My own personal hell; Hyougo, the land of bakeries Part 1

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Let me just start off by saying that this trip almost didn't happen. The week prior to this I had the flu and was not allowed to leave my apartment until the Saturday that my trip was scheduled for. But if you know me, you know I wouldn't let some stupid flu keep me from doing what I want to do (especially considering I had already paid a truckload of money for my train tickets!)

Saturday, November 21st

Monday November 23rd was "Labour Thanksgiving Day" in Japan, so I took the opportunity (and 2 paid holidays) to travel to Hyougo Prefecture (South of Kyoto) to visit a friend. It being so far away from where I live (about 14 hours by bus) I decided to pay the money for shinkansen tickets and have a shorter and more comfortable ride (although I may not have even had the bus option because it may be too far...) So bright and early on a Saturday morning, I left my home and headed towards my destination. Roughly 6 hours, a stop in Tokyo station in which I frantically looked for a "Relaxbear" store and failed, and 2 shinkansen rides later, I arrive in the heart of Kobe City, Hyougo Prefecture.

Before I continue, I'll tell you a little bit about Kobe City...
With a population of 1.5 million, Kobe is the 6th largest city in Japan. Kobe City homes 18 universities, as well as the Canadian International School. It is also the home of the baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. ...Oh and it is also the city that Kobe Beef comes from. Now that you know some useless trivia I shall continue on with my blog...

So I arrived early in the afternoon and meet up with my friend. We then proceed to throw my things into a locker and go shopping downtown. (I spend a lot of my time here shopping... but don't worry, I bought almost everything on sale!!) After several hours of window shopping, and possibly a stop at McDonald's for food (I don't actually remember where we stopped for food but that seems likely) we headed back to my friend's place to drop off my things before we headed out again...for shopping... to a store call "Book Off." For those of you unfamiliar with Book Off, it's Japan's largest chain of used bookstores (and apparently there's one in Vancouver...). Not only does Book Off sell used books but also manga, DVDs, CDs, and video games! After about an hour of browsing the store, my friend left with her arms full of manga books, and I left with about 3 mangas and a dvd for about $15. Good deal.

Sunday, Nov. 22

The next day we were off to Osaka! (Again!) I had only one main goal in Osaka, and that was Yodobashi Camera, the electronic store. Having been there once before, I knew that a huge store like that would have to have the item I had been looking for for months for a friend. My friend's goal in Osaka: the Jump Shop (see my silver week blog about Osaka). To summarize my day here: I found the brand of item I was looking for but not the specific item, HOWEVER, I found something that would do instead; I had a tuna & lettuce crepe which was delicious, and my friend and I spent hours in the Jump Shop and I managed to walk away with just 2 posters. We then met up with another one of my friends and did some more window shopping before heading to Subway so they could eat. We left Osaka around 5pm and got back to Kobe around 6 in time for dinner (I think we went to McDonald's again... but we walked there so it balances out).


And if you're wondering about the title of this blog entry, that will be answered in more detail in Part 2 (although it's probably already obvious).

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