This past weekend we had the pleasure to host Alex and Joey during their honeymoon visit to Japan. We met up with them on Thursday evening at Nishi Akashi station as they arrived from Hiroshima by bullet train. Kuniko met us with the car at the station, so it was easier to drive back with their luggage. I was fighting a cold that came on suddenly – I went to work in the morning healthy and by lunchtime I was totally congested. Fortunately it didn’t hold me back too badly and we could do everything that we had planned.

As it seems to be the custom, we took them to Yutori for yakitori, and the heart and shisomaki seemed to be hits. I was disappointed in the donburi – they cheaped out on the raw egg – boo! But it was nice to catch up with them on the wedding and subsequent party in Hawaii. This was the first time we had to really speak with Joey for longer than a few minutes. He was a fearless eater, which is always good in our books.

We did a little shopping after dinner, went home and played some Boomerang Fu, and then hit the sack.

The next day we switched our plans a little bit based on the conversation in the yakitori and what they wanted to see/do/eat. We headed into Kobe on Friday after they had a chance to sleep in. We started at Steakland for Kobe beef, walked through Chinatown, headed to Kobe Tower at the waterfront and checked out the earthquake memorial. 

During this trip Alex and Joey would sometimes do a little sketching of objects that captured their attention, and it was cool to look over their shoulder and see it develop. Taking the time to really see something, and then capture it on paper is a lot different from snapping a photo with your smartphone. There is a balance there with time, quality and quantity of memories. 

Past the memorial we walked by some murals and it turned out they knew the painter of one of them – small world! From there we headed back to Motomachi and took the train to Nada to do a little sake tasting. We hit the usual suspects – Sakura Masamune, Kiku Masamune, Haku Tsuru, and then did a final snack/tasting at Nadagogosakedokoro, a place that I have been wanting to try.

The place was quiet but the owner was really trying to liven things up, and slowly more customers arrived. We bought some tickets and then exchanged them for snacks or sake, and the food was really good there. Somehow it came out that Joey and Alex were on their honeymoon, and so the guy got out the microphone, poured some free sake all around (Thousand Years Happiness sake), and it was cute when he passed the microphone around for each staff member and customer to say a few words. A couple of executives from the neighboring sake brewery were there enjoying themselves and even they said congratulations. It was really fun.

Not 15 minutes after all of that another couple came in, and somehow it came out that they also were on their honeymoon, visiting from The Netherlands. The owner gave them a free sake to do a toast, but he didn’t swing by to refill our glasses. It was a funny coincidence, though.

Back in Sannomiya we went to a shabu-shabu place that Kuniko had found. The place felt a tiny bit shabby, but the food was not bad. There were a lot of vegetables, and the meat quality was so-so. Our staff was a foreign lady who had trouble delivering food to the wrong table now and then, but she was doing her best. When we left we got some plum candy that Alex liked – she managed to find a couple of bags of it back at Godai near Okubo station. 

We were tired back at home, but with an adapter that I had bought from Amazon we played Mariokart on their Switch 2. It was fun to play, even though I didn’t know the courses it was cool to see it in full 4k splendor.

The next morning there was a long sleep in, during that time Kuniko and I played a lot of Blue Prince. The puzzle game is totally addicting and we made some progress. Eventually we got going, and jumped in the car to head to northern Himeji to see Shoshazan and the temple in the mountains. I hadn’t been in a million years and it was Kuniko’s first time. As usual there was some traffic around Kakogawa, but after that it was easy to get there. We parked and took the rope way up. From the top we walked along the trail to the main buildings, ringing a giant bell on the way. 

The area was not too crowded – I wanted them to experience some temples with fewer people as their next destination was Kyoto. They did some sketching, we took off our shoes to look through the buildings, and even saw some autumn leaves changing colors.

After spending time there we went back down the rope way and drove into Himeji for lunch. Kuniko had found an oden place that had “all you can eat” oden, and it was a cool little place. We ordered some dishes and drinks, and then you took your bowl up and pointed at the oden that you wanted. The staff looked mildly perturbed while they waited for you to pick things out, but that wasn’t our fault – it was their system. I really liked the marinated quail eggs with garlic – wow!

Then we walked to Himeji castle, and since there weren’t too many people we decided to go ahead and climb up. I guess next year they are raising prices so it was a good time to visit. 

After the castle we headed back to the car and then fought through a lot of Saturday night traffic to get home. We dropped off the car and went off to the train station to go back to Akashi. There we dropped off Kuniko’s library book and then went to Sugidama for sushi. While crossing the street some “bad boys” walked the other direction shouting “yo yo yo!”and we were surprised to see them. I’d expect them in Osaka but not necessarily in Akashi city. 

Kuniko was hungry and we went nuts ordering lots of sushi and sashimi. The best was the bonito, but there were many kinds. We drank and talked and I felt like my voice was stating to fade out – I started to worry if I’d be able to teach classes the next week at work. 

Finally we headed back to our place for cocktails, more Mario kart, and had fun. I crashed out a bit early but Kuniko stayed up to party with them. 

The last day (Sunday) was raining pretty hard. Alex and Joey slept in, did their packing and we had an easy breakfast before driving them to Nishi Akashi station. We pointed them to the special rapid train to Kyoto and off they went. 

They were great guests – easy to take care of and super polite. When we came home from taking them to the station they had left a nice thank you note and a little bottle of sake for us – how kind of them! It seems like they may be around during our Christmas visit to Glen Ellen, so maybe we’ll have a chance to see them again this year.