Japan Entry 7

The Osaka post! This'll be a combination post of the two days I've had here in Osaka since I'm a little behind on entries. Thanks for reading if you're still here!

Day One

Having slept very little the night before, it was pretty easy to get up at 6:30 to head out to the train station, especially since the person in the room over had been playing their t.v. nice and loud all night which woke me up numerous times. It baffles me that some people could possibly be so inconsiderate, but it takes all sorts I guess. I probably would have hit him had I seen him in the hall, but that was in my 'it's too early' morning rage, and I wouldn't now of course.

Lugging my stuff to Tokyo station on the crowded morning rush subway was a fun new experience, if a little packed in, and I enjoyed watching all the people who kept glancing at me obviously annoyed that some tall Gaijin had brought a suitcase onto the train when they're trying to get to work. Haters gonna hate!

My excitement grew the more I woke up since I'd never been on a bullet train before. I hadn't reserved a seat in advance, so it was a free for all in the non-reserved cabins of the train, but I managed to find a seat and a place for my luggage and was happy. The person next to me, a younger guy of roughly 14, was fast asleep and had the shade down so it was a tad hard to look out at the scenery. Instead, I worked and finished reading Mr. Peanut which... was a lot less than I expected. Still an interesting read though, I suppose.

Hitting Osaka 2 hours later, it was time to make sense of a new subway network to get to my stop. Once I found where I had to go, I hit the trains and made it to my station with very little effort, HOWEVER I had completely forgotten to take the name of the hostel I was going to stay at, so the next order of business was asking every hotel if a) I had a reservation there and b) if I could use their internet. The second people let me use my laptop on their wifi, and I located where I needed to be. An old man on the street saw me as a tourist and called out to me, "Hey! What-u hoteru?" and then directed me when I told him. People in Tokyo (I'm pretty sure) would never do that, the people here in Osaka seem much lighter.

I found a payphone and called Maiko who my mom worked with and had offered to show me around. She's about to be a grad student at the University of Oregon (in Journalism, which I almost ended up doing), so it was cool to link up with her and talk about something we had in common as well as fire a barrage of questions about Japan at her. She also happens to be very energetic, and once we met up at Umeda station, we spent the rest of the day walking around seeing the sights while baking under the sun and humidity. It was a really fun time, and I really enjoy seeing Osaka. The city feels a lot more wide open, beautiful in its own way while still remaining the second largest Japanese city, whereas Tokyo feels like the buildings are smushed together and the entire atmosphere feels almost claustrophobic. Osaka is a nice change of pace.

We ended the day's activities at a sort-of Mexican cafe/internet cafe. The prospect of some tacos or burritos sounded like a great break from the Washyoku food I've been exclusively eating. I ordered a Burrito and a Gin+Lime. The burrito, as it turns out, was a quesadilla that came with some kind of onion soup and the Gin+lime was about a third of a glass of gin with a little lime juice. Drinks here in Japan are both expensive and incredibly light, so I was a bit happier to at least know I was getting 90% gin in my tiny cocktail. The quesadilla was satisfying since there's not a lot of cheese used in Japanese food (at least in my experience thus far), and salsa was awesome. Maiko and I chatted there for a while before heading our separate ways. I returned to the hostel to catch some tv, update the blog, and relax my aching limbs.

Day 2

Yesterday I'd completely forgotten to bring the Oregon 2010/11 planner I'd purchased for Maiko, so we'd agreed to meet up at her work so I could drop it off. I took my time in the morning, lounging in perhaps the most uncomfortable bed I've ever slept in. I'm not sure how many people actually sleep on Tatame mats but it's essentially like sleeping on a hard wood floor, the thin pad they give you to lie on might as well be making it worse, like a promise of something that isn't really there. My hips were in pain (I think I have bad hips, like my mother) and my shoulder was sore from sleeping in a funny position.

Hurting all over, it was breakfast time. AND I FOUND YOGURT. Yeah, I said it. Something sort of like fruit that isn't freakishly expensive! Sure, it was runny as hell and the spoon they gave me to eat it with was probably for babies, I was elated at the chance and devoured it along with my croissant from the convenience store. Youtube provided me with a lot of laughs courtesy of the Downtown comedy team (a Japanese comedy duo, there are a lot of great activities they do and a lot are fan-subtitled so we americans can understand) and I made sure to cheer myself up before it was time to go meet Maiko. (Sorry, I had to look away from writing. A shamwow commercial in Japanese came on with some european dude speaking Japanese with english expressions of surprise peppered in for effect. lulz)

We met up on her lunch break, I gave her the planner, and then walked along the street to see the library, a government building (both were in western style) and a rose garden/park. She was taking loads of photos, of course, both days were filled with photos. Any time she wanted me to pose for a pic, I'd make her do the same as a kind of revenge. I dunno if I've ever been in so many pictures.

It was really hot today, but we walked along all the same and talked though perhaps less than yesterday. We returned to her work, and said our goodbyes. I set out for lunch and visiting Kobe (a nearby town, and hot tourist spot) while she went back to work. Unfortunately, the rest of the day didn't go as planned. As I was walking to lunch, I realized I didn't have any money. Thinking it'd be an easy fix, I tried 2 different bank ATM's before realizing that I probably wouldn't be able to withdraw any money unless it was in a 7/11. Thanks a lot, U Lane O Credit Union. What I thought would be a quick walk turned out to be an excruciating 2 hour trek to find a working ATM since I had literally run out of pocket money to pay for subway fares or food. Somewhere along the way I stepped funny and my hip popped, leaving me hobbling for a block or two in pain. By the time I withdrew money it was nearly 4 and too late to make the trip out to Kobe.

Feeling especially salty, I went to an Italian restaurant to finally get some lunch. What I ordered was an "Italian Burger" and accidentally ordered a side of rice (I thought the waiter said it was included, but wasn't actually). The burger turned out to be a round meatloaf with cheese on top that came with a soft-boiled egg and 3 home fries. Literally 3. But I didn't care. They had Tabasco. The first hotsauce I've seen all trip, and i used it liberally all over my entire meal. The 3 college girls next to me looked over in surprise but I payed them no mind, it was spicy food time.

Afterwards, I tried to find some gifts but was unsuccessful (I found this adorable little stuffed animal I was going to get a friend, but I spent around $5 trying to get it out of one of those claw machines with no luck before giving up) and just walked through the shopping streets looking at things. Of course, I made a quick trip to the arcade and earned myself a 6 win streak against a couple guys (even another El Fuerte, though I was playing Ken) and that further relaxed me. I then made a trip to a euro-style cafe (there are a LOT near Umeda, and though a bit pricey, the atmosphere is quite nice) for a DARK BEER (tabasco and an IPA in a single day. so lucky) and a salad while watching the Hanshin Tigers play the Hiroshima Carp on T.V. (baseball). I caught a train home having finished my meal and watched a couple innings, and here I sit updating the blog while I watch the game.

I was extra bad today, feeling sorry for myself, so I purchased a little dessert item on my way 'home'. omg

Below is the link for all the pictures I took, heading to Kyoto in the morning.

GT!

PICTURES