We only realized about half way through packing up the tent that this, most likely, was the last time we would pack up the tent before heading back to the mother country. A single, perfect tear later, we were on our way to the ferry terminal to catch our 10:30-ish ferry to Osaka. The ferry trip was rather uneventful. We glided between the coasts of Shikoku and Honshu – through the Seto Inland Sea – until we made it to our Kobe destination.

Then began 30 kilometers, which took almost three hours, of lights, lights and more lights. We pedalled quickly – never really getting below 25kph – despite the stop and go. We followed what felt like a full days ride on route 2 with a series of dizzying lefts and rights to almost get to our destination. With the sun down and the store fronts lit, we found ourselves close, but not quite there. We stopped to grab a much needed bite and ponder our options.

Both our hosts were working and therefore unavailable, the directions I had mapped out for us using Google Maps had turned out to be horribly inaccurate, and the level of detail on our map left much to be desired. Inhaling our rice balls, we thought about our options. Then, I remembered the glorious omnipresence of unlocked wireless signals in large cities. I whipped out the Ipod Touch, quickly found our location and had us, beaming, at the apartment in no time. We grabbed a bit more food and enjoyed it on their wonderful balcony.

Our hosts, friends from Hokkaido Liam and Hiromi who had moved to Osaka about a year ago, returned from work and we headed out to grab a second, more filling dinner. The choice for the restaurant was a tough one. We were presented with a choice – the restaurant with the drunken pig theme, or the restaurant with the dancing baby strippers (Don’t worry, the babies were not real. They were automated sculptures modeled after the famous 1990s piece of internet real estate known as the “3D Dancing Baby”). We went with the drunken pig and enjoyed many a fried thing on a stick.