Despite having been in Japan for almost two months by now, it still does not feel real that my new normal is walking around the beautiful city of Nisshin. Last week one of my classmates had stopped me after class and asked if I wanted to hang out this Sunday. I am so thankful I said yes. That was easily one of my favorite days here in Japan so far. Rise, the girl who invited me, took me and Buckie to Oasis 21. Oasis 21 is a place in Nagoya city that has a “spaceship” looking construction high in the air and below it is a bunch of shops. Two of the shops (and my favorite ones!) are a Studio Ghibli store and a Harry Potter store. Both of these stores were just so full of whimsy, it brought me so much joy…but not so much for my wallet. Ever since then, Rise-Chan (as we call her!) and we hang out quite often, even just for lunch or dinner sometimes! We have a fun time teaching each other our languages and culture!
Another amazing place we have “found” is an udon restaurant near my dorm called Sanukikamaageudon Yondaimeyokoiseimenjo Nisshintakenoyamaten or as Buckie and I call it… the Udon place. This is a small restaurant that is very clearly not a tourist sort of place like some of the others around us. It only serves two things, udon and curry. The workers are incredibly kind, including the older gentleman who works there who knows our orders by heart. Whenever he is working and sees us, he very often hollers out our orders and picks up my bowl before we even order! We have gone for both lunch and dinner pretty much every day. Not only is the food amazing, but it is also really cheap! I get a large bowl of curry for 470 yen. That is about 3 US dollars for an entire meal! This restaurant has become such an important part of our daily life here in Japan that we plan on getting them a gift. The older gentleman now smiles when he enters and greets us personally if he’s there when we enter. There was another time that they were pretty busy (during lunch rush), and I forgot to say I wanted the large portion of curry, so I got the smaller one instead. The gentleman, knowing I always get the bigger portion, came out of the kitchen and asked if I wanted more. When I said please, he left and came back with another portion. He then refused payment when I tried to pay him for it. That’s all to say, that this restaurant alone makes me want to move to Nisshin so I can continue to go there.
Essentially, this entry is about my two favorite things here in Japan: Rise and the udon place.
