Jitensha, jitensha, jitensha (Bikes, bikes, bike)

We had a fabulous day exploring downtown Sakai on bicycles we hired from the hotel. We have been so surprised by how many bikes there are around the place. People of all ages ride them and there are so many parked outside the shops. 

Look at all the bikes outside of McDonalds!

Sakai is a really flat city so we enjoyed cruising around and looking at the different houses, shops and schools.

They even had a smooth section next to the steps to roll the bike along

We stopped and talked to some people along the way. There were these adorable little girls and their mother coming home from school. They were happy to pose for a photo and we had a little conversation with them in Japanese. I asked them how old they were and they said they were 6 years old. Their uniforms were so cute!

We also went up the top of the city council building and got a great view of the city. I had a little conversation with Japanese tour guide. I asked if he spoke English (I said it in Japanese) but he said he didn't. Then another man who heard me came over and he said in broken English that he would drive us to Tokyo. We said thanks but we couldn't! 

The tallest building in this photo is our hotel

We've been enjoying trying a different restaurant every night. Tonight we went to one that didn't have any English or pictures on the menu. Also the waiter spoke hardly any English. I really enjoyed the challenge of reading and decoding the menu! I managed to read 'curry' and 'salmon' so we ordered those. They didn't disappoint! I also then found the dessert section of the menu and ordered us ice cream. Such a fun experience!  

This was the menu (the one on the right, third from the bottom is the nan curry I had) 

On the frisbee front, another 2 great games. Unfortunately the results weren't to our likings. The dingos lost both games by 2 and 3. They were tough matches against Great Britain and Japan (both strong sides) and the wind was whipping today. So the boys are playing Germany for 7th place tomorrow.

Andrew is the one in the yellow hat