Cheap. Safe. Delicious!

One last picture for peace.

Leah getting really excited for the Talking Heads.

Goodbye guys.

If you think about it, most great things in life are at least one of the above. Cheap, safe and delicious is not only the company motto for the multi-national Cup of Noodles corporation, but also sums up my last three days in Japan, oh, I guess "fun" is missing. It all started when Leah came down from Toyota-ama and met me in Kyoto. That evening we boarded a train and upon arriving were greeted by Shohei, the emperor of Osaka.

Shohei studies Danish at Osaka University and was gracious enough to let Leah and I crash on his couch. CouchSurfing is the latest in budget travelling. In fact, it allows travellers to contact each other and offer their couch to sleep on while they aren't travelling: cheap and safe. But here comes the delicious part. Shohei works at a noodle restaurant, a very authentic one where they do things like drop raw eggs in the noodles right before serving them and don't speak a lick of English: delicious!!

The next day we got out of couch very early to hit the famous Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum. From the brochure: "On August 25, 1958, Momofuku Ando invented the world's first instant noodle product, "Chicken Ramen" after hours of research using common tools in a small shack which he had constructed in the backyard of his house in Ikeda. "The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum" conveys the importance of invention and discovery through the history of instant noodles, which have become a new food culture." Yes, indeed.

This exciting day was topped off with more than several visits to Osaka's famous Izekiah (think TGI Fridays) after which we once again landed in a Karaoke bar. I'll really miss those. Lungs, ears, everything hurts when you're walking out and the suns about to come up. The next day it was time to say goodbye to Leah, Shohei, and, yes, Japan. I'm sad, but excited to get to China. Sayonara.