Last days in Japan

I can hardly believe I'll be leaving here tomorrow morning. I'm going to miss my family but am excited that we will meet again in Cambodia in 3 weeks! 

The last few days have been action packed. Sunday, we took the train to China town & Kobe harbor. As we walked through town, we stopped and listened to some beautiful music. Here's a dose for you all!

 On the way to the harbor, we ate our way through China town :) I wish we had food carts like this in the UP. Now, there's a business idea!

China town in Kobe

Zephyr 

The staff of Honey FM invited us on a cruise in Kobe Harbor for their 10th Anniversary. It was lovely to see Kobe from the water! 

Kobe from the water

They were so sweet to have invited us! Thank you Ai for being a wonderful hostess:)

The folks at Honey FM :)

Capt. Zephyr

There was a submarine at port. Very interesting to see! I had seen one only once before, emerging out of the water in Kobe harbor the last time I was here 4 years ago. 

Sub at Port

Small boat harbor

That evening, we met Matthew's friend, Bryan, at an organic, vegetarian curry restaurant called Lucy. Lucy is owned by Matt's friend, Sei. 

Sei and some of the best Shochu

Bryan is a fellow teacher and good friend of Matthew's. He is also Kazuyo's English teacher!

Sei makes the best organic curry in Japan!!

Sei and his wife wished me a wonderful trip and personalized our food :) Thank you Sei for the great food made with love. You can tell he loves what he does!

Yummy Curry :)

The following morning, Matthew and I went for a run and took a tour of Kobe Universities Maritime Sciences Department where he is a recently tenured professor.

Prof. Matthew John Rooks

Kobe's Maritime Campus

The next day we took it easy, as it was the last full day we had to spend together before Matthew was back to work on Tuesday. After all the running around, we needed a break! That evening we went to a local restaurant, Loss Time,  ran by another friend of Matthew's, Ryuki. Matthew has such wonderful friends!
His friend, Masanobu, came out to see us and brought his 4 month old son. He was a doll!

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We ordered many dishes for the table but the one we all were the most excited about was his signature baked curry dish.

Curry 

Well, that's it folks... that's the last on my travels in Japan. Tomorrow I fly to Thailand where I will meet up with Shelby(yup, our CH Shelby :), and spend a few plush days in Bangkok. I will have wifi and will be sure to keep this blog a rollin'!
I big ARIGATO goes out to all of my family and friends in Japan who made this trip so special. I promise to practice my Japanese, so when I come back next year I can talk with you all more!