Day 3 in Japan- Tokyo to Osaka

Our 3rd day in Japan started out with another breakfast at the Sakura with each of us eating at least 5 pieces of toast.  The rest of the day I decided to relax a bit.  A few people took a bus tour and other people walked around.  I took some time to use the internet since Jane brought her laptop and the hotel had free wi-fi.  For lunch we went back to the same noodle place. 

 

When everyone was back at the hotel we talked about our plan for the night.  We knew that the ship would be arriving in Kobe the following morning and a few of us had SAS trips early the next morning.  A few guys were going to take the bullet train that night to Osaka since Osaka is only about a half hour from Kobe.  We all agreed that it made the most sense to do that and I was happy since I had to be back and ready for my overnight homestay at 11am the next day.

 

Jane looked up a hotel in Osaka and made a reservation for all of us.  We packed up our stuff and took a few cabs to Tokyo station where we agreed to meet at the entrance.  Little did we know that Tokyo station is huge with several entrances.  Jane, Dani, and I spent some time looking around the station but eventually figured that we should just go and meet them there.  Thankfully Jane had made the reservation.  I don't know what we would do if we didn't already decide where we were staying.

 

The ride on the bullet train was great.  Since the train runs on magnets, it literally hovers over the tracks.  It was definitely the fastest and smoothest train ride I'd ever taken.  Plus, the inside is spacious, quiet, and clean so you feel like your riding first class on an airplane.

 

When we arrived at the hotel we were so relieved to see that our friends had made it there.  By the time we got there it was almost 11pm and we still hadn't eaten dinner so we asked the hotel if there was anywhere we could go to sit and eat.  They recommended a place that was only a few blocks away so we decided to give it a try. 

 

The place had traditional, Japanese-style, seating where everyone sits on the floor around the table.  I was so excited to do this since it had been the way I pictured restaurants in Japan all along.  There were about 10 of us so we sat at a long table.  The restaurant was small so there were only a few other tables which were all pretty close together.  Since the menu was entirely in Japanese, with no pictures, we just ordered 10 bowls of rice, 10 bowls of soup, 10 beers, and a few orders of edimome.  As the night went on, we started talking with people at the other tables.  Everyone in there was a local and was more than happy to talk with us.  We ended up surrounding their tables, sharing food and drinks, and learning about eachother.  Everyone was so nice and we were laughing the entire time.  I think this was one of everyone's favorite nights.