Day 3 Japan Trip 2015

HIROSHIMA 広島

March 4, 2014, Wednesday- I took the bus to Okayama station and then the Shinkansen to Hiroshima to meet Emi, my old coworker and roommate. Emi and I met at like the end of 2007, when I was an Emergency Teacher for Amity and moving all over the country. She had just started working for Amity and was a teacher at Nishiguchi. We became good friends and when I knew I was finishing my contract with Amity and going to stay until the end of 2008, studying Japanese at Okayama Gaigogakuiin, she offered to let me stay with her.

It was so nice to catch up and remember all the crazy stuff we had been through together. My best (and only!) drunken bicycle story is with her. We would stay out until the morning drinking and dancing at Matador, go shopping on the weekends, and eat at The Market. Such great times! She also reminded me about how I'd get her to do my homework sometimes because it was too hard. And it was even too hard for her! lol.

Emi is currently working at a Yoga Studio in Hiroshima as a receptionist. The studio offers aerial yoga, which I've always wanted to try, so we planned to take a class.

Before the class we had a snack at a European looking cafe next to the A-Bomb dome (which is under construction). Since I'd been to Hiroshima multiple times, we didn't plan to do anything touristy. Mostly I just wanted to hang out with Emi.

The Aerial Yoga class was really interesting- especially because the whole class was in Japanese! I was really surpassed to see how good my Japanese listening and speaking still is.

After the class we walked around and found a café to have a snack and coffee at. One of my favorite things about Japan is that you can walk all over the cities and if you get hungry or thirsty, there’s always a place to stop.

We walked over to Shukkeien, which is a garden in Hiroshima. Everything was still dead from winter, but they were selling 1-2 foot tall Ume blossom trees. I wish I could have bought one.

It was getting colder so we decided on shabushabu for dinner at Emi’s favorite tabehodai (all you can eat) restaurant. The restaurant wasn't open when we arrived, so we decided to find a bathroom near by. I brought up FrancFranc, which a store Emi and I used to go to together. She would collect these figurines and put them in our bathroom. Turns out, there was a FrancFranc near by, so we went in. They had a bunch of macaroon stuff, so I got a pillow and dish sponges. Also, the best surprise was that they had the little figurines with macaroons on their heads! When you buy them you don't know which one you're getting, so it's a surprise. We had such a fun day! I hope that Emi will come visit me in Hawaii soon!