The last of Japan

After we got back from Kurashiki, Motoaki took us out for the best meal we had all trip. It was called yakiniku--basically we ordered raw beef and cooked it ourselves at our table. It was so good!

The last night we were in Japan, Jane had invited all of her friends out for karaoke in Tsyuama. Karaoke all night and all you could drink for $20. We had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from that last night...

Jane and Motoaki
Me and Rick
Jane and I with our buddy Yassine. He professed his hate for me since I lived in Hawaii.
Jane and me
Even Rick was singing karaoke!

Sunday June 3rd was our last day in Japan. We left Jane's house late morning and headed to Kobe. We didn't have any beef (apparently it's $100 a steak), but we were still satisfied with the meat we had the night before. Mmm. Motoaki picked the restaurant for lunch (it was Italian and very good) and after lunch we headed to Sweets Harbor. It's coined a food theme park which I suppose was pretty accurate. There was happy music and a lot of different sweets stands--I settled on a fruity pastry. This was Motoaki's heaven...

Then we drove to Osaka, went to the outlet mall to get rid of the rest of our yen (I was already out). Then off to the airport and goodbye to Japan. We caught an earlier flight home from Honolulu, but we had to go back later for our luggage. It was a long day--technically we landed in Honolulu about 12 hours before we left Japan since we crossed the International Date Line. It was a very fun trip and a very much needed vacation. Jane and I noted that we had never spent that much time together, but we had a great time. And Rick proved to be a good travel partner as well.

Sadly, that's all the excitement from Japan, but I'll be kayaking the Na Pali coast next weekend, so there will be more to share. And in 3 weeks I'll be back on the mainland. Until then, it's work...