Kansai with Kouchan.

After going to Tokyo Disneyland earlier this year, I knew I had to experience the other side of Japanese theme parks, Universal. What better time to do this than during October, when all the cuteness was juxtaposed by zombies roaming the streets after 6pm. Since one side of Kohei’s family lives in nearby Kishiwada, this trip really did kill two birds with one stone (with me being one of the birds absolutely flapping about meeting the fam).

USJ was more than I could have expected, especially after visiting Universal in America so many times. The atmosphere is really amplified with everyone dressing in costumes just like they do at Disney, so of course I jumped on the bandwagon. I have to say I was pretty impressed with our DIY Cookie Monster and cookie costumes, which so many people complemented and I made the night before our trip. I’ve got no idea where this wave of artistic talent has come from, but I’m praying it lasts until Halloween so I don’t look like a complete knob in my planned outfit.

Being the big child I am I was more interested in the whole Minion aspect more than anything else, and was thrilled to find even the minion meat buns were Halloween themed too. Who needs to go to Harry Potter and battle the crowds when you can see hundreds of cute kids running around dressed like Minions.

In Osaka we made a quick visit to a reptile café, which had so many it was hard to choose which one to hold. All I wanted was to hold a chameleon, but guess whose day off it was. Despite being a little bitter about that (come on, have you seen how cute a chameleons hands are?) I got to hold this thing. I don’t even know what animal it is, but oh my god I need one.

On the Sunday, Kohei and I ventured into Kyoto to visit a pug café which was frankly the most relaxing experience of my life. The puppies were even wearing nappies and I think Kohei’s developed a new found love for small dogs. That being said, no pug can replace Mimi Hattori in my life, even if little Yuzu-chan in her nappy came close.

Meeting Kohei’s family and friends was super overwhelming at times, especially with me being sick combined with their Osaka-ben Japanese, but overall I think it went well. I got gifted so much omiyage for my return, a bunch of oranges from Wakayama prefecture where his dad visited during our trip, and his auntie even messages me on LINE now. 

Despite scaring his step-sister into oblivion when she woke up to see me in the kitchen, I think I made an impression on the little 2 year old munchkin. We’re going to be best friends when I see her again, especially after I taught her how to make animal noises in English and she taught me to “nyan nyan” like a cat.

Drip drip drop, little (by that I mean relentless) April showers.

My parents recently visited Japan for the first time, and I was able to join them for all but one part (Tokyo) of their whirlwind journey. We visited Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Kumamoto, Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Miyazaki prefectures, all in the space of 9 days. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

The only place I hadn’t been to before was Hiroshima, and what a beautiful place. My parents had timed their visit to coincide with the cherry blossom, and once we arrived in Hiroshima, the sakura were in full bloom.  Hiroshima itself was somewhere I’ll definitely be returning to soon. It had such a relaxed vibe, and that, along with hundreds of people enjoying hanami (cherry blossom viewing) along the riverbanks, made it utterly beautiful despite the greyness.

Visiting the Atomic Bomb Museum was a solemn one, as you’d expect, however I’d recommend anyone to go to the museum in Nagasaki instead. While Hiroshima is still the more well-known of the two atomic bomb targets, that is seemingly its downfall, as I felt like I was being hurried through the museum without any time to reflect.

The day we took a trip to Miyajima was the only day we weren’t soaked. It’s somewhere I’ve wanted to go for a while to see the Great Torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine, and it didn’t disappoint. We also took the cable car to the top of the moutain, and the view was just stunning. Momiji manjyu is now one of my favourite local delicacies, and the fried version, age momiji, is something else.  

I also had the most hilarious food experience after going to a recommended ‘hole in the wall’ Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant. After explaining to the elderly woman working (doing everything alone might I add), that my mum wasn’t a particularly adventurous foodie, she proceeded to practically shove things in my mum’s mouth to prove it was okay and cook away at 100 mph.

Never did I see the day I’d be taking my parents to purikura, but we took some hilarious photos there. The one I chose in Hiroshima apparently gave my dad a sensory overload, much like the pachinko parlour I told my mum to just pop her head into.

My parents have vouched to return to Japan again, and I can only hope they decide to take things easier. Here’s me, over a week later, still catching up on sleep after Japanese-ing to within an inch of my life. 

All in all though, I’m happy they actually got to see what my life over here is like, especially after meeting Sheridan and Clare, and spending a few evenings in cute little Kumamoto. 

They got to meet Kohei too! Even if I did have to spend a day nursing him to recovery, I’ll give him credit where credit’s due… he attempted to keep up with my dad’s bourbon drinking, not a feat many would take on. 

So here's to next time, when their new found love for Kumamon and fancy Japanese toilets will have hopefully blossomed even more. またね！

Gotochi - my new collection

As many of you may know, I'm an avid collector of cheap, plastic, made in China snowglobes from places I visit worldwide. However, something I noticed on my last trip to Japan was that snowglobes are about as common as fairy dust.

So alongside decorating my apartment, I came up with a super fun way for me to do a similar thing, but in a very Japanese fashion. Unless you live under a rock, you'll know I have a huge, sometimes concerning, Hello Kitty obsession.

I've bought a map of Japan, and I'm starting to collect Gotochi Hello Kitty's. You can learn more about them here http://www.itoyoshi.net/kitty.html, but they're basically small charms that are themed, usually to local tourist attractions or regional delicacies.

Disclaimer: The Rilakkuma one from Tokyo is a special exception.
It's from the limited edition Yamanote line Rilakkuma-themed train.

There are so many to get, but I'm aiming to get one for each of the 47 prefectures at least. It's nice to be able to put them on my map at home; to remember where I've travelled, and something that makes that area unique.

1. Fukuoka - Hakata strawberry

2. Kumamoto - Kumamon (prefectural mascot)

3. Kagoshima - Satsuma Sakurajima daikon (radish)

4. Kyoto - Kiyomizu dera (temple)

5. Okinawa - Chinsuko (sugar cookie)

I still need to get ones from Osaka, Nara, Tokyo and Yokohama, all of which I visited before I started this. If anyone wants to help out on that front, that'd be great!

Living & breathing Japanese (literally, I was on a homestay).

I am extremely grateful to have been involved in a homestay during my time in Kyoto, which took place during my third week of the exchange. My family consisted of my host parents, and two daughters, Miki and Asuka. They also had a pet ferret called Ponta, but don't even get me started on my hatred for that thing. I'm not a fan of being targeted, constantly bitten on the ankles, and even having it break into my room and get INSIDE my pillow case.

It was obviously meant to be, as there were numerous Hello Kitty things in the house, and my room (a small guest room downstairs with a futon) came complete with Hello Kitty curtains. 

I'll always remember how the first thing my family asked me was if I got car sick, and with good reason too, I think my host father fancied himself as a bit of a boy racer down the small Kyoto side streets. My family were super cute, as they struggled with pronouncing my name, like most Japanese people do. Instead, I acquired the nickname of "keito". This was my favourite thing because whenever my host mother would run a bath, she'd shout that to get my attention from upstairs.
Somehow, through a lack of me paying proper attention, I even ended up cooking lasagne for the family one evening because they wanted to experience both my cooking, and some western food. Afterwards, Miki was feeling super sleepy so I taught her the phrase "food coma", which she absolutely loved!

Asuka was studying English for her university entrance exams, so we really helped each other develop ways to remember certain things in our other languages. She would always get confused over her left and right, so I taught her the simple trick of looking at her hands to find the “L”. It was so adorable to see how happy she was after I'd taught her such a simple thing, and needless to say, I trusted her directions a lot more from that point on.
Most evenings after dinner seemed to be the time when my host family would socialise. It often ended up with me telling them about random things they wanted to know about England. One evening, I even spent almost two hours trying to teach my host mother how to say "the earth is round" without making her r's sound like w's. It ended up with me making her practically growl to get the noise out, much to Miki and Asuka's amusement. 
Another evening, there was a discussion about my dislike of heated Japanese toilet seats, which they couldn't understand my logic of it feeling like someone has just been sat on it before you. Also note to self, never, ever try to explain the concept of a Yorkshire pudding to anyone in Japanese, it's not going to go well!

My confidence in speaking Japanese has come on leaps and bounds, proven by the fact we had to give a speech about our experiences to fellow classmates at the end of the exchange. On the first day, I was put off by just introducing myself in the language to people I knew had a greater ability, but by the end I was much more confident in my own ability. I know this is definitely down to being involved in a homestay, and even though sometimes I had no clue what my host parents were saying to me, I managed to find ways around this and be able to wing it.

In Kyoto we saw so many people dressed in kimonos and yukata, and one evening we even got a chance to wear yukata ourselves at a festival on campus. There was also a Hawaiian themed DJ night going on, which I can only describe as if the SU was more tame, had a cream carpet and closed at 8:30. What a random experience that was!
Aside from my time with my host family, I made a trip to Osaka to try the famous okonomiyaki and visit Dontonboori, where I took an obligatory photo with the iconic Glico sign. KUFS also organised us to experience a calligraphy session and a tea ceremony, which was a great insight into traditional Japanese life.
Our final day involved a ceremony and leaving party, which consisted of a lot of picture taking, goodbyes and also a nice little certificate saying I'd successfully completed the programme. We ended our final night by visiting Osaka for a firework display along the river during the Tenjin Matsuri.

I don’t think I’ve taken as many photographs as I have during these past three weeks, and yes, I have been that tourist taking pictures of trees. You could live in Kyoto all of your life and still have only just scratched the surface, and I really hope I get the opportunity to go back some day! 

Arashiyama & Fushimi Inari: off the bucket list.

Kyoto was filled with even more hustle and bustle during my second week there, as the Gion Matsuri was fast approaching! Floats began being built on the streets in the weeks leading up to it, and one day we actually got to board one to see what it was like. All of them have different meanings and are very intricate, but sticking to tradition. none of them are actually powered. During the festival parade, the floats are pulled by various men, and when it comes to turning down streets, bamboo is laid on the floor and sprayed with water, before the wheels are slid along.

Sadly for us, by the time the parade came around, a typhoon had also made landfall in Japan. That didn't stop us from going, however I'm pretty sure it really put a dampener (excuse the pun) on the festival as a whole, since not nearly as many people came to watch.

Despite classes being as jam packed as ever, I managed to visit a fair few places that I'd wanted to go! Firstly, we had a day trip organised to Arashiyama, nearing the outskirts of Kyoto. We took the Torokko train one way alongside, then returned on a boat cruise along the Hozugawa river. It was such a relaxing experience, and while we were on the river a food boat even moored up to us that sold dango and fresh squid. Then we finally got to the famous bamboo groves of Arashiyama, and I got to experience something known in Japanese as komorebi. It can only be translated in English as the sunlight that filters through the trees, and to see that through the bamboo groves was pretty beautiful.

That day was super hot, so we decided to go to Fushimi Inari for sunset. It was actually pretty cool when we arrived, because there was a rainbow over the tori gates, then watching the sunset over the mountain was spectacular. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Another place I visited was Kiyomizu-dera, probably another of the most famous places in Kyoto. The views of Kyoto are stunning and when you visit the main hall, you feel in a weird way like you're floating on the mountainside. I went with Misa and Miho, who I was a buddy to when they went on exchange to Keele last year. They were so adorable, as they'd been to Universal Studies in Osaka the day before and bought me some Hello Kitty stuff since they knew I hadn't gone. They even took me to a Hello Kitty restaurant I didn't even know existed, and I have to say it was super adorable. Hello Kitty shaped pasta is my new favourite thing. Later that day I met up with my current buddy Aoi, who took me around the smaller lesser known streets in Gion to get a Kyoto special matcha parfait. 

Finally, we also visited Nijo Castle, which was completely different to all of the other temples and shrines in Kyoto. It was definitely more regal, and considering it was so close to our hotel, I'm surprised it took us so long to finally go there.

That evening, a lot of the exchange kids decided to have a farewell since we left for our homestay the day after. We went to Sakura bar, which served all you can eat izakaya snacks and we all had a ball. I'm really surprised by how well we all get on, and it was nice to finally spend time socially together rather than just in class. It was a little bittersweet to be leaving for our homestay too, since we knew we'd have less freedom and less time to get to know eachother, but let's be honest, the homestay was probably what the exchange was going to be all about!