I had a better nights sleep, but still had a couple of wake-ups, before getting up at 7.30.\u00a0 A shower made me a bit more functional, and breakfast sealed the deal.<\/p>\n
Kaoru and I got our bags packed, and Mio drove us to the station at 9.00.\u00a0 It was a beautiful, clear day, on its way to 31 degrees.\u00a0 It took us 3 trains to get to Tokyo station, but each change was at the same platform (well, across the platform) so very convenient.\u00a0 We got there earlier than we had planned, so got some nibbles (rather than a lunch) and waited in line for the train to open up.\u00a0 From our experience going to Kobe in March, we learnt that getting on at Tokyo, and being there early enough, means we don’t have to pay for a reserved seat for Kaoru (just a normal ticket).<\/p>\n
We got on the Shinkansen, where I caught up on a few more things, and we ate our nibbles.\u00a0 One was a meat pie made with Kobe beef (delicious!), and the other were banana-filled cakes (kind of like a twinkie with banana cream inside).\u00a0 It was then time to enjoy the countryside, and get a little bit of sleep.<\/p>\n
We arrived at shinosaka just after 1, and found somewhere to have some lunch. It’s great being on holiday time! After lunch we caught the train to Namba station and were able to check in to our hotel once we managed to find it (about 215). Mikusan had suggested this hotel – Swissotel Nankai Osaka. It was very nice.<\/p>\n
Once we were ready we made our way downstairs and awaited Mikusan.\u00a0 She was a little bit late (about 3.40), but we had nothing else to do.\u00a0 I introduced her and Kaoru, and we grabbed a cold drink and chatted for a while.\u00a0 She speaks confident English when she knows what she is saying, but as soon as she had any trouble she would get Kaoru to translate.\u00a0 That Japanese mindset of not wanting to look silly in front of somebody else.\u00a0 We found out that she lives in the mountains between Osaka and Kobe, and that it takes her 90 minutes to get to Osaka.\u00a0 So we were very lucky to have her come all this way!<\/p>\n
Matsuyama-san arrived about an hour or so later.\u00a0 He had a meeting but finished it early to come and see us.\u00a0 So we demonstrated Datascore to them, with me driving, and Kaoru translating it all; and doing an excellent job of it, considering she doesn’t really know the indoor sports business.\u00a0 She has learnt parts of it from hearing me talk about it, but has no real hands on experience.\u00a0 Matsuyama-san has already spoken about it to some of his contacts!\u00a0 It could be a long, slow road, but it will hopefully move faster than Konami has over the last 5 years!<\/p>\n
Once finished we went to dinner.\u00a0 Matsuyama-san had booked a restaurant that he knows.\u00a0 Miku-san had bought a couple of bottles of wine; the restaurant wasn’t BYO but as Matsuyama-san knows the owners we were able to drink it.\u00a0 We gave Matsuyama-san a bottle of Shiraz that we had brought from Australia, and Miku-san a container of T2 Tea.\u00a0 We then enjoyed a delicious meal and great conversation.\u00a0 We got to know them both better.<\/p>\n
After dinner we went for a walk around Osaka.\u00a0 The night life was beautiful.\u00a0 We didn’t go for any drinks, but just strolled around Dotonbori. \u00a0We passed a shop which sold puffer fish. There were some live ones in a tank in the window and then the frame of a couple of dead ones all blown up. Osaka is apparently a better place to eat it than tokyo.<\/p>\n
Matsuyama-san explained how people jump off the bridge in to the river when Osaka baseball team wins a game!\u00a0 Kaoru spoke to him a lot (as he doesn’t speak a lot of English) and I spoke to Miku-san, so she could practice her English without somebody else hearing.\u00a0 We ended up back at our hotel about 9.30 but as Miku-san had a long trip home we didn’t suggest going for another drink.<\/p>\n
Once they were out of sight, Kaoru and I went back out, thinking a drink would be nice.\u00a0 But we couldn’t find a pub to drink at so we bought some take away drinks and some sweets and went back to our hotel room.\u00a0 The view out our window (23rd floor) was beautiful at night – it was a pity we couldn’t sit on the balcony.\u00a0 So we enjoyed a drink and snack, and went to bed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had a better nights sleep, but still had a couple of wake-ups, before getting up at 7.30.\u00a0 A shower made me a bit more functional, and breakfast sealed the deal. Kaoru and I got our bags packed, and Mio drove us to the station at 9.00.\u00a0 It was a beautiful, clear day, on its … Continue reading