Another busy weekend for me – this one was especially nice because I got a chance to see Kuniko both days. Saturday I was hanging around the house most of the day, but in the evening Kuniko picked me up and we went to see a movie – “Oceans Of Fire” which was called “Hidalgo” in the U.S. release.
The movie was pretty good, a little ambitious though, and maybe a little long. Lots of cheesy parts but overall good entertainment. After the movie Kuniko and I did a little shopping and then she dropped me off at my place.
Sunday I slept in until about 9 a.m. which was much needed, and then went to Befu to get a haircut. They switched around the barbers so the same guy could cut my hair. I’m not sure why he always does it – it’s not like we speak English or anything. He did a good job though, and only charged me 1000 yen, which is a great deal.
After the haircut I bought a knife sharpener at DIK, and also some meats for this week’s lunch and dinner. I also picked up an Australian Shiraz for 1000 yen and a couple of bottles of Tsing Tao beer. I packed up all my gear and headed home, and then a couple of hours later went right back out the door to go to Osaka.
Antoine and I had arranged to meet up in Umeda so that he could buy a digital camera, and I invited Kuniko along as well. The big plan was to buy the camera and then go to Outback Steakhouse and have an American-style feast. Kuniko and I met up with Antoine and all together we went to the Yodobashi camera store right next to the station. Antoine was not shy about asking questions of the employees, unfortunately it was mostly in English. Still, the employees were used to foreigners and did a pretty good job. They listened to Antoine’s question, and then gave the answer to Kuniko in Japanese. Unfortunately the answers were pretty technical and it was hard for Kuniko to understand what they were talking about in Japanese, let alone translate it to English.
After making the camera buy we went over to Outback and started ordering food like crazy. Kuniko and I had skipped lunch so we were both starving. I ordered the Alice Springs chicken, with a side of beef ribs, and we had a “Bloomin’ Onion” for an appetizer. Kuniko had a steak with shrimp on the side, and Antoine did the Alice Springs thing as well with soup and salad. It was an unbelievable amount of food – after seeing tiny Japanese sized portions for so long, this felt like we were getting away with something.
We ate and ate and ate, and really enjoyed the food. There were lots of foreigners in the place, and everybody seemed to be going through the same sort of nostalgic dining experience we were enjoying. The food wasn’t that great really, but it was huge and it reminded us of home and that was a good thing.
Kuniko and I got Antoine to the right station gate, and then we walked back to the JR station. We said our goodbyes – it might be a couple of weeks before we get together again. I caught a super express back home and now I’m just trying to digest all the food I ate. No wonder I’ve lost weight since I came to Japan.
