Our Last Day In Himeji

23rd of December, 2007

The day has come where our adventure in Japan comes to an end. It was a very sad day for us all. We had breakfast at Marie’s house with Lauren, Kyosuke, Richard and Harvey. It was a really nice way to spend the morning before it was time to leave.

Lauren was leaving first. So after we all cleaned our apartments we met Lauren downstairs to wave goodbye. Although we knew we would be seeing Lauren back in Adelaide it was still really sad to see her go and it just felt weird. We had one last photo with everyone before she left.

Steve, Marie, Richard, Shinya, Lauren, Sara, Karen, Kyosuke, Harvey and I.


After Lauren left, Steve and I rode our bikes for the last time down our favourite back streets and past the castle. It was a really beautiful ride. We stopped at the souvenir shop, bought some last minute things that we wanted and headed back home.

It was then time for us to leave. So we caught two taxis to the Himeji bus station. It was really weird to be leaving. We said our last good byes to the people in our residence and left the building. When we got to the bus station we were greeted by Chiaki, Eiko, Toshi, one of my uni students and her daughter. We were still receiving gifts from people too. It was really nice and totally unexpected for all these people to see us off. We had one last photo before we hopped on the bus.

Shinya, Marie, Eri, Keiko, Eiko, Chiaki, Toshi, Steve and I.

We got on the bus after a very teary goodbye and waved at our friends as the bus drove away. Good bye Himeji our home for the year.

We had such a terrific experience and so many memories that we will treasure for ever. I will never forget all the fantastic friends that we made along the way and how helpful and friendly everyone in Japan was. The culture, the music, the artwork, the scenery where ever we went was amazing and wonderful. I would have to say that 2007 was the best year of my life!!!

Our Last Dinner in Himeji

22nd December, 2007

After spending the day packing and getting organised we had one more dinner out. We decided to go out and eat our favourite food - okonomiyaki at our favourite restaurant in Himeji. It was just what I needed. It was so delicious I loved it. After we ate we went and did our last purikura. It was awesome. That’s one thing that i really will miss in Japan.

Lauren and Kyosuke


Marie and Shinya


Steve, Richard, Makoto and I

Convenience of a Conbenie Store...

Convenience Stores are found like vending machines on nearly every corner. There are so many different franchises in Japan. The main ones include: Family Mart, 7 Eleven, Sunks and Lawsons. They are open 24 hours a day and have been a life saver on more than one occassion. This is our local convenience store near Shirasagi.

Our Showcase

21st December, 2007

Katie (one of the Americans in our apartment) has been teaching Marie and I a dance routine to Black Eyed Peas - Disco Club. We have been practicing once a week for about 5 weeks. We had a little showcase to present our dance to everyone in our residence plus a few other people that really wanted to see what we had been working on. Everyone was really impressed with our performance. It was really fun and I enjoyed our dance classes.

Katie, Marie and I before our show.

During the dance.

Our final pose.

After the showcase we went out for dinner with a group of people. We then went on to Nobu and then the Tiger Bar for our last time.

Half of us at dinner.

The other half of us at dinner.

Avi made us a shot to celebrate.

It was a fantastic night out!!

Our Last Day In Sapporo

20th December, 2007

Today it snowed all day in Sapporo itself. It was very exciting for us to see snow when we walked outside our hotel. We could have just sat and watched it all day.

The snow falling outside.

We decided to go to the Sapporo Beer Factory to taste test the famous beer there. Well Lauren and I did anyway. The Sapporo beers we tried were exclusive to Hokkaido and could not be bought anywhere else. They actually tasted quite good for beer and only cost us ¥100 each.

The Sapporo Beer Factory

The beer and orange juice we drank.

Kampai

After the Beer Factory we wondered around the city for a little bit as the Botanical Gardens were closed during winter. It was then time for us to leave Sapporo and head home. It was really sad to think that this was going to be our last holiday in Japan. I really enjoyed skiing though and I am so glad that I was able to experience it in Japan. Apparently skiing in Hokkaido is ichiban as it has the best snow in the world!!

I Love Skiing!!!

19th December, 2007

Today was another day for skiing. We headed to Kiroro Mountain to check out the ski fields there. When we arrived it was snowing and it continued to snow all day. It was a little bit colder than yesterday and by the end of the day my hands were frozen but I loved every minute of it. The trees were all white and the ski fields here seemed a lot more open than yesterdays ones.



I found the slopes a lot more steeper even though they were meant to be beginners but I enjoyed the challenge of them. Marie on the other hand was very scared and cautious to go down the mountain. She was skiing at snails pace so I kept waiting for her at the bottom of each hill. At one point she threw a tantrum and just stopped half way down the hill because she was too scared to go any further. She waited there for about 20 minutes not doing anything and then decided to sit down in the snow. Meanwhile I was waiting for her to come down to where I was. Eventually I yelled at her to take her skis off and to walk down but she was even too scared to do that so she ended up sliding down the hill on her butt like a slippery dip. It was pretty funny to watch but slightly embarrassing and I was just cracking up laughing at her the whole time. We made it down the bottom after about 45 minutes. That was the first and last time Marie tried that slope. I on the other hand had another 3 goes at it and condensed my time from 45 minutes to about 20 minutes. We then tried some easier slopes which were more fun and at Marie’s level so she felt much more confident skiing down them.

While Marie and I were skiing Lauren was practicing her snowboarding. She eventually worked out how to get up and managed to snowboard down a little slope.

Marie and Lauren then decided to have an onsen while I continued skiing for a little while longer. I tried some other slopes on my own which I really enjoyed. It was getting a little darker so the lights came on for night skiing and I took a really cool photo from half way down one of the slopes while snow was falling.

I much preferred todays slopes to yesterdays as they were slighty more difficult and challenging. Skiing is really fun and I hope to go a lot more often in the future.

Skiing At Resutsu Ski Resort

18th December, 2007

We caught the bus for two and a half hours to get to the ski fields today. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to go skiing. I haven’t been skiing for 12 years so I wasn’t sure how I was going to go but I guess it’s like a bike, you just hop back on and it all comes back to you!!

We geared up in our snow gear and headed for the fields. Marie and I were wearing pretty neutral colours as we bought some ski pants before we went to the snow.


Lauren on the other hand looked like she had stepped back into the 80’s with her gear that she borrowed from Kyosuke. It was quite a funny sight really but at least she was warm and was not getting wet.

We all hired skis. Lauren had never skied before and was a little nervous and so were Marie and I as we hadn’t done it for a while, so before we went up in a lift we just went up a small slope to practice. We tried to teach Lauren how to ski and she was trying really hard to give it a go but decided in the end that she didn’t want to go up the lift and would just rather practice on small slopes. Marie and I were ready to hit the slopes - well the beginner ones anyway. They were big enough.

Lauren falling over.

Marie and I going up on the chair lift.

We were very nervous and worried at first because we didn’t want to hurt our knees so we just took it easy. It was really fun. After we had a few goes we became more confident and tried another beginner slope. I really enjoyed skiing and now that I feel more confident I can’t wait to go again tomorrow to a different ski field. I actually didn’t even fall over once - pretty amazing huh??!! Maybe I will try and challenge myself a little more tomorrow and try a more difficult slope. I will see how I feel I guess....

Me skiing

Marie skiing

Marie and I skiing down the mountain.

Some beautiful scenery.

The 3 of us in the snow.

After we were done skiing and had given our skis back we had some time to kill before the bus picked us up to take us home so we decided to go back outside and make a snowman. Such big kids!!! How cute is it though??!!

Snow Is All Around Us

17th December, 2007

Marie, Lauren and I headed for our last trip in Japan together to Hokkaido which is north of Himeji. As Steve is afraid of flying he couldn’t make it which was a real bummer!!

We flew to Sapporo which is the major city in Hokkaido. As our plane landed we were very excited to notice that it was snowing and that it was covering everything. It looked so beautiful to see everything white and since we don’t get to see snow very often it made it even more exciting.

View from our hotel room.

After we dropped off our luggage at the hotel and changed one of our breakfast vouchers to lunch we headed outside to the cold streets of Sapporo. The ground was very icy and it was very slippery to walk on. We nearly had so many accidents but we managed to stay upright! It was really nice and refreshing walking around the city. We went to Odori Park during the day and then again at night as it was all lit up.

Odori Park during the day.

Me in Odori Park.

The park at night.


It was nice to walk along the streets and see all the trees and buildings covered in snow.

Trees covered in snow.

A car park roof and a hedge covered in snow.

Even bikes and cars were covered too. We saw the old Government Building and around the area was really pretty as there was a little pond, a bridge and trees all covered in snow.

The Government building

The bridge with the pond.

We then had a look at the clock tower.

After we walked the streets for a few hours we decided that we were too cold to stay out there any longer so we hit the shops. It was nice to be back in warmth again. We cruised around the shops for a while before heading to Starbucks for a hot coffee. I really enjoyed being in the snow and am still amazed at how one day we can be in Himeji with no snow and then next day we are in Hokkaido with snow all around us!!

Our Last Hiking Expedition

16th December, 2007

I really wanted to go on one more hiking adventure before leaving Japan so Thomas took Marie, Shinya and I to a couple of mountains - Masui and Hiromine. We left at 7:30am and rode our bikes to the mountain that we were going to climb. It was early and cold but we were up for it. The hike was really beautiful - not too difficult so we were able to take it easy and enjoy the scenery around us.

Marie and I in front of a bamboo forest.

Thomas and Shinya in front of the bamboo forest.

All of us up the top.

One of the views that we saw.

During the hike we somehow got off the path and ended up lost in the scrub. We were walking around for about 40 minutes trying to figure out how to get back to the path - well Thomas was we were just following. Thankfully we eventually found our way back.

Along the way we saw some temples as well as have some really nice views of Himeji.

One of the temples that we saw.

Another view through a temple gate.

Thomas is a great leader and I really enjoyed going on hikes with him.

Sega World

15th December, 2007

Marie, Lauren, Shinya, Kyosuke and I went to Sega World today which is a game place. It was very interesting as this was the first time I had seen anything like it. You could play pool, table tennis, video games, darts, read magazines, have a message, play tennis, basketball, air hockey and much more. We had so much fun going around to the different activities.

They even had a Segway which is like that machine that they had on Big Brother once. Of course I wanted to have a turn. It was difficult to get used to but it was fun trying it out. I accidentally crashed into the windows - oopsy!!

We spent about 3 hours here and it cost us around $12 each. Pretty good really. I wish I found out about this palce sooner so I could have come again.