricot blossoms, but they are hot pink! How much cooler is that? Tons.



View from the top



Walking upstairs



Oh haha yeah its a bell



The pagoda...hmm what are they called in Japanese? not sure...Maybe the same, huh?



Awww



Nice view even in winter



Gorgeous



Time for dinner



Udon!



Chikara Udon



Oyasumi!