Saturday 25th September

So today is leaving day for everyone else. I met up with Dennis and Josh and we went for ramen one last time. The noodles were awesome but it was hard to smile as I knew I'd have to say goodbye shortly. I love hanging out with these guys they have an awesome sense of humour and I will miss them loads.

Back to the hotel. Everyone is packed and ready to go. Mitch had already left but I said my goodbyes to Aureole, Karin, Bruce, Crystal, Josh and Dennis. I head up to my hotel room to have a wee moment to myself to think about the amazing week that has just passed.

After a quiet moment to myself I head out to meet up with Adam he's drawing at Chopstix with Benny. We meet up and hang out for a bit, go for a wander and take some pictures. Adam has plans for dinner and although I am invited I say my goodbyes and head back to the hotel and pack my suitcase. 

Now for some random pics I took that I didn't have room for earlier!

 There are vending machines everywhere, for every 10 people in Japan there's a vending machine.

                                                    Manga, manga everywhere

                                          Pet store that sells mini dogs

                                   Hilarious t-shirts "It gets on the mama" is my favourite

                                               Not an uncommon sight in Osaka!

So, suitcase packed I get some take-away snacks and sit in my room and think, something I've not had time to do for a good long while.

When I think back on all that has happened in this year alone I think to myself that I am an incredibly lucky individual. Never in my wildest dreams would I picture myself here in this place in this moment. If you had asked me when I was a teenager where I would most like to visit if I could go anywhere, anywhere in the world at all Japan would have been number 1. To have been there twice in one year blows my mind. I'm not a well travelled person, before 2010 the number of places I have been to you could count on one hand. In this year alone I have been to Japan twice, America and now I'm heading to Australia. It's quite possibly the most exciting and terrifying thing I have ever done in my life.

This past week has been fabulous I LOVE Japan. I think when my Australian Visa is up I will definately be coming back here. For now though I have to move on, Littlest Hobo style :)

Friday 24th September

Last day of the tour!!! Waaaaahhh!!! First up today its a look at a temple with an impressive gold building.  Jeffrey wanted to sail out to it and melt some down to make into teeth later but I told him if he did that the ghosts that guard the shrine would come after him. It was insanely busy you could hardly move for tourists from all round the world and huge groups of screaming kids! But I managed to get a good photo or two and the walk round the place was nice. There was a bit where you throw money on the ground but I cant remember why. I had a close eye on Jeffrey while we passed.  

 Next up was another temple this one high up in the mountains. There was some sort of rabbit/love theme going on but again Im not really sure what. This one was busy too but you could tell why the view was absolutely stunning. It took a fair while to walk round the place I would have liked to have gone back when the place was closed I can imagine it being really peaceful.

Next up Dennis tattoos Crystal! In his room. Tattoo party!!! Yey! Crystal was getting a really pretty bearded lady done on her leg. I really like his work if I ever get to go back to America I'll definately make a point of going to see him.  Tattoo didn’t take too long but Im sure it was more than enough for Crystal, this being the third(?) time she’d been tattooed in a week!

                                          Finito! Oh so purdy

And so we head off to have our final snackaroos! We go to our favourite place with the huge menu and order a mountain of food. I'd brought the See You Jimmy tartan hats along and gave them to Crystal. There was a bit of confusion as the Americans thought I was bringing condoms (jimmy hats) haha!

                           Horse sashimi. No we didnt have any!

And so concludes the tour of Osaka. Well, for everyone else except me! Due to the fact that I am a moron and can't handle numbers or dates or anything I booked my flights to Adelaide leaving on the Sunday, not Saturday. So I get an extra day in Osaka but I won't be alone as Adam is staying a little longer too. (And of course I have Jeffrey).

Tomorrow = tearful goodbyes!

Thursday 23rd September

First on the agenda today is head to Chopstix tattoo with Dennis for his appointment with Magoshi. I’m chief photographer on this mission - Crystal will pop in at some point to take pics as well. Jeffrey was quite excited and asked if he could get one too but I told him no chance after he shat out last time. 

Dennis was getting a piece surrounding an existing piece. Magoshi did some of the colour with tebori which I found really difficult to watch as I remembered how painful it was!  The whole thing was finished  in 2 and a half hours - impressive.

                                       Jeffrey can't watch!

After ink we went shopping. Got a bit lost. My bad. Found a cool book store where Jeffrey wandered off by himself again. Found him in the rabbit section so I left him to it. It was really hard shopping this time as I didn’t want to buy much knowing I’m limited to how much weight I can carry around. My suitcase already weighs a ton.  I did good though, all I bought was a corset. A wonderful, fabulous, tiny, tiny, tiny corset! Soooooooo happy! It’s impossible to find them back home that small. 

                                                        Jeffrey over-whelmed with desire

After shopping it was back to the hotel to meet everyone to go out for dinner. I met Mitch O’Connell in the lobby to get the prints signed for my awesome mate Laura. I wrote down “Flappy McGee” for him and he signed her prints AND he drew boabies on them. I couldn’t stop smiling thinking of her wee happy face as she opened the parcel. :)

 Dinner was at a BBQ place not far from the hotel. When you order your food they bring it out to you raw and you cook it yourself at the table. The beef was awesome! Even Jeffrey had a go.

After dinner we headed over to play ten pin bowling. I fucking love bowling but I can never find a ball I feel comfortable throwing. The ones for adults are too heavy and the lighter ones don’t have fingerholes big enough for me. Doh! My skills get worse as the game goes on and my arm gets tired. It was great fun though! I came first in our group and third overall. Yaaaaaaaaaarrrr!!

Another crazy day, another one to look forward to.

                                                   Jeffrey seems to have this effect on people