Japan Diaries [Day 12]

Day 12 [October 7th]

* Sadly, today is our last full day in Japan. After a filling breakfast (early; have to make the most of those hotel coupons :P), we load up our luggage and head to Kyoto Station, via Shijo Station. Now, it’s only 30km between Kyoto and Osaka, the next city on our trip, but we decide to shell out and have one last shinkansen experience. It is great to spread out in the space, and the trip takes about 15-20min by train. Indulgent ;)

* Arriving into Osaka Station is almost like being in Tokyo Station again. After an absence of crowds in Kyoto, the contrast hits sharply. My heart leaps at the thought of being in another big, bustling city. Sure enough, I am right! In a roundabout way, we eventually find our hotel (it looks very posh, even though it’s still part of the same chain we stayed at while in Tokyo) but cannot check in for five hours. However, it doesn’t phase us this time, as we planned on staying out during the day/night anyway. So we simply leave our luggage at the hotel and head out to explore!

* A parent from my Kinder has provided me with a few notes of ‘things to do and see’ while in Osaka (she and her husband lived there for two years before heading back to Australia to raise their children), so this is very helpful. Sadly though, many of the bigger things require more time – and time is something we haven’t got the privilege of anymore (ie, Universal Studios, Osaka Aquarium). So we’re content with exploring the city on foot. It is Sunday lunchtime, and there are crowds EVERYWHERE! We’re swept up in the masses and find ourselves in covered arcades, over bridges, narrow laneways, and more.

* We try takoyaki (octopus balls, kind of like dumplings) for lunch, which are a speciality of Osaka. There are lots of takoyaki stalls lining city streets, and we choose one with a big line of people waiting (if the locals approve, I’m more than happy to try!). The dish looks nice and has a nice taste, but I have trouble dealing with the texture – the barely cooked egg-white turns my stomach a little bit (especially seeing as though I’m dealing with period cramps and nausea today). However, Matt gobbles them down and he really liked them. I wonder if I would have too on a different day?

* Our walking takes us to DenDen Town (Osaka’s electrical district, their equivalent of Akihabara), which is crammed full of gaming, anime, electrical goods and more – considering the weather is starting to turn (get overcast), it’s nice to hang around in some different stores and have a good look around. Matt buys figurines for some of his friends, and we somehow end up in a ‘questionable’ store that has fairly hardcore hentai mixed with regular anime merchandise (we quietly decide to leave once realising!).

* Matt pleadingly gives me puppy-dog eyes when wandering past a beer café in the early evening, so we stop there for dinner. It turns out to be more like a restaurant, luckily – but Matt gets to try several ‘Kirin’ beers. The staff here are all enthusiastic and get excited about trying out their English on us (lol), which in turn gets us laughing. The food is Japanese take on Western salads, meat and bar food – small portions but perfect for sharing! We load up on red meat and salad, with delicious (undecipherable) dressings! We later get lost (badly) on our way back to the train station – oops! Still, we manage to find an awesome department store (LOFT; which seemed almost like a ‘Target’ in Australia). I see many furniture, toys, accessories and scrapbooking materials that I want to take back to Australia, but Matt bans me from buying any *wipes a tear from eye*. However, he’s probably right – my luggage is packed to capacity and I have $10(AU) left in my wallet, being a weekend I can’t pull any money out of an ATM anyway! So reluctantly I let it all stay in the store, with the hopes I’ll be back again someday… and when I do, this store had better still be here!)