Sunday I went out to a beach in Kobe with Audrey, Karen, Ben, and a couple of Audrey's coworkers. It was a great day, though the beach was really crowded and not too sandy. There were no women over 30 and, as Ben took great pleasure in noting, only one wearing a one-piece swimsuit. The oldest woman I saw was running from the beach when we got there at noon, wielding an umbrella as if the sun would make her melt. Of course there were plenty of oddballs, like this guy in a wet suit who spent his time paddling around the swimmers like he was on patrol. Or this other guy, who waded in dragging his girlfriend (daughter?) but couldn't leave his cigarette behind on the shore. The girlfriend/daughter was grimacing like she was wading into raw sewage. Ah, Japan...

I managed to get a sunburn across a nice swath of my back, the spot I couldn't reach when the peer pressure mounted to go jump in the sea. I guess it slipped my mind... but it's been killing me all week.

We then headed back to Kobe, and chilled in Meriken Park (hint: read the name a few times and you'll figure out what country this is supposed to be), a nice oceanside, well, park. We met up with Carter in Nankin-machi, the fabled two blocks that make up what's supposedly the largest Chinatown in Japan, and had some pretty decent Chinese food. The restaurant owner was so excited to speak to us in English, and proudly thanked us in like 11 different languages.

The night, needless to say, ended with karaoke, before Ben and Karen had to go back to Okayama...