Went to kaiten sushi (conveyor belt sushi) after the game. It was really good and at 105 yen a plate, not a bad deal. If I hadn't set a limit on myself the stack would have been a lot higher...

There were a lot of misfires during the top of the seventh inning, but it was still pretty cool once everything got released. Even if they did die out really quickly.

The mascot was waving around the free towel they handed out. I love baseball give aways, because free stuff translates really well.

As someone who likes baseball and photography, this was just awesome.

Rained basically every day this week, classes cancelled because of typhoon warnings, but Friday came and everything was better. Just in time for the weekend. Great way to end the week.

I'm really lucky to be going to such a pretty school here too. But three months of being in school and the mission architecture still confuses me. I know it's a Christian school, but still.

The closest I'm getting to a burrito. Teriyaki chicken wrap from the school Co-Op. It's delicious and like most Japanese food, pretty healthy.

For being a small bug, this thing made a buzzing sound that made me think it was at least 3x bigger.

Light cycles gone horribly wrong...

It was a free sample of an energy drink by Weider, but you've got to catch it as it shoots up out of the metal suitcase. Tasted like blueberries.

Location of my newest job. Leaf Cup chat host. Basically I help people practice English, in a very informal setting, usually just by having a conversation over a cup of tea. A lot of people are excited to hear my major and "talk about something important for the first time in English". It's a really cool feeling.

Vending machine ice cream. Cookies and cream with chocolate and nuts. It's amazing for being 120 yen in the vending machine.

One of the scariest things is standing by the door as a train passes. You know they're not going to hit but it's so close and going over 100 mph if it's an express train.

Okonomiyaki from the restaurant. I really want to learn to cook it because I haven't seen it in the US. It's called a Japanese pancake, but batter is the only real similarity. It's a lot more savory, with vegetables, sometimes meat (this has a couple slices of bacon) and sometimes noodles. It's a Kansai (Western Honshu) specialty, originating from Hiroshima with Osaka giving the dish it's own variation (generally cooking order, all at once vs. individual components).

My favorite restaurant by the apartment. It's about 3 minutes away and has really good yakisoba and okonomiyaki, which balances out the fact it's a bit pricey. Chances are it'd get shut down by the Department of Health in the states too...

I've been kind of bad about bringing my camera with me, so the next few pictures are accumulated from my phone camera. Sorry for the quality.

Me and Captain America. Went to see Men In Black 3 with Shige, and he asked if I wanted to take my picture with the poster since he remembered that's one if my favorite super heroes.

This was the udon shop recommended to us by the gas station attendant. And it was a really good tip. There's a reason Shikoku is known for its udon noodles.

The best thing about Shikoku? So much green. The island is covered in forests and fields, making it a really nice change of pace from the endless city that is the Osaka metropolitan area. 

We arrived a little late to see the whirlpools at their best, but we were able to easily see the strong currents created by the meeting of the two bodies of water. The floor had glass coverings so visitors could easily see below periodically, but any view of the undertows was blocked by those steel latices. It's a little difficult to see as a result, but we're 45 meters (147 ft) above the ocean, and the undertow created by the two conflicting currents is almost inescapable. 

Onarutokyo. Great Naruto Bridge. Going from Naruto, Tokushima to Awaji Island, and then connecting to mainland Japan in Kobe, it's most famous for the whirlpools underneath it. To the left is the Inland Sea, and to the right the Pacific Ocean. The meeting of these two creates strong currents that result in spectacular whirlpools.

Restaurants on our way back from the temple. We stopped for ice cream because it was a pretty hot day. Since Shikoku is famous for its udon, there was udon flavored ice cream. Keisuke had it, and immediately regretted buying it. While it tasted like udon, it was pretty salty to begin with, then it was doused in soy sauce and green onions, just as you would a bowl of udon. And that just made it worse. I was really happy with my plum ice cream. While way too sweet for a big bowl, the little single serving I had was perfect. Also available was black sesame, which handily beat out udon ice cream as well.

Kappa and Tengu wood carvings. Two different creatures from Japanese mythology. The Kappa is an aquatic vampiric creature with a bowl of water on the top of the head. It loves cucumbers, and if someone can trick it into bowing and spilling the water it'll lose all it's strength. The tengu were thought to live in the tallest mountains, and be the original teachers of ninja. Wood carvings were a specialty of the town, and these two are on the smaller side of some we saw. One thing the artists pride themselves on is using only a single knife for the entire process. Which is an insane concept for some of the larger pieces. I would have taken a picture, but most store owners asked that I did not, however, the size of some would make it impossible to fit in even a small SUV. How people here would take it home, yet alone get it from the shops to their cars parked 10 minutes away was beyond me. 

The pathway up to pretty much every main temple is lined with shops selling local specialties, merchandise related to the temple, or food. This road isn't exactly straight, so it's hard to tell just how many shops there are, but to give some idea, there are over 750 steps to the temple, and shops all along the way.

Went a little crazy with photo editing software on this photo... But anyways. Met with my host family from my stay 6 years ago this weekend. We were all really excited to see each other again, and after the initial reunion they asked me where I wanted to go. My options were Kobe (which is only a city over for me) or Shikoku (one of the four main islands of Japan between the Inland Sea and Pacific Ocean). They suggested Shikoku because it's famous for udon, and they remembered my favorite food was anything with noodles. I let them decide, and since they'd never been to Shikoku, we took the three hour car ride to the island. On the way we passed this ferris wheel, and I noticed there wasn't anything else around it in terms of rides or amusement park or anything like that. It was a stand alone feature somewhat close to a group of shops. Keisuke explained that this is actually really common in Japan, with another in Yokohama, and as we found out later, another on Shikoku. All in all, a really fun day out exploring, even with the 3 and a half hours on the train home from Okayama.

Until a few days ago there had been construction on the train station to expand it outwards. Now that it's gone, this is my view while I wait for the morning train. Not too bad.

On the 13th floor of Osaka Station is the Pokemon Center. I had to go at least once for childhood nostalgia. All I saw were seas of children and unhappy looking parents.

For Exchange Student Month, they have food from all of our countries in the cafeteria. From the US, they made jambalaya. Not at all what I was expecting, but it was delicious. The rice had some spice, and was seasoned pretty similarly to what I was expecting, but that was about it. Fried chicken, and a soft boiled egg on top. It's interesting to see American food Japanified as we so often Americanize food.

Added another dish to my list of new foods I can cook. Japanese curry. It's sweeter than a typical Indian curry, but that's something easily remedied with extra spices. Easy to make too. Assuming you have curry cubes.

The summer heat killed off the spring flowers, but the sunshine is helping these grow outside the apartment.

Rule Number 1 for Travelling: Get lost. If you're not, you're doing it wrong. Don't go with a set plan you always have to follow or you'll never see the really cool out of the way things. Walking around this place it was obvious there hadn't been someone here in awhile, as spider webs spanned some of the walkways.

Nice little park tucked away amongst the buildings. The gym looks out over it making it a really nice view when you're on the bike or treadmill.