Day 1
A large portion of my morning resembled self loathing for the shopper’s remorse I dealt with. The Jansport bag I bought in Dubai has proven itself to be pure crap, time and time again. I knew I should have just bought a finer looking, more sizable purchase as it literally was painstaking to deal with, this time in regards to the circulation it was cutting off while I carried my stuff through the metro to 김포공항 (Gimpo Airport). I sweated bullets in the air conditioning. Yeah, no. Not going to deal with that crap. As soon as I went through the security clearance (also way better than TSA), I went to the duty free area to give into the man and purchase something more reliable albeit costly—Samsonite, you won’t let me down, will you? Thus far, I’ve been satisfied (also it’s super fun to glide on).
Anyway, woah! Japan! Excitement kept me going throughout the day. Even with the short flight to 関西國際空港 (칸사이공항, Kansai International Airport), I knocked out easily. Fortunately, the Japan Airlines crew thought I should get some sushi in my system. Why, thank you!
Upon landing, I immediately did the whole currency conversion thing and decided to purchase wifi so I could survive in 日本 (일번, Japan) without knowing any 日本語 (일번어, Japanese). Now, I am aware that Japan is a relatively costly country, especially when compared to Korea, but the costs of things seem somewhat criminal. The wifi was quite a pretty penny. I had hoped this feeling wouldn’t be recurring but as the trip progressed, I couldn’t escape the comparison game.
So I met my first ever AirBnB host, Alicia, for the 大坂 (오사카, Osaka) leg of my trip at 大坂駅 (오사카역, Osaka Station). It took a bit to get there but I was already antsy to explore a bit. However, she needed to meet this sound engineer for a while now so we ended up sitting outside of Starbucks for a good hour. If you guessed Mahir was slightly irked, you hit the jackpot. Admittedly, the meeting did sound important to her interests with music (specifically heavy metal) and the work he does. However, I only had a few days in each place I planned on visiting through Japan, every moment in my mind counted heavily.
The meeting finished up and we went down to toss my stuff into a coin locker (¥700 for the slightly larger one) and we headed off to 心斎橋 (신사이바시, Shinsaibashi). The area reminded me that a ton of people live in/visit Japan as we moved in a shuffled pace through the crowd. It was cool though to see all the lights attempting to blind me, though. We came up to 恵比寿橋 (에비스 다리/Ebisu Bridge) and stopped to see the stream lit by all the lanterns along 道頓堀 (도톤보리/Dotonbori Canal).
There’s happen to be a super convenience/everything store in Japan called ドン·キホーテ (던키호테, Don Quixote). I never knew Cervantes claim to fame would be used by Wal-Mart’s twisted cousin. The store had regular things from toiletries, apparel, and food stuffs to intriguing items such as hentai, cosplay, and limited edition foods, my description doesn’t do the place justice, but I also believe my blog should maintain a certain level of discretion to not taint the reader’s mind. Basically, there will be a lot of discretion while I’m in Japan as I discovered what the buildings next to Don Quixote were used for.
Visiting アメリカ村 (아메리카-무라, Ame-mura) at night has two vibes to it at the same time—dead and alive. All the shopping has closed down for the evening right before 9. However, all these shady clubs and corners have a few folks inhaling cigarette smoke all around.
So I refocused my intentions on the one thing I wanted to get done before knocking out for my first day—my first meal, お好み焼き (오코노미야키, okonomiyaki). We headed over to 呪詛 (주소, Juso) after picking up my things from Osaka Station and went down to this little corner shop to get okonomiyaki.
I went a little overboard with having a fried egg and a layer of cheese between it and the okonomiyaki but after a long day of travel, I would consider it a just reward. My stomach at least did.
Day 2
I woke up to discover I only had 15 hours left to complete the ice bucket challenge. Thanks, Jeremy. I couldn’t have been challenged while in Korea? The end goal of the day became a mission to get ice and a bucket just in time to have satisfied the time limit. No problem.
Out and about, I grabbed some おにぎり (주먹밥, onigiri) and juice from a convenience store for breakfast before hopping on the train over to 四天王寺 (시텐노지사, Shitennoji Temple), the first Buddhist and oldest officially administered temple in Japan. Despite all that glory that lies within Shitennoji, I felt a little distraught seeing the amount of tourist accommodations that surrounded the place and the amount of vendors that were allowed to make use of the temple space. Sure, I was glad to see people took time out of their day to visit the temple but the amount of people that flooded the place bothered me. I hate to also be that guy that criticizes what other folks wear especially since I’m not the most devout person myself, but some of the attire worn by both Japanese and tourists alike felt rather inappropriate inside temple grounds.
Not feeling so pleased with my first temple visit, I left rather quickly. The quietest area of the temple was the graveyard, the only area people had the decency to not pollute. Although Google Maps was a bane in Korea, it was quite resourceful in Japan. It guided me through scenic, peaceful back alleys everywhere I needed to go so I could actually hear birds chirping and feel the breeze flowing through the alleys. On my route over to 新世界 (신세카이, Shiseikai), I ended stopping by a smaller temple, 興禅寺 (교젠사, Kenzoji), where you could actually find people praying or practicing their meditation. Overjoyed, I quickly placed my things aside to make use of the outdoor shrine. After a relaxing 20 minute sit, I felt warmer towards Osaka and continued on my way.
After a brief stop to check out 通天閣 (츠텐카쿠/Tsutenkaku), I entered Shinsekai, a district that was developed before WWII and then neglected in the decades afterwards. Outside all the little shops, eateries, and arcades, street vendors of all trades occupied the space amongst the visitors. I came to the area for its finest treat, 串カツ (쿠시가추, kushikatsu). Although the skewered goodies I ended up having were extremely satisfying, the wait for the place took a solid forty minutes out of my life.
With a full stomach, I headed over to 大阪城 (오사카 성, Osaka Castle), widely known as an emblem of the power and fortune of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. The park had folks in every little corner, but all the corners were also accompanied with smaller attractions and rest areas. Makes sense that it happened to be the most visited landmark of Osaka.
Not wanting to give into the tourists ways I decided to leave the castle to explore the rest of the park. The decision turned out rather well as some locals allowed me to play with their dogs briefly. (Side note: Unlike Korea, big dogs are about as common as small dogs; a big plus for Japan in my book.)
After destroying some soft serve, I headed over to the neighborhood of 中崎町 (나카자키초, Nakazakicho), a place preserved in time since it did suffer the damage during WWII bombing. At first, I felt the area looked like most other parts of Osaka, but after walking in a few streets deeper, I realized that the place indeed gave off the vibe of another time. Along with all the old timey homes, little independent coffee shops littered the area. Truly, an ideal destination for the hipster.
The further west I walked, the closer I got or the Umeda/Osaka Stations’ area. Prime time to grab some dinner. Thanks to some online research, a good place to go for some that loves both Japanese food and chicken, 鳥貴族 (토리키조쿠, Torikizoku) gives you all that and more. A tad more expensive than the kushikatsu place I went, the place is still incredibly cheap by Japanese standards; every dish and every drink was ¥280. However, all these prices in Japan, just made me miss the wonderfulness of Korean prices that never hurt your wallet.
At the 13th floor of the Hankyu Umeda Station, one can visit Osaka’s ポケモンセンター (포케몬 센터, Pokémon Center). In the Pokémon Center, things are always turnt as kids and adults were going crazy peer the Pokémon product galore. Essentially, all my shopping in Japan started and ended here. No shame.
My final mission for the evening was to view the Osaka skyline from one of its coolest buildings, 梅田スカイビル (우메다 스카이 빌딩, Umeda Sky Building). The two forty story buildings were built first and then the bridge portion was built as a whole and then raised up to connect the two buildings. I guess visiting this architectural feat was one of the cheapest activities one could do at only ¥700. Getting there was a bit of challenge under he rain that brought hell down on me but I managed to get to the top after the rain stopped. All I have to say is that Osaka is pretty darn cool.
