Osaka music festival?!

I can't believe we are in Osaka already! Half way through our trip and 2 days here before heading off to sub-tropical Okinawa :) I will update about Kyoto soon as it was gorgeous.

We spent today in Osaka, after visiting Osaka Castle yesterday. Georgia and I walked around outside when we heard live music coming from the castle. We followed it to find three tents with local bands performing. All at the same time, next to each other... Interesting! But the bands were actually really good. Including a girl playing her own songs on the piano (I'm guessing they were her own, but she was singing in Japanese so I am not an expert haha).

At the far end of the area a big crowd was growing waiting for one band in particular to play. We joined the crowd and WOW! I was blown away by this band - they were a drumming band who were just amazing. Three guys on massive drums, a guy on bass and a guy on piano. It was just so so good. I have got a video to upload later but I can't get it sorted yet.

Here are a few of them photos anyway;








When they were finished (boo!) we walked back past these two... Only in Japan!




They were performing a song and dance, super cute but what are those outfits?! They were the subject of my photo today - very blurry (think I have solved this problem now thought!)




And this cute little chap just had to be photographed... Trying to step on an ant!



Off to the bamboo forest and either Mount Koya or Himeji Castle tomorrow!
Zai jian!
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A guilty purchase...

So walking down the streets of Namba in South Osaka we came across a shop called Beams. It looks like an Urban Outfitters so we went in, why not?!

I found this...


A fujifilm instant camera!

I have been looking for one in China for a few months, but with postage and film etc it was working out to be about £100 everything included.

In beams this beauty was ¥7000 - about £50. How could I resist?! So I didn't and now am the proud owner of this gorgeous blue instax camera. Unnecessary? Probably. Fun? Absolutely!

And here are a couple of the photos taken last night on our night out in Osaka (details to follow later!)








No idea who the gurning Japanese guy is. We attracted a lot of stares in the club!

And so to celebrate my new camera, here starts the one-photo-a-day-for-a-year 50 before I am 50 challenge! Who cares if is in the middle of the year!

Zai jian!

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Location:Osaka

Tokyo... And onto Kyoto!

Delayed post due to lack of wireless!


I am loving Japan :) the people are just lovely. I would kill my kids for using a word like that but I can't think of a better one to sum them up. Kind, helpful, considerate. Of course I am generalising here, and that's just from our small exposure so far. BUT so far we have had a random lady come up to us in the station when we were looking lost and confused (a common expression for us it seems!), explain to us the way to go and then actually take us there herself. As if that would ever happen in London or Shanghai! Plus amazingly helpful staff at restaurants, subways etc. I love the bows too, much nicer than a handshake!

Tokyo has been good fun - the bright lights were just as garish and fun as I imagined them to be and despite it raining heavily and constantly all day yesterday we got to see a lot. We started the day at Oeko Park, where the big museums and some temples are. There are three main ponds and two of them are covered in giant lily pads. It was very quiet there (it seems to be quiet everywhere - bit of a change from the shouting, hocking and beeping of Shanghai!)

We visited the Nippori Textile Town after that, every Pinterest girl's dream! I am glad Georgia was keen because I am not sure it would have been high on Steph's to-do-in-Tokyo list! (No idea why?!) I had to restrain myself but still walked away with 5m of 4 different types of fabric! 4 new projects lined up!

We moved into our capsule hotel yesterday afternoon. I am so glad we booked to stay there, it is something that springs to mind when people mention Tokyo and it was a great experience! They are actually a lot more spacious than I expected, plus complementary pyjamas (very sexy!). We didn't brave the communal shower/bath but we are going to have to suck it up tonight when we arrive at the ryokan!
We were going to the robot restaurant last nigh, which looked as awesome as it sounds, but it was fully booked until 10 by which point we would have missed the last train home and would have to spend the night down stripper street...! Never mind!

On our way to Kyoto! Bring it on!

Zai jian!
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Hello strangers!

Soooo I am pretty sure my last post was about my New Years resolution to keep on blogging...6 months later that has clearly worked out well!

But I am now on my SUMMER HOLIDAYS!! And I am travelling around Japan for just under 2 weeks and then on to Yunnan province in China for 2 weeks, THEN back to Shanghai, to Hong Kong and finally to Cardiff for Kat and Eliot's wedding :D so I thought this would be a good way to record what happens along the way!

Steph, Georgia and I safely arrived in Tokyo this afternoon! We are staying at Oak Hostel in the North of Tokyo which seems fine, complementary Japanese robe as standard! We went straight out to see Senso-Ji Temple, which was impressive. It has survived the earthquake but not WW2 so it was mostly rebuilt quite recently.

We had an amazing traditional dinner at a restaurant called Hana No Mae sat on the floor on the mats. There was a mock sumo ring too, which we enjoyed playing sumos in (especially after our big Japanese meal!)
Georgia and I have decided we will try something new at each meal and we outdid ourselves this evening - we tried Satsuma Age (fish cakes with egg, mushrooms and ginger), octopus tempura, tuna sushi, Japanese tea and also cider. It was all amazing, lots of photos taken but on my camera so they will follow. The tuna sushi was the best bit, though it looks completely different to how I think of as sushi - it was served in a big bowl (with a lot of wasabi!)

A great start to our trip, I can't wait to continue exploring tomorrow!

Zai Jian! (not sure what goodbye is in Japanese!)




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