Osaka - My first blog!

Wow, look at me all 21st century!

Well, here goes I guess...I'm now in Kyoto, but let's start from the very beginning... in Osaka.

On Sunday July 1st we set off from a usual grey-morning-y Manchester to fly to my all-time-can't-remember-not-longing-to-go destination... Japan. Qatar Airways (a poor man's Emirates) took us to Osaka, via Doha, and we finally landed in Japan on Monday afternoon, 8 time zones to the right (we're ahead of you, if you're confused). After being a little bit put out that my backpack weighed 3kg more than Ant's (consider the fact that he probably weighs about 20kg more than me...), I slung it on my back and we headed for the train. Japan (in the 8 days that I have experienced it) has an excellent train system and we haven't had to use the bus or a taxi once. The worst thing I find about buses in foreign countries is the problem of do-you-get-on-at-the-front-or-the-back? Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?? By the way, I THINK you get on in the middle here, and off at the front. There is no back, just to confuse matters.

So we got to Osaka without further incident and checked into Hotel Chuo, in the Tenno-ji district. We had been warned that the area was a bit dodgy, hookers, homeless people etc but to be honest, like most people here say, IT'S JAPAN. It's never dodgy. We went up to our room, which was a traditional Japanese room, 4 1/2 tatami (traditional straw) mats big. That's not very big for those who don't know their tatami... We got our futons out of the wardrobe, made our beds, donned our yukata (cross between kimono & dressing gown) & house slippers and were ready to roll! After changing & going for dinner at an okonomiyaki (iron hotplate in the middle of the table, you order, they slap it on the hotplate and then you eat), we slept like babies.

Osaka doesn't have a lot to offer the new tourist in town, but there were quite a few places that we enjoyed. Dotombori is an area described as 'very Bladerunner' - all huge neon signs and dystopian chaos. Wicked. There were loads of restaurants out there, but we headed for one where the locals were queueing. It was a vending machine that dispensed tickets for either: noodles with pork OR noodles with more pork. You then handed your ticket to the guy behind the counter who dished out the noodles and the appropriate amount of pork and gave it you. Huh. It was okay, surprisingly. We even went back a few nights later. Other nights we mostly frequented a new favourite - a kaitenzushi - a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, just like Yo Sushi! Yum yum. We found one here in Kyoto last night, but it wasn't as nice :-(

Anyway, in Osaka we went to Minami (Japanese for south) which contains Dotombori, Den Den Town (all electrical gadgets shops - nerd alert!) and Amerika-Mura (America Village) which is where all the trendies hang out - it is extremely unlike the America I know of, but they all seemed happy enough. Kita (Japanese for north) is where everyone works in their office jobs in cubicles (the karaoke and sake seem to take away the pain!) so there's not much to see. We did go the Umeda Sky Building, 'Osaka's most dramatic piece of modern architecture', which is a huge office building, compared to the Arc de Triomphe because it's an arch. That's the only similarity. On the very top is an observation deck. You take the lift (almost) to the top, then the last five floors are climbed on a glassed-in escalator. Gulp. I clung on like nobody's business. We were on the floor below admiring the view (before you head to the open-air observation deck) & THEY CLOSED IT. So we never got to the observation deck. Gutted. Pah, the weather wasn't great that day anyway...

On another day, we went to Osaka-Jo (Osaka Castle). '100,000 workers toiled for three years to construct an 'impregnable' castle.' It was destroyed 32 years later. Oops. So they built it again. they do that a lot here, build things again, as they used to make everything out of wood but pesky fires would mean they had to start all over again. Oh well.

Anyway, that's all I have to report on Osaka. They have a LOT of vending machines (drinks - not usually water - cigarettes and that's about it). There are thousands of bikes. Everywhere. If I think of anything else I'll let you know. We've also been to Nara and are on our first (full) day in Kyoto, but I'll leave that to another day...

Sayonara...