Ohayō gozaimasu!
Sunday 26th October
After getting a good night’s sleep, I feel much refreshed. Momentarily I’m taking it easy and simply enjoying my stay. That is, I’m sitting on the balcony of my host’s apartment, enjoying the view, the scenery and everything that’s going on down below.
Yes, I’m staying on the 46th floor of the tallest building in Kōbe, which goes all the way up to the 60h floor, or so. Pictures will follow. 😉 It’s so tall that you even need to pop your ears when taking the elevator up. Nice!
As I sit here, I can’t help but enjoy all the sounds that I catch from any direction. Trains rolling by, police sirens, drum music (I couldn’t tell from where, but I can see a little shrine), lovely classic Japanese style music, air conditioners (I think, it’s relatively warm here in Japan) and simply traffic sounds. To me, it’s all rather peaceful, but then I’m more of a city person than a countryside person. 🙂
This morning I started the day with a breakfast that I managed to find last night (I love how kombini’s -convenience stores- are open until late) and taking a lot of pictures of the scenery. I’ve also taken some preparations regarding my trip to the Koshien Stadium: I plan on attending the baseball game in Hanshin.
–We interrupt this narrative for an important announcement: the game has sold out! Even all of the wheelchair tickets!–
Darn it, now I will have to find something else to do tonight. Earlier today there’s also a soccer match of Kōbe vs Omiya… I’ll look into that.
As I sit here, I notice how the huge shadow of this tall tower has moved quite distance in only a short matter of time. Hmm.
–We interrupt this narrative for something completely different…–
Bryan just came by so I could finally meet him as well. He was nice enough to help me find some details regarding the soccer match of Vissel Kobe. I’m glad that he did because the website where they sell tickets is in Japanese only. xD Anyways, Bryan recommends I be at the stadium around 15:30h, which doesn’t leave me much time to go and explore the city right now. But I’ll see what I can do. On the other hand, this does leave me some time in the evening for other plans.
Ooh, I just remembered: until 21:00h I can go to the sky lounge, or however it is called. I don’t actually know, but I presume that should be the top of the building where you have the most awesomest view of the city and it’s surroundings. W00t! Now, with my altered plans, that should work. 🙂
So, even though I think I would very much like to simply stay here in the apartment and possibly do nothing, I will go out momentarily. Just walking, scouting, taking stuff in. And possibly go foraging for lunch. Huzzah!
Fun fact of the day: It seems that bicyclists ride on the sidewalk here, kind of like how they do in Germany.