Archive for Osaka

Day 12/Koreatown/Last Dinner

{ August 2, 2007 @ 2:09 pm } · { Food, Osaka }
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• Morning
o I had a leisurely morning wasting away the hours eating a nice breakfast and catching up with friends. I then decided to head to koreatown because I hadn’t had Korean food in forever.
• Koreatown
o Catching the train to koreatown was rather easy. Luckily, the stop was only the 3rd stop away from my hotel, so it took about 12 minutes. I arrived at tsuruhashi and decided to check out the shops. ***I have officially found the place where everyone buys their fake LV wallets/bags*** The whole shopping area surrounding the station consisted of fake designer goods, lv, d & g, evisu,bape, guess, coach, the list goes on. It was hilarious, but everyone was really nice at the shops. There were also loads of Korean places selling kimchi and other delicious food items. Though, getting to Korea Town was a bit of a trick… I asked where it was a few times, and eventually ended up going there with a few Japanese girls who had gotten directions. Arriving at korea town, I went to this great place for a lunch of something that was a cross between bipimbop and bulogogi (basically, rice, meat, egg, and stuff)… which came with soup, unlimited kimchi and some other random vegetables… best Korean food ever. I follwed up my lunch with a bit of a snack… which came in the form of dango. Dango is basically sweetened red bean paste… rolled into balls and put on a stick. It’s amazing and colorful. It was so hot today, I was roasting… coming back to the hotel to take a shower felt blissful.
• Evening
o I though that since it was my last night in Osaka I would splurge a bit on my dinner… I walked around… found a rooftop restaurant and took a seat. I ordered a glass of chochu (35% by volume) and sipped on it as I looked over all of Osaka… I love the city view. I ordered some sushi (didn’t know was it was), which came with udon (noodles), and soup, and random vegetables… it was delicious… and the total only ran me around 2000 yen… or less than $20… not bad at all.
o I came back to the hotel afterwards and relaxed and drank some nice cool water… Good bye Osaka… time for Tokyo!

Day 11/Kyoto/Osaka Festival

{ August 1, 2007 @ 2:13 pm } · { Festival, Kyoto, Osaka }
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• Today was a very full day and thus I’m going to try to touch on everything, but it’ll be hard… today was the first day I felt annoyed at something in japan…the first time I’d saw a bamboo forest…and the first time that I really wished I was at Brandeis right now (well… complicated, impossible to explain).
• Kyoto
o I traveled to Kyoto today to see the temples… in fact I only ended up seeing a few temples, but they were all beautiful and there was no need to see any more. I arrived in Kyoto around 12:00…. (on the ride I gave up my seat to a girl and her friend… this comes up later in my entry) because I was getting off soon. I arrived in Kyoto and realized that we were getting out at the same time, but no regrets. When you get out of the train station in the countryside of Kyoto you feel as if you’re back 100 years… there are temples everywhere and even rickshaws. Sure, you see cars… trains… but you don’t notice them… it’s so peaceful.
o The first temple I saw was the temple of the dragon or some majestic name like that. What I liked the most about this temple was the covered walkways that lead inside and out of the temple… through a garden… and the beautiful scenery that could be viewed. It was breathtaking, calming, and a nice breath of fresh air from Osaka. I explored the temple next door… and a few more and they were all so serene. I walked in the garden behind the first temple… and I really felt at peace… it’s something about the air… the birds singing… the feeling that you’re the one person there. It’s indescribable.
o After a jaunt in the bamboo forest, my stomach was starting to feel decidedly empty… I wanted to go to the nearest restaurant, but there was none in sight… so I got lost for half an hour until I found one. I had a simple lunch of ramen, rice, and water… not bad. The ramen was great, the rice was good as always, and I think I drank 7 cups of water… Kyoto was hot!! After lunch I ran into the two girls who I’d given my seat back on the train and surprisingly enough the remembered me. It was so simple, just a wave, and a smile, but it was rejuvenating. Simple kindness… is always underrated… that’s what has amazed me about japan, far more than anything else. If you want attractive girls, good food, and great sights… I have no doubt there are other places you can go in the world… but if you want nice people… japan is hard to beat.
• Back to Osaka
o I headed back to Osaka and met two girls on the train as we stared amused at a girl who had managed to curl up on two seats and fall asleep… we were completely amused and through this we struck up a conversation. When the girl finally woke up… I did an impression of stretching my arms above my head and said “koko wa doko”… “where am I” basically… they both laughed so much… they had to cover up their laughter. Great way to travel. I got back to Osaka and it turned out that there was a fireworks festival, so I decided to go. It was a quick 45 minute trip to the area in Osaka where the fireworks were going off and it was def worth the trip. Going to a festival alone is a bit lonely… I amend that… going to a festival alone is very lonely. Being single sucks haha… it really does. Seeing the fireworks was a bit tricky. I managed to solve this problem in my usual way… the police officer turned his head one way… I jump a rope… climb a fence… onto a cement wall… onto a small roof… perfect view. This did alleviate my loneliness a bit. The fireworks went on for a while… managed to get some nice long exposure shots my camera… managed to amuse a few kids who saw me get onto the roof. Though, getting back was the tricky part. I had to get through the crowds to a different part of the train station because of way the police had roped off the place. I went all the way around and accidentally crossed over the tracks to where I had been…. I told the police officer that I had just gone around… and he said “sorry”… I was rather pissed… it had taken ten minutes to get around… and then he said “no special”… clearly no special treatment… “fuck you” I thought… I don’t want special treatment… I want to walk 5 steps to my train. Another officer was fine with me crossing, but he clearly wasn’t in charge. Though, this was easily solved when they both had to deal with other people crossing and I managed to sneak across… yeah, I’m a law unto myself… shit happens. I managed to board a train… finally.
• Evening
o I’m off to upload all my pictures… get in a bit of reading, and probably go online.. relax… sleep… tomorrow is my last day in Osaka… time goes by rather fast…

Day 9/Osaka/Festival

{ July 31, 2007 @ 2:03 pm } · { Festival, Food, Osaka }
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• Morning
o I started today a bit late, but it turned into a fun day. I took the train to Kyobashi and then to Odawa to find the place I’m getting my hair done at. That was an adventure. When I arrived at Kyobashi I was rather hungry, so I decided to look in the department store basement and try to find food. A host of possibilities emerged… yet I chose the path less traveled. I decided to make a breakfast out of samples. There were so many samples and they were so delicious… it was wonderful. I had some pieces of pastry… a few vegetables… some other little tidbits… toss it down with a drink from a vending machine… and life is good. Unfortunately the train to Odawa cost me $2, but once I got there I was so confused. I couldn’t find the hair place at all. I thought I’d ask someone… so I asked at a random grocery store and the woman decided to come on a walk with me to find the store. We walked around for 15 minutes practically… and I felt so bad, but she didn’t want to leave until we found the store. We finally found it though… and I thanks her so much… but it wasn’t open today ahahha, after all that… so I’m going tomorrow.
• Osaka Castle
o I decided after coming back from the hair place that it was time to see Osaka castle… and it was def worth it. I took the train to kyobashi again and then went one step further and ended up at some station near Osaka castle… and low and behold.. there was a festival. I think I’ve been to so many festivals here I’m losing count. Festivals are amazing for two reasons… food… atmosphere. There was a great food… and the atmosphere was perfect. I had this pinapple pop… which was real pineapple… frozen… in poplike form… brilliant… delicious. After having my pineapple pop… I wandered around and headed up to Osaka castle. It took maybe ten minutes to reach the building and it was beautiful… I didn’t bother paying $5 to go inside because I heard the inside was rather disappointing. The outside though, was far from disappointing. After seeing Osaka castle, I headed back to the festival to get some yakisoba… tasty. I have resisted getting takoyaki (octopus balls)… but I really should try them while I’m in Osaka… oh well, another day. I rounded my food intake off with some shaved ice (mango flavored)… delicious. The interesting thing about the food in japan is that everything you eat lists how many calories it has. How convenient… how brilliant… how simple. We should do that tooo……
o After having some amazing food at the Osaka castle area, I headed back to the hotel to relax a bit, take a shower, do some laundry and then have dinner eventually. I really wanted to go to a restaurant, but the restaurants around my hotel are so sketchy. I trust familymart (the convenience store) much more. I looked at the food at the grocery store near here and I was frightened out of my mind. Thus… because of the failure in reliable places around me I had a dinner of a rice ball, a steamed meat bun, some edemame, and a drink. Not bad… but could have been better.
o I decided to ready some more Harry Potter following dinner… and then took a nap. That concludes the day basically.

Day 7/Nara/The game

{ July 29, 2007 @ 12:09 am } · { Nara, Osaka, Temples }
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• Morning
o I woke up this morning feeling good, and decided to take a nice shower to wake myself up. This worked very well and by the time I was changing in my room I felt ready to tackle the millions of temples that Nara had to offer. I realized by the time I got to Nara though that I was in no position to see all the temples
• Nara
o I decided to take the train to Nara, which turned out to be an easy ride, but it was a bit of a trip. First of all, the train stopped ever few stations to pause for a bit and by the time I arrived at Nara I had been traveling for close to an hour… yet, I was worth it.
o Arriving in Nara, it was clear that this was not Osaka or Tokyo. Every few feet you would see a small temple. Everywhere there were shops selling kimonos and charms. It was a nice quiet town and it reminded me a bit of Nagano if it were much bigger.
• Temple Time
o I decided to consult my map as to find the nearest temple which should I thought be easy enough, but it was about a mile and a half walk. By nearest temple, I mean nearest large temple. Along my walk, I started dying of hunger so I stopped by a curry place. Curry is really big in japan… it tastes great and it’s cheap. For about $5 you can get a very filling lunch that consists of rice, curry, and some vegetables or meet. I also decided to pick up a drink because I was losing a pound of sweat every few steps as I walked towards the temples. In the end I don’t remember exactly how many temples I saw, but I think it was atleast 10. There was a 3 story pavilion that was beautiful, yet it paleed in comparison to the 5 story pavilion that sat next to it overlooking a pond. Even so, these two were out of the ordinary, but were nothing compared to the temple that held the giant Buddah statue, which was 53+ feet high. I have never seen a statue even remotely that large in my life. It cost $4 to get in to see the giant statue but it was worth it. The building that housed it was also the largest wooden temple/structure in the world. I ran into some Korean girls at the temple who spoke English, which was a bit fun. After the temples though, I decided that since I had spent around 5 hours in Nara it was time to go back to Osaka since I was in dire need of a shower and some rest. The train ride back felt amazing since it was nice and cool in the train and I slept for about half of it.
• Back in Osaka
o Arriving back in Osaka I’m greeted by the guy selling fake louis vuitton bags who appears to have taken a liking to me. He’s one sketchy individual, but he appears to have good intentions… or atleast not bad intentions. I get to the hotel and go online for an hour or so, talking with friends, catching up, and all around relaxing from my trip. After my battery starts running low I decide that it’s time for a shower and so I take an amazing shower and then head out to the grocery store for a lunch/dinner. I decided to go outside the comfort zone and order a steamed meet bun, a rice thing, and a little red bean paste something for desert. I also snag a “pocket juicer” (mango juice) from the vending machine. This runs me about $4 and does wonders for my hunger. I settle down in my room and read some more Harry Potter and relax. After about an hour I decide to take a nap and wake up later and possibly go to the bar that some of the guys in the hotel were asking, but as it turns out things go differently.
• The game
o I wake up at around 11:30 and head downstairs with my laptop to talk with a friend whom I promised to talk to online later and low and behold what’s playing on the tv but a soccer game between korea and japan. Quick information point—korea and japan have amazing soccer players who could own the US players. I settle down on my laptop, but soon I’m absorbed in the game, so I decide to set it down and pick it up later. The game is zero zero and they’re in overtime. It’s amazing.. the players are making these wonderful saves and finally it comes to penalty shoot out. The Koreans manage to win by one penalty shot and the room goes crazy. Point of information-this hotel has lots of Koreans. A guy from England breaks out some plum sake and stars handing everyone cups. As we all finish our first cup of sake a girl from korea pops some money into the vending machine and out pop 5 large beers which she begins pouring into cups. Long story short… we all end up rather drunk. Yet, it was hilarious, and I got to meet all these random people. The one downside of the night was as I returned to my room and attempted to get to sleep it was rather tricky as the room kept on spinning. After about 15 minutes I was able to counteract this by getting into a perfect position, but it was a bit of a pain.

Day 6/Umeda/More Shopping

{ July 27, 2007 @ 5:37 am } · { Food, Osaka, shopping }
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• Morning
o I woke up this morning and low and behold… my jet lag is almost completely gone. I woke up around 7… so that was good. Last night I had been really worried that I was running out of money too fast, but as I was calculating it this morning I realized I was perfectly on target haha, so my worries were for nothing. That was probably the best part of my morning. After that I took a nice shower and met someone else from the US who almost went to Amherst college, so we talked a bit… cool guy. I decided that today I would see the Umeda sky building, which is an amazing building in Osaka that overlooks the entire city. It also has two escalators that connect he two buildings that compose it .
• Off to Osaka
o I decided to take the train to Osaka (surprisingly enough) because it’s free… yes, all trains are free when you have a jr pass… only $500 and your soul. Ok, just kidding. Anyway, I took the train to Umeda (center of Osaka), which took about 15 minutes and arrived at the station at about 9 oclock ish. I was too early for the umeda sky building, so I decided to get some breakfast a drink from a vending machine. Wow… I love the vending machines. For breakfast I had a strawberry yogurt thing… for $1.50… mm, yum, strawberry. By the time I was finished the umeda sky building had opened up, so I traveled to the top for a nice sum of $4 (500 yen) because I said I was a high school student… ok, morals down 5 points… but I’m not too worried. The view was amazing… you could see all of Osaka and they even had free binoculars at the top.
o I decided to look at a few shops after the tower and I arrived a place called comme ca isms which I had been before. The only difference was this come ca isms stores had 6 floors… count ‘em. It was rather amazing and I ended up buying this really nice hoody for a reasonable price. Did I mention how much I am liking the clothes here… I know, probably not enough. After shopping at comme ca isms I headed to this underground mall to explore and possibly shop more. I ended up having a nice conversation with this cute girl who owned a shop selling jewelery… I was trying to find a present for my sister, but unfortunately she didn’t have anything… still, talking in Japanese always makes my day more interesting. I’ve been doing a lot of it.
o The mall didn’t really have anything I wanted to buy… or rather, anything I could buy but it did have something better…, which came in the juicy package called food. Wow, Osaka is the master of food. I paid about $4 for a huge lunch that included all the essentials: miso soup, little bit of salad, random veges, curry, rice, random Japanese fish… and water. Wow… I was exstatic and full.
• Back from Osaka
o Oh, this is a great story… I had two fun encounters on my way back. First… got to the train station and was rather confused as to which train to take… but help came. Back story… bording the escalator after a bunch of Japanese school girls one of them tripped and I said something along of lines of “careful… that’s dangerous” or something like that. They turned in my direction and said something like “he knows Japanese… amazing…wow… ahhh” anyway, long story short… as I’m looking up at the train schedule really confused I decide to ask for help. I turn to one of the girls and ask her what train to take to shinimamiya station (in Japanese)… she looks rather confused, but another girl seems to know what’s up… so I ask her. After a bit the whole bunch of school girls trails after me to the train schedule and finally we figure out which train to take. Ahaha, hilarious.
o As I’m taking the train back, I see a kid who’s shaking his shirt after getting into the train and I say something along the lines of “hot isn’t it” and he responds back… yeah, just a bit. We hit it off… and have this conversation for the next few stops about where I’m from, the weather, layers of clothing, japan, cellphones the us, all kinds of random stuff… it just felt great to be able to speak so much Japanese.
o Following this I arrived back at my hotel just in time to write all of this down… I think I’m going to head off to this park by my hotel… which no doubt will be extremely hot and I’ll die of lack of water hahaha, I’m not too worried.

Day 5/Osaka/Shopping…

{ July 25, 2007 @ 10:42 pm } · { Food, Osaka, shopping }
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• Morning
o I take back much of what I said yesterday. I think that I just got off on the wrong foot in Osaka… probably just the fact that the portion of town in which I’m situated seemed so sketchy just didn’t bode well with me. Yet, what the town has in sketchiness, the hotel makes up with the quality of people. I’ve met a guy from Australia, 3 guys from korea, and 3 girls from korea. Everyone has been really nice and helpful and clearly just looking to have a good time. I was using the showers this morning and I find it’s such a freeing thing to not have to worry about what you look like. The showers here are basically a lot of shower heads on the far side of one wall and on the other side is a large bath for soaking (not for cleaning). You shower yourself off, and soap yourself off and thien just like the hotsprings you soak for a bit. It’s relaxing and very freeing because everyone is naked, so you don’t think anything of it. Anyway, wearing clothes doesn’t change how we look underthem haha, so we might as well get used to how we look. I’m going to go in search of breakfast (not really sure what the menu is this morning… I’m going for a rice ball maybe and some pocari swear (ion refilling drink…tasty)… and then shopping in a less sketchy district.
• Shopping
o I think I’ve figured out what I don’t like about Osaka… I don’t like the fact that it’s really complicated to navigate. In Tokyo (for the one day I was there) I had no trouble getting places… but in Osaka it’s rather difficult. Yet, I’ve come to the conclusion that Osaka is not as good as Tokyo, but not a bad place either. I went to Shinsaibashi to go shopping and when the 3 hours or more was over I came out with a pair of pants, a vestish thing, and a shirt. Together the cost was about $95, so I think I’m doing pretty good… my guess for how much the jeans would cost was around $80, so I’m def beating my estimate. After shopping and probably losing about 5 pounds in sweat I decided that the best way to fix this loss of body fat was to go eat something. I went to this hotel restaurant where I was about to get a lunch special for about $12 that was delicious. I honestly can say I don’t know what was in it other than soba, random vegetables, and random fish. I really have no idea, but it was delicious except for one little bowl of something. The American menu they had looked more expensive and didn’t seem as tasty, so I decided to risk it and order something on the Japanese menu… def a good choice.
o Finding the subway to get back to my hotel was a bit of a chore, but people are so kind, so once I had a few sets of directions I was able to find it easily. I have a million pictures to post online, so now I must go.
• Dinner etc
o I was debating going to a club this evening, but I never got around to it… instead I decided to go to a bar and maybe meet random people… the plan didn’t really go as planned. I went to a bar in the shinsaibashi district called penguin something. It was hilarious… they had the penguin movie (I forget the name) playing on a tv… some trance music… an attractive bar tender, but I just ordered a rum and mused about the day. I wasn’t feeling anything, so I decided to head to another bar and see if there was anything more interesting, but I didn’t spot anything good. Thus, I headed to a Korean barbecue place which was rather fun. You got your food uncooked and then you cooked it over the coals… I just ordered a bit of meat and rice and a beer. I’m really a fan of Japanese beer. It’s rather cheap and much better than what you find at college haha. I headed back at around 12.

Day 4/Osaka/Tenjin Festival

{ July 25, 2007 @ 12:26 pm } · { Festival, Food, Osaka }
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• Morning
o As per usual I woke up rather early this morning (around five)… I really need to fix this habit, because while I enjoy waking up and seeing the sunrise and taking a walk, I could really use the sleep for the long days that I have planned. Luckily though, I managed to use the time to catch up with friends and to post a few more pictures online, so it wasn’t all a waste. Also, I managed to use the onsen (hot springs) at the ryokan one last time and that was amazing. I don’t think I’ve described exactly how the Japanese onsen work before, so here goes. First thing you have to realize is that you are expected to be naked. I think the point of this is that the onsen are meant to bring the people in them to a sort of peaceful state and any objects that could interfere are meant to be left at the door. Clothes are a clear indication of class and as such they have no place at the onsen. Before one can enter, one must first wash them self. This is rather like a shower; you spray water all over your body, soap up, and then wash the soap away. Once you’re completely suds free you may enter the onsen. The onsen is kept at something degrees celius, I really don’t remember, but it’s rather hot… so prepare to enter slowly.
o Following the hotsprings I decided to take my usual walk around Yudanaka (the town in Nagano), which was as usual relaxing, and hunger inducing. I decided to follow up the hunger pains with a drink from one of the many vending machines on the street. Japan really loves their vending machines… and now…so do I. Checking out from the ryokan was easy enough they even gave me a present of some origami. I really don’t know how I’m going to make all these delicate things I’ve acquired last till I get home, but I hope I somehow accomplish it.
• Trains
o I’m going to Osaka today, and that requires a myriad of trains… first I go from Yudanka to Nagano…. Then to Nagoya….then to Shinosaka…and finally to shinimamiya where I’m staying. This takes about 5 ½ hours, but it’s worth it. Osaka is known as the stomach of japan and I plan to make the most of this. Ahh… important to mention: when waiting for my train to Nagoya I stopped at one of the small convenience stores and picked up an Onigiri which I’d never had before. Onigiri are nori wrapped (seaweed) rice triangles. They’re simple, but perfect for a snack or a meal if you have a few. The place I went though had one which at the center there was tuna… and it was delicious. I’m going to get a few more when I finally end up in Nagoya… this train ride is 170 minutes… luckily I got a good seat, the scenery is beautiful and so is the girl sitting next to me… so no complaints. The train I’m on is called “shinano” which became abundantly clear to me when the announcement inside the train switched to English and referred to it as “our shinano.” Engrish is amazing and I really can’t get enough of it. Also, going through the mountains of japan by train is the way to go. Sure… it takes a while to get from place to place, but you can’t beat the scenery and there’s even a little snack lady who comes around with all sorts of tasty looking food and drinks. I’m sipping on my milk tea at the moment, so I’m satisfied, but were that not the case I have no doubt in my mind I’d be fumbling with my Japanese to get something of the cart. Ah, time for a nap.
• Osaka
o Ok… getting into Osaka took a while… but it was rather a let down. The high point in the journey was taking the wrong bullet train and not having to pay for it because I was so nice to the women who was going around checking tickets… the usual. Anyway, arrived in Osaka and it turns out my hotel is located in the fucking sketchiest district ever. Tons o’ homeless people and old people and basically very few young people… not so amazing. And I’m here 9 nine days… I plan to spend only 8 hours here a day… sleeping… if I’m not clubbing or otherwise occupied. I really should just have booked a capsule hotel in the city lol… this place is kinda shitty. The room is fine I guess, but I just don’t like the location. I ended up going to the tenjin matsuri festival which was rather fun… I swear there were 50,000 people atleast. A hundred boats proceded through the harbor… a huge procession on the streets…tons of food that I didn’t eat (including octopus balls)… Yet, the best part wasn’t really the festival. I met this guy who had lived in new jersey for a year and his daughter (who was probably 8)… we ended up hanging out and he helped me find my way back and it was just nice to talk to him and his daughter was so cute hehe. She drew a picture of me… it was hilarious. I’m still rather bummed that Osaka just isn’t what I thought it would be. I envisioned another Tokyo, but without Tokyo… basically just misnamed. Osaka is nice and no doubt has enough food to last me for years, but I’m not feeling amazed as of yet.
o A note on couples: maybe it’s just after going to brandeis where the average couple which consists of .. a) a rather sketchy jewish guy and b) an annoying jewish girl who for what she lacks in substance makes up in cup size. Now this may be a bit of an overstatement, but there is some truth in it. Ok… my point is that couples at Brandeis are usually not something you’d see in magazines. The exception to the rule is if you’re asian whereas most asian couples are generally attractive. The thing that you see in japan (and surprisingly Osaka is no exception) is that there are couples everywhere and they’re both attractive. It’s a bit lonely at times. I’ll leave on that sublime note. I’m going to go find food, hopefully free drinks and then sleep for a while.