Kurumon Ichiba

BREAKFAST


(*^▽^*)Strawberry Daifuku(*^▽^*)



A strawberry daifuku. The fact that my daifuku has a fresh juicy strawberry in the middle and none in America do informs me that none of ours are fresh lol. Or if they are, we are just getting cheated with extra bean paste.

I got lost but I am glad I did because I found this lil ole street market. And I love things like this! Mom and pop shops. I loved talking to the people and seeing all the interesting hand made products and daily caught creatures. Somehow it was easier for me to talk to these people than anyone else in Japanese so far and we even had a few laughs.　Good bargains too!


KUROMONICHIBA

Starbucks here has macarons! T_TSo not fair. Chocolate and cherry blossom flavored. YUM.



So its like a, shopping arcade. There are a few around. I didn't get to go to all of them. Some are kind of far　from downtown　Osaka.



Little handmade treats for Hina Matsuri






Octopus! He was mad! He was doing somersaults and kicking and flopping about. This old Japanese lady and I were just standing there with our mouths dropped open saying "AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah~!" and squirming for like 5 minutes heehee. Someone said "we eat those!" Yeah I ate one but it wasn't doing somersaults and didn't look like it could arm wrestle me。(´д｀lll)



Blowfish! They made me so hungry because I had long to eat some so bad when planning my trip. But a week before I came, a report on the news said "8 DEAD FROM BLOWFISH IN OSAKA!" Yeah....so I didn't try any. But I wanted to eat them all! Next time, maybe next time. I love to try weird deadly and illegal delicacies. Blowfish is legal:p Did you know, blowfish is also called...other than pufferfish, globefish? I have never heard globefish except there. But they call it fugu...well it depends on cooked form, but fugu is the animal name definitely.



Other fish



Want a blowfish? That will be about $100 please.They keep them in water in a tank, but the fisherman were nice enough to pull this live one out for me and put it next to the dead ones hehe. So I saw it poof up. So cute! Yet so delicious looking.



Where I exited Kuromon Ichiba



Some of this is the area I walked with Akiko and Katsumori in the daytime. It is all very close together.I walked them all, and I don't walk.



Remember the crab?



Kinki Kids!



SALES！



Nanba walk



Okay so thats all for this day. The day was all about discipline! I had to stop myself from overshopping Nanba and Shinsaibashi. I had to keep myself from eating the deadly but juicy looking blowfish. Good day.

アメリカに帰った

お客様、ご免ね＾＾
またアメリカに帰った。
でも旅行の記事を終わらないね
ちょっとおそい^^

Kobe with Ayumi

KOBE

Spent the day in Kobe with my friend Ayumi. We had so much fun because we like many of the same things, like desserts, cute dog clothes, cute ribbons and flowers, cute little animal things. Cute things LOL.

For breakfast I just had a daifuku and canned espresso on the go. Ahh I love daifuku here! It's kind of like Mochi but bigger. My favorite is black sesame. Usually they are filled with paste though...well here in the US. In Japan they can have fresh fruit and such in them because it is freshly made! So imagine my surprise when I thought I would just find a red bean paste filling and I found...



A sweet juicy strawberry! It was yum.



Kobe seems very European. From the food to the layout, it is like being in another country again. It seems to be alot less crowded than Osaka and cleaner too. A lot more tourists as well. Not sure why, but Kobe has been an international city for a long time. They have cathederals and mosques and things. I remember reading a book for class that took place during WWII in Kobe, and there were people from all over the world living there, who had to leave with the outbreak of war and return to their home country for safety.



Pretty waterfall down the escalator. Heehee



Illuminations! Im not sure if you can see it well, but the trees have lights on them. It reminds me of how all the restaurants in Laguna Beach have lights on the trees or vines out front. Cute.



More illuminations



Me in front of some really famous coffee shop. I forget what it is called, but its supposed to have the best coffee...Im not sure if its best in Kansai area or all of Japan. Lol I didn't try any coffee just took a pic. I like the little pond with the bridge over it you take to get to the coffee shop. And there's tables and chairs set up around the pond. Mind you this place is indoors! Cuute.



Little bridges between Mosaic shopping center and a mall. Cuute.



A cathedral! Pretty huh. I wanna go see this mosque next time. It looks pretty in pictures.



Me eating a crepe at a new restaurant with Ayumi. Ayumi got a Bubble Tea. It was so creamy and filling:/ Like lots of things in Japan. Be careful if you are lactose intolerant lol.



Ayumi and I in front of the best scenic view of Kobe.



More shots of that:









Look! A pink pirate ship! Cuuute.



She introduced me to one of Kobe's many specialties, Kobe Cheesecake. It's soo good. Like, go to Kobe just to try this cheesecake! It is made different from our cheesecake in the west and is really nothing like it. But it tastes so good. It is not overly sweet but it is delicious. And with nice melted cheese on top. Other specialties of Kobe are Kobe Pudding, Wines, and as you know, Kobe Beef.



Lol Jero! Haha I just took a pic of the screen. Hmm for those of you who don't know, Jero is a superstar in Japan. He is originally from Pittsburg, PA. After he finished school he went to Japan. He had always been into singing traditional Japanese song enka. When he came to Japan he becamed noticed because of his talent in something so traditionally Japanese. He has become a smash hit because he mixes Enka style music with his own more modern style. You should check him out! This episode was his mom reuniting with someone. He's on TV alot, and on the music charts always. He has actually brought an enka revival I think. Not that anyone stopped, but it hadn't been as popular for a long time until now. Probably him and this singer Hikawa Kiyoshi have brought back interest in Enka.



Okay bye for now!

Dotonbori/Shinsaibashi with Aki and Katsu

Lol sorry I am so slow. Okay I will speed it up here. Hahaha we are still on the first week i think. This is still Friday. So after I was looking at Plum Blossoms I was wandering around trying to find something to eat. Looking all pitiful. And I asked this girl, oh is there good food in there, pointing to some building. And she said no, and then she came back, and she spoke English, and she asked, am I looking for anything particular or what. And I said, I don't know I am just hungry and I don't really know where I am (thats a long story). And she said wait here with me and my bf (who was with her) will go get his car and we will find a place. So we got coffee and talked for a while, we got along well:D And then he came, and we all went out to Dotonbori/Shinsaibashi/Americamura. And these are the pics from that. BTW her name is Aki and she's become one of my close friends here. Her BF is Katsumori. Oki~ Picture time. Ugh why do I always look so dorky! Dfuuurh!





Famous view!



The lights!



Famous Sumo poster!



Me and Akiko in front of the ...sumo place



First time eating Takoyaki! It's little octopi fried inside a ball of batter with creamy cheese and sauce.






Mmmm Takoyaki. Hella good.



Mandrake! You can read Manga here...and buy them? I dunno. I wasn't interested haha.



Me in front of the Takoyaki stand. See how they make it in the little ball things? like a giant cupcake pan. Why do I always look cheesy and fake. Lol like seriously I always look like fake happy, and always like super dorky. I need to practice my smile and expression of happiness in the mirror LOL






Udon at the famous Giant Shirota's restaurant!



And I took the eating challenge. To eat a giant bowl of his Udon alone! No not really Katsu and Aki helped me:p it was yum. Udon gets better each time I eat it.Have you heard of Giant Shirota? He may be familiar to some of you. He is one of those eating champs. And he's huge! Like his head is the size of my torso. Lol. The reason I know is...



I met him! Now unless you are an uber dork like me, this wont be exciting to you. I watch the hot dog contests every year and stuff like that, and he's always on TV in Japan and here too, it was cool to meet him!



Ringtoss game






Various pictures inside...ah I forgot the name. Its in Shinsaibashi and is like a reenactment of old Japan downtown night life I think. Like 30s old. Or somethin. Maybe 20s?



Mwaha shootin game! Always fun.



Like really I am seriously having fun but I have the most fake looking smile lol. Ahh I need to work on it. I dont do it on purpose obviously. And I really did have fun. I guess I just smile like not 100% lol.



Lol this is some game kids play when they are young, where u get a net, and u see how many fish u catch before the net breaks. I broke three nets and got two fish. Lol Im so bad at it. Maybe thats why my smile is half a frown haha.
























Lol this girl was in character. After work she turns into a normal person, but she was a street vendor handing out these yummy little snacks thats wafers pasted together with sweet condensed milk. And she had a bunch of sticks and you pull them out and based on the color is how many wafers you get. I got really lucky! I think I got 5 wafers. It was sooo good.



Various street scenes of Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi! Ignore me and my dorky head! Please!

LOL

I just saw the Japanese Prince. Not like Princess Prince, but like Purple Rain Prince. Haha some guy walking down the street, a little short guy with a side swept bang n hair like prince, n similar eyes, and wearin leopard print pants lolol. I couldnt see if he had a ruffled shirt though because he was wearing a rainjacket. Hahaha