Day 126 - 3rd of January

6:57am　First Kitchen – 梅田
天気：曇り
I’m in First Kitchen with Tamblyn; just had some breakfast. Wow, last night was really great… I finally found the hotel in 道頓堀 (Dotonbori), after walking the streets for a while upon exiting Namba station. It was about 3, and they were all waiting out the front. It was so cool to see Peyton and Laine again; they’ve grown so much. And of course, seeing Tamblyn, Peter and Naomi was great. The kids instantly attached themselves to me, and I spent the majority of the day holding their hands, helping them up stairs (carrying Laine at times), and looking out for them; it was a lot of fun. Our first stop was Osaka castle; we went up to Umeda, and then across to Osakajokoen via the loop line. It was already pretty late when we got there, and by the time we got to the castle, it was only 20 minutes until closing time. Peter decided he’d go in anyway; the rest of us sat outside waiting.

He emerged well after 5. The sun had already set, and the castle was all lit up. It was very beautiful, and since I’d never seen it close up at night before, I was really appreciative of coming. Tamblyn found one for his favourite drinks in a nearby vending machine, and decided he’d buy some for himself and his friends; meaning 8. It’s called Fanta furufuru; jelly and soft drink in a can. Since I had a bag, I was stuck carrying them around for the rest of the night. After the castle, we went to Shinsaibashi, and Peter and Tamblyn took Peyton to go and buy shoes, while Naomi, Laine and I went to design them! We went to the Nike shop, where you can create your own personalised shoes, and had fun choosing colours, styles and materials for what would be Tamblyn’s new shoes. Laine fell asleep on the stairs (so cute), and we had to drag him up when it came to finalizing the purchase. Since they wouldn’t ship the shoes overseas, Naomi needed a Japanese address, and that’s where I came in. It was all sorted out fine; I’ll be expecting shoes in a month.

Coming out of the shop, Laine was tired and said his feet were hurting a lot. Naomi and I took turns carrying him for a while, trying to track down Peter. Laine started to really complain, and we figured out that his shoes were causing the problem; they were new, and cutting into the top of his feet. We tried at first, to loosen them, but that did no good, so we took them off entirely and then went on a quest for slippers; getting many stares from the natives. After going to two shoe stores, a Disney merchandise store, and a convenience store, we finally found some in a pharmacy. They were too big, but Laine complied and did his best; such a battler. Still unsure of where Peter was, we continued down the street until we reached Dotonbori, before Laine insisted he go to the toilet, so I took him to Makkas. By luck, when we came out, Peter was there with Naomi.

Peter, Tamblyn and Peyton went on to the restaurant, and we made a quick stop at a specialty store to see if we could find the green tea air fresher that was used in their hotel. There were so many imported goods; they even had timtams!!! Unsuccessful (but still laden with goodies) we made our way to the restaurant; an okonomiyaki place. After a short wait, we were seated. The food was spectacular; best okonomiyaki I’ve ever had. Very satisfied, we went back to the hotel, and it was 11 before long. Tamblyn was supposed to return to his host family, but we sorted it out so he could come out to karaoke with me. We were in Umeda, and after a bit of searching we found a reasonably cheap place (the one with the huge dragon head coming out of it), considering it is New Years. We went from just after 12 till 6; another all-nighter. It was a lot of fun, but I’m so tired now; gonna get home soon and sleep…

9:55pm　セミナーハウス
Feeling tired still, even though I slept most of the day… I left Tambyln (I let hime know I was going), to sleep in First Kitchen at about 7:30, and made my way back home. I was tired the whole way back, and in the walk back from Makino, I was in a daze. Finally at home, I had a shower, and then crashed; Ryan wasn’t there. I woke at 1, and decided it would be a good idea to have some lunch. Almost immediately after, I went back to sleep again. Waking at 6, I went up and made dinner (chicken parmigiana with garlic bread), and watched TV for a while. These two Japanese guys were travelling the world and participating in unusual sports. They were in Estonia doing a sport involving flinging yourself around a swing standing, before going to Indonesia for the water oxen festival, where bulls are raced, chariot-like, across shallow water; both sports looked really challenging. Ryan’s still not back, so I guess I’m going to have a pretty early night; maybe go to Kuzaha hall tomorrow for the last day of sales.