The flight from San Fransisco took about 11 hours and for me went by quickly. I enjoyed the free movies available to every seat, took a nap, and listed to an audiobook. I wished the plane was less cramped but I suppose they all are these days. After arriving we relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the evening.
Our first full day we walked to the Kobe Gakuin University (a pharmacy school). The KGU students were warm and welcoming. Gifting is a tradition in Japan. We exchanged gifts with our penpals, I received many Japanese snacks and beauty products. In Japan, people are very lively and animated, they certainly know how to have fun! We enjoyed lunch together with the students, then my penpals needed to leave to resume their studies. Some students are still having their finals this week! It was very kind of them to take time out of their studying to meet us. We then took the JR rail, our main form of transportation for the trip, to go sightseeing in Kobe: shopping, china town, and a shinto shrine.
The next day was sightseeing in Nara, a town which considers deer to be spiritual. The deer have been protected for generations and have become quite tame. Visitors are able to feed the deer special cookies (not allowed to feed anything else), the deer come right up to you and will bow in Japanese fashion to get the cookie! It was amazing to see that all the deer bowing. In Nara we visited a buddhist temple and enjoyed some shopping. By the end of the day, we had taken the JR rail so many time we are beginning to learn our way around the rail system.
Yesterday was our visit to the Daimaru department store in Osaka, 16 floors of shopping. Inside there is a Sanrio store and the Pokemon Center. Many of the American students (and the Japanese students!) were VERY excited about Pokemon, it is very popular here. For lunch we were joined by faculty from the pharmacy program at Osaka University. We had a great time sharing food despite the American students still learning to use our chopsticks effectively. Next was a train ride to Osaka castle, rebuilt after WW2. It has been made into a museum showing many historically significant letters and samurai armor. Our final destination for the day was Dotonburi shopping center. Some students shopped, and some relaxed inside wherever we could find air conditioning (less common than I expected). Later we had dinner with the Osaka University faculty and tried many kinds of traditional Japanese food. There was much sake to go around!
Whew! So much in a few days! :)
~Kris Shelledy
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