Japan Day Six (Tatebayashi)

Today was all about returning to my hood, aka the place I called home for a year, all the years ago!

Hoped on a train and off to Tatebayashi we go.

Two hours later and Benny is welcoming Ben and I at the train station! So exciting to see Benny!!! Benny told us he was our tour guide and after grumbling about empty stomachs we made a pit stop by the convenience store, Lawsons. Benny even drove to the Lawson near my old house, for nostalgia sake! Awww.  Apparently the lady working there remembered me from all those years ago, so that was super nice.

Benny had lots of plans, but I thought it would be nice to ride around the old hood! So we hoped on our free city hall, hire bikes and did some sight seeing!

Ran into some tanuki statues (aka racoon dogs). These animals really exist, quite cute in real life but have become quite characterised, somewhere down the line in Japanese culture. The Japanese also decided to run with one of the animal's feature, aka large testicles! Mmmm

Anyhoo on our fee bike tour I made sure to go to all my old favourite shops

picked up some sort of watermelon drink...very very sweet!

Stopped in at Off House, aka the Japanese version of an op shop where they repackage everything to make it look new again. 
Don't think that guy is too impressed by Ben's antics :P

We also stopped in at the cute pet store

eek too cute!

And finally stopped off at the park

where Ben made friends with some stray cats

the park is super pretty and famous for it's azaleas!

Time flies when you're having fun though and we did promise Benny we would meet him back at two, as he had  plans for us! Ohh exciting.
I guess stay tuned for part two!