The first 5 days!

Aug 5
On the first day that I was in Osaka, a group of eight of us went to Sannomiya for dinner. We had yakitori which was grilled skewers at Torikizoku. There were many different type of meat, flavor, and animal organs to choose from. The culture of the restaurant was different from the U.S. At the restaurant we were able to just press a button to ask for the waiter. It is almost like when we are in a plane and need assistance from the flight attendant. Smoking was also allowed inside the restaurant. After we ate, we decided to sing the night away in at Karaoke Room. Since the subway/train stops at midnight and taxi in Japan is known to be very expensive. We decided to sing until the subway is open again. It was a fun night and an amazing experience of the Japanese culture. Although we left the Karaoke Room at 6am in the morning, we were able to hear other people still singing in the other room. One of the challenges was the menu for ordering food and drinks at karaoke was in Japanese and there were no English or picture. Therefore, we just selected one of everything on the menu. We also order the food and drinks on a tablet and there were no one to ask to describe the food for us. It was one of the best experience that I had!

Aug 6
The next day we meet our penpals at KGU. The faculty and students were extremely nice. They also line-up and clapped as we walk through the door. They also made a banner with balloons and flowers to welcome us. We took some pictures and exchange gift with our pen-pals. Next we went to a BBQ hosted by KGU. Then we toured Sannomiya and visited a shrine, a temple, and Chinatown. At Chinatown, I had mango flavored soft served ice cream.  Next, we went back to KGU and went to a firework festival. It was the best firework show I had ever saw. The fireworks lasted one hour that lit up the whole sky.

Aug. 7
We took the train for one hour to Nara. At Nara, park, deer were allowed to roam freely. At the park, I tried cherry blossom flavored soft served ice cream. I had my first cold ramen for lunch. Then we went to Daiso, a Japan dollar store. At the train station, I tried had my first pineapple flavored soft served ice cream.

Aug 8
After lecture, we went to the fish market and ate takoyaki for lunch. I tried blueberry flavored soft served ice cream. Then, we went to Himeji Castle. The castle was six floors and there were a lot of traps and way to attack the enemies. Then we ate shaved green tea and mango shaved ice at one dessert shops. The shop owner was dressed as a ninja and gave us free rice burger.

Aug 9
After lecture, we ate lunch at the cafeteria and it was super cheaper. I tried Haagen daz white peach and papico peach flavored ice cream.  Then, we went to a community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy. The setting of their pharmacy were so different. The pharmacists were the only one allowed to touch the drugs. At the community pharmacy, each pharmacists is only allowed to fill 40 prescriptions per day. The pharmacists will package each patient medication into individual packet. Each packet will be the drugs each patient take after breakfast, lunch, or dinner. In the drug store there is also a machine that packaged powder medication. At the hospital pharmacy, there was a robot the delivered each patient box of medication to the floor. The technology was so advanced in comparison to other inpatient pharmacy that I had seen in the United States. Later at night, we had a takoyaki party and we were dress up in yukata. After the takoyaki party, we played with fireworks. It was my first time playing with fireworks and it was super fun.