OK, back to Kobe. I took a trip to Kobe to see what is supposed to be Japan's most beautiful harbour city. It was raining all day long, so i wasn't really feeling the beauty, but i could get a good idea of how nice it must be on a sunny day. It has a lookout tower that looks like it should be in Blackpool - that combined with the rain made me wonder if i would see donkeys strolling down the waterfront at any point. Kobe was the city that had that massive earthquake in 1995. They kept some of the pier in the condition it was in immediately after the quake. It was quite striking. There was also an amazing picture of a huge crack in the ground winding up to the eet of the tower. I pondered this image and my own foolhardiness when i reached the top of the tower. The city (like all japanese cities, it seems) is surrounded (other than the harbour of course) by mountains. You can take a cable car up one to view the whole city and harbour. I decided not to, being in an earthquake frame of mind. But i did climb up part of the foothills to see an area of the city that had been built to house foreigners. It was quite fun watching Japanese tourists um and awe at houses called Weathercock and The Brambles, with one having some hideous Tudor-style paintings adorning the side. Hmmm.

Osaka is a major commercial and industrial city near Kyoto. It is a giant Birmingham. I went there to take a ride up a scary skyscraper to go up an outdoor glass escalator from the 37th to 44th floor. I chickened out when i got there. A common theme. My highlight in the ugly urban sprawl of Osaka was a trip out to the suburbs where i went to an open air museum of old farmhouses. Sounds boring, but it was amazing. I felt like i had gone into the mountains and back decades in time. There were my first sightings of cherry blossoms amongst thatched buildings, and gorgeous old ladies who whisked me off to view their crafts and bowed incessantly at me each time i ummed and awed. Delightful. I ended up having a conversation with one in pathetic japanese at first, then broken English, and eventually German, which i never expected to utilize on a trip to japan. The farmhouses were truly a great experience. Another storm hit, so i sheltered in one and read my novel for an hour and got totally lost in the silence and smell of woodsmoke. It was also pretty interesting to i stir from my reading of Hannibal and noticed i was in a dark room with farming implements suspended above my head.

I've been really enjoying doing my own thing in the day time and coming back to the hostel to catch up on everyone's day and get tips on what to see. I've done all sorts of things i hadn't planned on. The hostel is homely (free cake and sake to celebrate the cherry blossom season!) and i see the same faces for dinner and conversation each night, so i got to feeling like coming home after a day at work (only fun work). Jon and Alex were a great laugh for enjoying Japanese TV with - especially the variety shows and crazy advertising (actually quite scarilly insane) and Anna who is amazingly interesting and who i have spent the last 2 days seeing Kyoto and Nara with. I'm gutted I have just one day left in Japan as it has really captured my imagination, but i am certain i will be back. I've met several people who have done teaching English here, and it is really appealing to me.