They got us from Toyko to Osaka (upwards of 500 miles apart) in less than 3 hours. They're really nice, too. The seats are comfy, the train doesn't feel like it's moving...it's much like an airplane in that sense. It even looks kinda like an airplane from the front. Before leaving Tokyo, we stopped at a little Ramen shop where we each got a big bowl of ramen to fill our bellies. Yum! My mother, though, would die in a ramen shop (as I kinda am too!) -- slurping and lip smacking is the proper way to eat your ramen. Oye. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me. Oh well!Osaka at night
Anyways, we arrived in Osaka in the early evening, where we were met by Andrew's close friend from CSU days, Ian. Ian offered to let us shack up with him, though in the end we stayed at love hotels instead (more on that later). We went and grabbed dinner with Ian, eating at an awesome little Okonomiyaki (literally meaning, "cooked how you like") place; I'd never had it before, but essentially, they're like thick savory pancakes made from egg, lettuce, meat/seafood, and various other ingredients that they griddle up in front of you. Yum!
After dinner, hang out and catch up time ensued, and Andrew and I didn't head off for our love hotel til late. Now, let me elaborate on the love hotels -- love hotels are slightly gaudy little hotels created for the sole purpose of lovers. They're incredibly cheap to stay at overnight, since the majority of the clientele only stay about 2 hours. Some have themes, like the cartoon one 
and the Puppy Hotel, 
whereas others just have ridiculous almost-provocative names, like Hotel Dress. Though it was late and we were tired, we checked out almost every
hotel in the Love Hotel district before settling on Tokai 24, which we chose because it had a "traditional" style room, complete with tatami mats and sliding doors with paper windows ("shohji"). 
Tired from the traveling and the walking, we slept like rocks.
