Today was Bay and Koa’s second day at the kindergarten, and we decided to take the bus there. We had a bit of trouble though since we got on the wrong bus! But we switched to the correct one at Umeda and were on our way. It was a long bus ride, maybe 30 minutes, and the kids were falling asleep but we finally made it to the school. After dropping them off, Mariko and I started on foot to look for a place to have a cup of coffee and relax. We eventually found a really cool coffee shop that had a couple breakfast sets, and at night the place had izakaya food. The sushi menu on the wall looked really tempting! But it was morning, so we ordered our breakfast sets which included hard boiled egg, small cucumber and ham sandwiches and some fresh fruit. Mariko had toast with marmalade instead of the little sandwiches. The coffee was really good too! Soon it was time to leave and walk back to the kindergarten.

Koa had a good day singing songs and listening to the teacher read from the storybooks. He even picked out the book he wanted her to read. He also seemed to become labu-labu with one of the girls there. Bay also had a good day. At the end of his class, they ate dried persimmon.

After we left kindergarten, we caught the bus back to the city to look for Dotonbori Gokuraku Shotengai, which is like a small theme park, where the theme is old-time Osaka. There are lots of old ads and posters on the walls, and the little restaurants serve typical Osaka foods, like takoyaki. We of course had takoyaki, but also some kimchee-yaki and some other thing that was like takoyaki, but in a broth. Mariko and I shared a cold beer, which really hit the spot. After we ate, we went up to the 7th floor (the place is on the 5th-7th floors of a building) to catch a show. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was better than I could have imagined. It was like a small musical, but very old Japanese style, and very funny! There was even some wire-work flying at the end. The singing and dancing were excellent, and the crowd really got into it. When that was over, we went to another show, which was an actor’s improv. Before that show started, each member of the audience filled out a few questions on cards. Then the acting troupe would act out a story, using the cards as plot drivers. It was sort of like mad-libs, and very funny. Even Koa had fun, busting out laughing a few times.

When we left Dotonbori Gokuraku Shotengai, it was about 4pm and time to head home. We were all pretty tired, but we had a good day. After bathing, we ate some more takoyaki that Mariko’s sister brought home. A nice snack to end a fun day.