I woke up early as usual. Charles woke up at about 7 and after he had had a few coffees we went out to find somewhere to have breakfast. We went down to Tennoji eki and went looking for breakfast places.
We settled on going to Mos Burger. When we walked up to the counter there was a frantic discussion amongst the staff about who would have to deal with the strange looking foreigners. Eventually one girl lost out and came over to serve us. We got some ham sandwich things (with mayonnaise!) and sat down to watch the rush hours crowds run through the station.
That kept us amused for a while.
After breakfast we returned to the hotel. On the way we turned down a small covered street and found ourselves in a pedestrian shopping mall. Kinda like Namba, but less trendy and more scuzzy.
We were supposed to meet Asuka, a girl Charles met on the plane ride over from Vancouver, at 11 but she was late. Then there was a mix up as to what exit she should use at Shinimamiya eki. Eventually we hooked up and went to go down to DenDen Town, Osaka's electronics district. We wandered in and out of stores looking at prices and were sorely disappointed.
We went for lunch at a “things on a stick” type restaurant near the base of the Osaka tower. Apparently this place is quite famous for not allowing double dipping. Asuka got a little bit drunk and started telling us all about her life and how it is seriously messed up. We coined a term that day: The Asuka Syndrome. It means “a Japanese person who wants out of the Japanese life”.
We spent a long time in the restaurant. We talked for a lot longer than any of us planned.
Eventually we left the restaurant and made our way over to Kobe to meet a friend of Asuka's. There was some confusion with the trains and we were late getting to Kobe. The friend was waiting for us even though Auska called the wrong number to say we would be late.
The friend's name was Saho. She was a very quiet and shy girl who didn't say much over the course of the evening. Apparently she is a Opera singer. At the time she was staring in Carmen. We tried to convince her to sing for us but she didn't.
Asuka took us to a Brazilian restaurant for dinner. The meal was good. Lots of meat.
After dinner we went out to admire the Kobe skyline by night. It was amazingly beautiful. I decided right then that Kobe was the best city we had been to. I am still awed by that sight.
At about 10 o'clock we made our way back to the train station so we Charles and I could go back to Osaka. We arranged to meet Asuka again on Thursday to go to Himeji. We invited Saho to come with us but she couldn't come because she was teaching opera that day.
We returned to the hotel and went to bed.
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