Wandering in Osaka

Sitting in the "lounge" of the business hotel-turned-backpacker hostel that I'm staying at tonight in Osaka, glad that I've found another place with free, fast internet! When I first arrived here, I had one of those "what are you getting yourself into/you're too cheap for your own good" moments, as the district that this hotel is located in is equivalent to SF's Civic Center. Oops. But for 2,550 yen, it's relatively clean; I've got my laundry drying in the coin laundry room right now, and am sitting at a computer with free internet... and am actually staying on a women's only floor, with other folks and travelers my age. Glad it's turning out well.

I awoke this morning at that "throwback" ryokan in Nara, enjoying a real Japanese breakfast in the dining room downstairs and watching the raindrops fall in the garden in the middle of the inn. After that experience with Japanese breakfast in Tokyo, I wasn't quite sure what to expect - but this time the egg was cooked, and everything went over beautifully.

Walked in the rain (with my new umbrella!) to the JR station, where I immediately caught a train to Osaka. The journey took about 1/2 hour (the cities in Kansai - Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, Osaka - are all relatively close) and I arrived at a very busy, very big JR Osaka Station. Where I proceeded to walk myself in circles just trying to find the Tourist Information Center. Once I did, though, I was set, and headed to Osaka-jo Castle in eastern Osaka.

Osaka-jo was built in the 1500s by the man who united Japan, and was the site of a battle that saw his son and wife die in suicide by fire, and his other sons and family members committing ritual suicide with them. Japanese history seems to be just as violent as any other country's history, particularly because the rulers feared revolt. The ruler who united Japan, after having been borne a son by blood, ordered his adopted sons and their mothers executed. Scary stuff.

Osaka-jo Castle is well fortified, with a moat and several retaining walls leading up to the white castle atop the hill. Inside, there's a very modern, bilingual exhibit discussing the history of the site and displaying various armors, helmets, and swords from the time period.

Osaka is a major port city, the capital of this region of Japan. And thus it's a huge, sprawling city,

with lots of shopping/entertainment districts connected by subways and waterways. It's famous for its laidback native Osakans, and two dishes: okonomiyaki and takoyaki (the latter is fried wheat/gluten balls with little pieces of octopus inside.) One of my favorite features of the Osaka skyline is the famous Shin-Umeda building, near the Osaka JR Station. It rises 40 stories above the city, and - this is what the brochure states - has a "floating garden" atop the observatory. "Floating garden!" Marisa thinks, getting excited. Too bad, after I paid my 700 yen, that there actually wasn't a garden on top of the building... nevertheless, the views were good and I could see why this would be a great place to visit on a warm day at dusk.

After checking into my hotel, I went to meet Shino, a friend of a friend who recently moved here to Osaka. We met up at a subway station about three stops north of my hotel - and boy, have I ever been happy to meet someone! Shino's pretty fluent in English, so it was such a relief to have a real English conversation with someone after five days of traveling on my own. Gets a little lonely here on the road...

She walked me through the busy streets of the Shinsaibashi shopping district, and made a quick stop at a shrine where you could "water" a statue for good luck. Think of it as a big, good luck Chia pet (yeah, that's a little sacreligious to call the shrine that, but essentially that's how it works!) I threw my 5 yen into the coffers and watered away. We then walked around the corner to a famous okonomiyaki restaurant, where we chatted over dinner, stuffing ourselves full of okonomiyaki and yakisoba. Afterwards, we walked around the streets some more, stopping in to observe a pachinko parlor (though Shino wouldn't let me play, as money can run through your fingers like water in pachinko.*) Instead we went to an arcade, where we found a fancy photo booth... and after about ten minutes of figuring out how to use it, took some photos and decorated them - all using the computer! I'll have to revisit one of those machines, as the whole thing was really quite cool. You can caption them with kooky English sayings, decorate them with hamster icons, or even write on them yourself.

Anyhoo, back at the hotel for the evening... laundry's about done, so it's time to be off. Am planning to watch more Japanese television tonight, as I sat glued to the screen at the ryokan in Nara. The variety shows are a kicker -- yesterday's featured a segment about how they wash and process those little handtowels that you get before each meal!

* Note that I thought that pachinko would be like those ones that you'd see in movies, or like that thing in the California lottery or on The Price Is Right - with the pegs from top to bottom, and balls bouncing off each peg until it got to the bottom. No longer, as pachinko has gone high tech -- they're virtually like slot machines now, with video screens and themes and all kinds of crazy scoring systems.