VISITING OLD FRIENDS

21.12.2024

We slept until 8 a.m. feeling much less tired after a restful night. After a slow start to the day, Nana drove us to Itami City to shop at Aeon Mall, hoping to find some great bargains.

You may have come across the name ‘Aeon Mall’ several times in our blog. It is a popular chain of shopping malls, with 204 locations in Japan and 40 stores overseas, primarily in Asia. Most Aeon Malls feature a food court and either Tully’s or Starbucks, making them a convenient stop for a quick bite.

If you’re in Japan and looking for a food court, simply search for a nearby Aeon Mall, and you’ll likely find one close by. With an operating revenue of 9.5535 trillion yen( $97.1 trillion Aus), Aeon ranks as the 17th largest retailer in the world by revenue, a testament to its widespread appeal and success.

Our visit to Itami was part of our plan to catch a 30-minute train ride to Sanda, where we reunited with two teachers from Tamba. We met them eight years ago when they brought the first group of children from Tamba Primary School to OSPS. Although I am no longer involved in the exchange program, the friendships we’ve built have endured, and we’ve managed to meet up every couple of years whenever we visit Japan.

Together we enjoyed a delicious lunch and dessert, chatted about old memories and made plans to meet again in the not too distant future. As the day came to a close, Rob looked visibly exhausted. The travelling has finally caught up with him, and I knew it was time for him to have a good rest to recharge for the next adventure, when we travel back to Shunan, my hometown.

We took a densha back to Aeon Mall to meet Nana and buy some food for tonight and tomorrow night’s dinner. There is a Kaldi store in Aeon, as there are in other shopping malls in Japan. Kaldi specialises in popular food items and ingredients from western countries. For example they have Tim Tams and Vegemite from Australia. Mami got lasagne sheets, as these are not sold in Japanese supermarkets and Mami will be making us lasagne tomorrow night.

Mami has written most of this blog and I certainly felt a bit weary today. The conversation with our friends from Tamba, Sumiyo and Shoko, was mainly in Japanese and it is hard for me to follow. I know Mami hates having to translate, so I wish I was a little more confident and competent in speaking Japanese.

Hoping for a good night’s sleep tonight to get my mojo back. One thing before I end our shortest blog so far. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I had breakfast cereal with soft serve ice cream as a substitute for milk and I claimed it was my invention. Well yesterday at Atami beach, I had a Sundae for dessert at a restaurant. The sundae was made with sponge on the bottom third of the glass followed by a soft serve with strawberries and topping and then cream on top.

My point is that in Australia, you don’t ever put sponge on the bottom of a sundae. However Japanese put either sponge cake OR ……wait for it …. Kellogg’s Cornflakes!!! So that memory came back to me as I hit the sponge cake on the bottom of my glass. I don’t like sponge being there but I think i must have developed a taste for the cereal!!