Mindi in Japan!

So I've been a bit MIA for the last couple weeks. I swear I have a good reason. That being, my sister has come to stay with me here in Japan for about three months. So she'll probably be getting mentioned a lot in coming posts (^.^)

So I guess I'll talk a bit about her arrival. She got on a plane on the 16th in Newark, and time traveled into the future a day to arrive in Japan on the 17th in Osaka. Tip for picking up someone at the airport: Make sure you have the correct airport in your brain to begin with. Going to Kansai Int'l airport just to realize that your sister is coming in at ITAMI Int'l airport is kind of stressful. And requires some hefty emergency taxi fare.

But, it turned out well in the end. Mindi had only been waiting about 20 minutes when I came scrambling in. The train ride back to the hotel was pretty easy, then we grabbed some conbini food and just chilled.

Due to the jet lag, Mindi was up around 4:30 or 5 the next morning, and so I was as well. We wasted some time before heading out to get breakfast. We went to a bakery called the Vie de France. You can see a picture of the store front in day three of my trip to Osaka with Meri.

Our haul. From the top left, clock-wise: Bacon mushroom pizza, salt bun (like focaccia), a honey cheese bun, an apple cream bread, and a black sugar bagel. It was all scrumptious.

Mindi gazing out the front window, marveling at HOMGMINDI IN JAPAN. Yes.

Afte that we went to Dotonbori, the street with the famous big crab sign. It was still hella early, so a lot of the vendors and stores were either still closed or had JUST opened up. We descended on one of the latter, a takoyaki stand, to sample their wares. We got some "lemon shio" takoyaki. The salt element was the "dare", or slightly viscous drizzle of sauce to add flavor. The lemon was a lemon wedge we squeezed over the little octopus fritters. It was yummy. Unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture. 

We also stopped in a few omiyage shops. In one, we bought these little keychains with our respective  birth dates on them.

After Dotonbori, I insisted we venture over to Kobe so Mindi could see Yuri. We had lunch at the World Buffet in the Grand Rokko shopping mall near the Rokkomichi stop. It was delicious, as expected ^_^ Afterwards we just walked around and chatted for a while. Mindi was still pretty beat so I didn't want to subject her to a lot of exhausting, involved activities. We visited a pet store (adorable, but no pictures allowed), and got some painkillers to combat the an ache in Mindi's feet. I had wanted to take her to Milky Road as well, but there wasn't really time (or stomach space) for that. Next time! Yuri also mentioned something about a dessert buffet which is still haunting me o_o. Must. go. there. 

Anyway, we were lazy and had conbini food again for dinner (different chain though!). The next morning, our bus to Tokushima was at 10 am, so we stopped at the Vie de France again for breakfast foods. I forgot to take pictures, but I got a salad and a soy milk bagel, and Mindi got a smoked salmon and tomato sandwich combo. We shared an apple/cream cheese danish-y kind of pastry. Then it was a long bus ride, followed by a train ride, followed by a taxi ride, and finally we arrived at my apartment. For the record, the room I set up for Mindi looks like this:

Or, it did before we put her stuff in there, haha. It's not quite as pristine now.

Anyway, more to come about Mindi's Adventures in Japan!

Mata ne!