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April 20

To Yokohama / Miyuki and Kazu / Kamakura

Jen and I went to meet my friends Miyuki and Kazu in Yokohama. I met Miyuki 3 years ago the first time I was in Japan. She was living in Kyoto, and was out free college student tour guide for the day. We hit it off so well that we kept in touch ever since - she even visited us in San Francisco a few years ago.

They both live in Yokohama now, and we met them there at the station. From there we decided to go to Kamakura, a nice area next to the ocean with plenty of temples and touristy crap, since it isn't that far south from Yokohama.

We ate at a popular Japanese curry restaurant (one of Miyuki and Kazu's favorite foods), and then checked out the big bhudda, called Dai Butsu. Jen made some friends there, including a little girl, and young women with neat braids. Before heading back, we shopped at the local 100 yen shoppe (Japan's version of the US's "dollar stores").

After returning to their place, we went for dinner at a good yaki niku place that they had been raving about. Yaki niku basically translates as "fried meat". It refers to restaurants where you order usually high quality meat, and fry it yourself on little grills (similar to Korean BBQ restaurants). It was worth it's reputation.

That night we stayed at their place in Yokohama - traditional tatami mats and futons and all.