We all went to visit my not-really-my-aunt and not-really-my-uncle today. My sister ditched us to go shopping, but my not-really-my-uncle drove the rest of us around the area and I got to drop off the gifts I had for my old neighbors at the butcher’s shop and Naniwa Cycle, the racing bicycle shop I used to frequent. I also gave my buddy at Maeda Cycle some American coins I had for his kids. After that we drove around Takarazuka City which was hit pretty hard by the Kansai Earthquake and changed quite a bit. We even went to Kiyoshikoujin which is a mixed Shinto/Buddhist shrine in the hills of Takarazuka.

I’d been there lots of times and it always has festival stores out front. Today wasn’t a holiday so it wasn’t all that busy and many of the shops were closed, but it was still a uniquely Japanese spot from my old memories.

Afterwards we went looking for a place to eat and even drove through all sorts of places near my old neighborhood that used to be rice fields but now look like the city now. We just missed going to a fancy Japanese restaurant because it was too late for lunch and ended up at another “family restaurant” chain that was pretty good.

We got back to the hotel just before rush hour and hung out near the hotel for the rest of the day. I guess this means I won’t get to see the inside of the weird building with no inside but hopefully I can come back soon to see it.

This waiting 16 years to come back kind of sucks. Too many things have changed. I know the reasons I didn’t come back, including personal failure, getting dumped by my Japanese fianceé, and not wanting to see my cousins when I was jobless, but it’s not so bad any more. The rest of my cousins aren’t doing much better than I am and I’m too old to let my failures keep me from coming back more often.

Tomorrow it’s off to my aunt’s house in the country (my real aunt) and so I probably won’t be online for days. It’s probably for the best. But right now I have to listen to some more Euro dance music on my iPod to try to get the religious chants I heard at my cousin’s place out of my head.