Osaka Adventure Day 3

This day, I retired my hiking boots.  They've been with me for thirteen years, which is more than I can say for a lot of things I own.  I've worn them for girl scout camp (their original purpose), yard work, snow, vacations, climbing (part of) Mt. Fuji, and more.  One of the laces snapped (rotted) a few months ago and the insoles are worn way down.  The inside is chewed for years of on-and-off wear.  I asked the people at the hostel if I could leave them there or if I should take them with me.  Here is their last picture.

Goodbye, boots.  You were probably the best shoes to ever come out of a Walmart.

Cosplay event day!  After my fond farewell to my boots, we headed toward ATC Hall, out past the aquarium on right on the harbor.  Japan seems to like to have such event halls on such places.  It's the same in Nagoya and Tokyo.

I only took pictures of two other groups the whole day because it's KINDA REALLY AWKWARD.  But I really liked this Psycho Pass group.  ^o^/

I was Mori Ranmaru from Gakuen BASARA, a spin-off of Sengoku BASARA, and Ashley was Kasuga.

Have some pictures.

At one point, we were getting out of the elevator and the people getting in made me do a double-take.  OMGGGGGGGGGGGgg some cosplayers I've watched online for yearsssssssss.  *A*  I'm a big fan of theirs.  I guess they live in Osaka, but I was thinking Tokyo, so I never expected to see them.  I was pretty sure it was them, but it had been such a brief glance, I wasn't positive.  I dragged poor Ashley around to try to find them.  Alas, the venue was too large to look properly, but after as complete a sweep as I could manage, we went back to change out and head home.

THEY WALKED INTO THE CHANGING AREA A FEW MINUTES LATERRRRR.  I tried to confirm my suspicions without being too creepy.  I probably failed.//orz  I changed super fast.  My plan was to wait outside CASUALLY to ask for their photo when they tried to go to the elevator. MAUH HA HAAA.

SUCCESS.

IT WAS THEM.

I tried not to fangirl too hard, but failed in that.  I told them I was a fan.  I think they didn't really know what to do about that, but were sweet and let me take a couple of pictures.  I asked if we could exchange cards, and when I was offered the choice of the two by one of them, the other said to just give me both.

Ashley was laughing at me basically the whole time.  WHATEVER.  I WAS EXCITED, OKAY?

Time to head home.  We ate okonomiyaki at Shin-Osaka station.  It was pretty yummy.

I learned that if you buy a round-trip ticket for Shinkansen, it's cheaper than buying two one-way tickets. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT EARLIERRRRR.  We parted ways and hopped on our respective trains.  I ended up on Kodama (the slowest) because it was leaving first, and to wait for a faster train would have negated most of the time I would save.

At my home station, it was dark and cold and I reeeeally didn't feel like walking home, so I grabbed one of the cabs that always sits outside the station.  I didn't know how to claely explain where I live and I don't have my address memorized, so I just had him drop me off at the city hall. Expensive~~~  It was a really quick trip and it cost 750!  It's 650 for 1.5k, then they add on.  So you can see how close it was, but still so expensive.  I walked the last bit.

THE END

Osaka Adventure Day 2

Despite good intentions to get up and out, it took a little while longer than we planned to get out of our warm futons.  Eventually, we made it happen (sheer willpower!) and made our way up and out.  My hiking boots were rubbing my heels the day before, so I opted for my Chucks.  Either way seemed like a bad decision.  Turns out I bought the shoes half a size too small and they were rubbing, too.  Obviously, there was a reason I always bout the size 6 shoes.  Booooo.

First stop was the castle!  We walked from our hostel and it only took around twenty minutes to get there.  The castle walls involve the use of some absolutely insanely huge stones, and these are marked by signs that tell you if it's the fourth largest stone or whatever.  It boggles the mind how these could have been moved and installed here.  The trick was later revealed.  The huge stones are actually quite thin, and are stood up in front of other stones to look scary and imposing.  Good job.  It works.

We got into the castle tower area, and I got my camera out for a picture... to realize I'd left my memory card in my computer at the hostel!!  //orz

Luckily, there was a small shop next to a gift shop that sold memory cards.  I'd been wanting another one anyway, I guess.  And they had the SWEETEST doggie outside.  Her name is Ayako and she's a doll~  We asked if we could pet her.  I guess others who see her are afraid of her size, but being from dog-loving families, we gave her a good petting.  Even a belly rub!  <3  Her owner got her to sit and put a treat on her nose.  On command, she flipped her head and tried to catch the snack.  Failure.  She succeeded on the second try.  <3 <3 <3

Go to Japan --> take pictures of dogs

Camera primed, we took a few pictures of the castle before heading into the tower.

The long line on the left was for people waiting for the elevator because they're lazy.  The empty path to the right was for people who just wanted to get the heck in side and led to the stairs.  Inside is a museum like most others.  It's got some artifacts, some reproductions.  You can try on kabuto (helmets) and overcoat replicas of those owned by important people in the history of the castle, but it costs extra and we passed.  It was rather busy.  We completely skipped the floor of 3D projected video dioramas.  I don't really know what to call those.  I think they're nifty, but you have to watch them in order and there's a bunch of them.  Or course, Japanese-only, which makes it even more difficult.

The top look-out area was really windy!  I took some pictures of the view and Ashley tried to make people look like ants with a setting on her camera.  To each their own.

I got a necklace in the giftshop.  It's got the Oda family crest on it.  Now I can match my phone.  Huzzah.  #nerdlife

Back outside for a few more pictures, exploring the other gift shops, and saying goodbye to Ayako.  Ayako jumped up on Ashley's front, successfully covering her with white hair all over her navy blue coat.  JUST AS PLANNED, I'm sure.  We were laughing and the owner looked rather horrified that she had jumped on someone.

Everyone else was eating takoyaki, but I got a stick of dango instead.  ^_^

Parting shot of the castle.

With the sun shining, it didn't feel quite so cold, and we were peer-pressured into getting ice cream by the abundance of people around us who were enjoying some themselves.  There were no strange or seasonal flavors to be had, so I got a simple green-tea/vanilla twist, or 'macha mix'.  Yummers.

Stop judging me for eating only junk food.  I didn't even realize it until I wrote this.

Next stop was Shinsaibashi to find Amerika-mura and the Mandarake store there, full of nerdy goodness.  We hopped the subway, using our handy-dandy day-passes, and popped out the other side.  It turned out Ashley had been to that area in January, so she conveniently knew where we were going.  I loved the sign posts in Amemura!!  At first, I thought they were lamps, but they seemed to be more for ads than lamps or signs associated with the store they were in front of.  Some were painted with different designs, but all were shaped like those anatomical figurines you can get for art.

Not the best picture, but you can see one here.

Oh hi, there.

We wandered in a shop with visual-kei type clothing and peeked around before leaving.  Ashley strongly desired Starbucks, so we went in to use their facilities and get a drink.  I'm just realizing this as I write, but completely forgetting that I had just eaten a green-tea flavored ice cream cone, I got a green tea frappuccino.  XD  I don't go to Starbucks often and I've been meaning to try one before I leave.  So more green tea for me.  XD

I keep forgetting which places have American sizes and which places have Japanese sizes.  I usually order the wrong one.

The quest for Mandarake wasn't going well.  Part of the problem, it turned out, was that I was thinking the name was Mandrake.  It's not.  Eventually, Ashley was able to locate it on her phone, and we found the big red building.  It was indeed full of figurines, self-published comics (bought some) and all sorts of fan... junk.  XD  On the top floor, adjacent to the cosplay and adult areas, they had a room full of bins of ...stuff.  Anything in the bins was 105yen.  Ohhhh boy.  We found some good deals.  I got a few things for myself, but more for friends.

It was getting late, so we had to boogie when we left.  We still wanted to go to DenDen Town and Dotombori.  Back to the train station, we headed to DenDen Town - the Akihabara of Osaka.  It's got lots of nerdy shops.  We ducked into K-Books, Animate, and some open-box figurine stores.  There was a wig store which looked good, but was too expensive.  I saw some people with Cospa bags, but didn't see the shop. I should have asked.  The Maple store was nice, but again, more than I want to pay for a wig.  We passed some maid cafes, but decided to not go in.  I like hanging out where the nerds are.  It always feels so genuine.  XD

Metal Gear Rising store-front at the PlayStation store.

There weren't as many nerdy billboards as Akiba has, but there was this Zaku...

The side of a Robotics;Notes themes cafe.  I kinda wanted to go in, but we had other things on the list and I didn't think Ashley was interested, since she hasn't seen the show.

Whenever you see pictures of Osaka, you always see a giant moving crab sign and an Glico running man sign.  Those are in Dotombori.  We made our way there and saw the crab right away!

I took some pictures and we kept walking.  ...another crab?!  The real one?!  I took more pictures.

I saw a small sign of the Glico running man outside a Glico candy shop.  ...surely this wasn't it... It looked so DIFFERENT online.

We stopped for dinner - carefully making the choice BASED ON THE BIG DRAGON ON THE SIDE OF THE BUILDING.  Well, and the the seats inside looked interesting.  And there was a bit of a line, which usually indicates either fame or quality.  Inside, you got a ticket from the machine, which offered two choices in four different languages - regular, or more pork.  I got the regular and asked for no pork.  You can add kimchi from the dishes at the counter where you pick up your bowl when your number is called.  The vending machines offer a wonderful selection of about 24 buttons of the same beer and one button of a variety of the same brand.  The ramen was rather flavorless and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't what I'd call good, either.  :<

It's the home store, according to the sign there.  We saw another smaller store as we walked on.

No chairs.  It was all tatami.  You could sit with your feet off to the side or take off your shoes and cross your legs.

Our ramen and my cup of kimchi.  Mediocre.  :I

It turns out that section of the street has lots of cool-looking building signs!

The takoyaki place kept playing a version of the Hallelujah Chorus with changed lyrics.

AND ANOTHER CRABBBBBBBBBBBBB.  They're all the same store.  This one was the biggest and apparently, the home store.  Surely, this was THE CRAB.

Just when I was about to ask someone where to find that dang running man because apparently, I hadn't done enough research, we turned down a street to cross a bridge and saw him.  YESSSSSS

I guess the bridge is famous, too.  Apparently, the Yebisu bridge is the one the Hanshin Tigers fans jump off of... I forget if it's when they win or lose.  Whichever one's uncommon.  I think it's when they win.  XD  I don't know how deep the river below is, so it seems pretty dangerous. <_<  Crazy people.

View over the other side of the bridge.

We did a bit of shopping in the adjacent arcade, then decided to call it a night.  I was interested in going to a video game-themed bar that sounded cool, but my feet hurt from wearing Chucks all day, and we were both tired.

Saw this sign on the way back.

EVERY TIME I saw one of these signs in a train station, I thought it was Bowser and it was an ad for a Mario game.  Oops.

Back at the hostel, Ashley made some last-minute adjustments to her cosplay for the next day. We then donned the sleeves she had divested her sweater of (to make it a vest), poured the umeshuu I'd bought at Cynthia's host family's store, and turned on some JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Classy ladies.

Osaka Adventure Day 1

I know I haven't finished with Taiwan yet, but I got lazy.  Is anyone surprised?  I know, right?

I got up at the usual time today and headed out for Osaka - once again walking to the station in the cold because I'm too cheap to park my car nearby for 500yen a day, though for a three-day trip, I could have managed.  IT'S GOOD EXERCISE.

In Hamamatsu, I somehow bought just half of my Shinkansen ticket - I THOUGHT it was less than half of what I expected!  The time it took to adjust that ate all my extra time at the station, so I wasn't able to buy the unagi pie I wanted to get for Ashley and Cynthia's host family.  Booo. I didn't get a seat on the train, either!  I stood from Hamamatsu to Nagoya (which only takes less than 30 minutes as a straight shot), but managed to get a seat for the rest of the trip.  I nodded off shortly after leaving Nagoya and when I woke up, there was snow outside!!  I know this isn't exciting for those of you getting dumped on at home now, but since it doesn't snow in Kosai, it's been a while for me.  Unfortunately, all that white fluffiness was gone before we reached Kyoto.

Once in Osaka, my goal was to get to my hostel and drop off my suitcase.  But first, Starbucks.  All right.  Then into the crummy maze of hallways, stairs, and escalators it takes to get to the subway.  >.<  So far, Osaka has the crappiest subway I've been on in Japan.  The stations are mazes, don't have convenience stores, and just feel meh.  The trains all have the same gross orange-colored upholstery which needs to be replaced.  That said, it's pretty convenient and there are lots of stations with lots of overlaps in the lines (which was Taipei's biggest flaw in their system, I think).

I didn't really have any trouble finding the hostel.  I wrote down directions with landmarks (convenience stores XD ) from what I saw on GoogleMaps, so that helped.  I was surprised to find that this hostel - called A La Maison - is actually owned by a Frenchman!  I assumed it was a Japanese person being 'international' or something.  haha~

I dropped off my suitcase, had a cup of tea, played with Vanilla the mini-poodle, then set off for my first destination: Sumiyoshi Taisha (it's a shrine).  More subway, then I took the tram to get the rest of the way there.

According  to Wiki (because Sumiyoshi Taisha didn't have any info booklets that I could see), the shrine's history dates back to 211AD and although it's not the oldest shrine to enshrine the three Sumiyoshi deities, it is the main one.  Walking in through the torii, there's this really rad bridge that is so steep, it has steps built onto it so people can walk over it.

This 'Power Spot' caught my eye.  If you find three stones with 'five,' 'big,' and 'power' written on them, you keep them for good luck.  Oh, and you're supposed to buy a special bag to put them into.  Of course.

I found them in pretty short order.  Although there were all kinds of different pebbles, I made sure to get three similar ones.  Because that kind of thing is important to me.  XD  I bought the pouch to put them in.

There's a bunny statue.  Notttt sure what it's for, but you're supposed to rub it.  I saw lots of people rubbing it,  but that was about it.  One lady rubbed the rabbit rather extensively, then rubbed her legs and back, so maybe it's supposed to help body pains or something?

The big bridge from a smaller side bridge.

Back onto the tram.  I like Hiroshima's trams better.

Next on the list was Shitennoji, which is a Bhuddhist temple founded in 593.  I would like to quote the English textbooks here and note that it was founded by "Prince Shotoku in the Asuka Era".  I don't remember the rest of the sentence, but other than the fact the textbook it talking about a different temple (in nearby Nara), it pretty much fits.  Again, no English pamphlets, so all you're getting in pictures.

So as not to bore you with too many pictures of the outside of buildings, I didn't include all of them here.  Inside, to the left of the shorter building you see, there's a big hall with some beautiful Buddhas and very old paintings on the walls.  Of course, photography isn't allowed.

I went into the pagoda.  It's got a double-helix staircase for going up and down and each level has a bunch of little mini-pagodas that people have bought for prayers, I think.  You have to take your shoes off even though the stairs are obviously not old.  My feet got cold.  >.<  I wasn't the only one a bit sort of breath by the time I reached the top.  This would be a bear in the summer.

Those lanterns are all paid for by patrons.  Their names are written on them.

I assumed this was a side gate, but it's where the guardians are, so perhaps it's the proper front gate?

I know you're not supposed to take pictures of priests and priestesses at shrines and I imagine monks are the same way... no disrespect intended, sir.

The gravel around the buildings is raked into rows, but there were some places where the pattern was messed up.  It couldn't be people walking on it, so I wondered what could have happened.  Then I spied the culprits.

It irritates me when signs are like this, because it CLEARLY has a lot more to say than is translated.

That's about it for Shitennoji.  According to Wiki, it's the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan.  Due to age, wars, and various other happenings, the buildings are reconstructed as necessary, but always in the original style.

The hostel owner told me there was good kushi-katsu (fried food on a stick) to be had in Shin-Sekai, so although I was back and forth about whether to go or not, I headed that way.  His directions were vague, so it took me about half an hour and asking three people to head in the right direction.  The last person I checked with was a security guard outside a temple.  It seemed pretty big, so I asked the name of it after asking about Shin-Sekai.  He told me it's called Isshinji and that it's known for its BUDDHAS MADE FROM THE CREMATED REMAINS OF ITS PATRONS.  O_____________________________________________________O

You had me at 'Buddhas from dead people'.

Officially the most English I've seen in Osaka so far.

Coolest guardian statues evar.  Note: not made of people.

So... this is the hall with the Buddhas made of ashes of dead people.  I wasn't sure about going in.

At the sight of this I decided not to.  I really hate taking off my shoes because they're a pain to put back on.  I already took them off once to go up in that silly pagoda and certainly, photography wouldn't be allowed here, either.

The pamphlet is actually quite informative as to the history of the temple and the statues.  The temple was founded in 1185 and during the Battle of Osaka in the Sengoku period, the Tokugawa troops were headquartered there.  The first Okotsubutsu was made in 1887, using the remains of "some 150,000 personl laid to rest in the Isshinji Temple," and it was the first of its kind in the world.  In 1945, during "the War" as it was translated on one of the plaques, the temple suffered great losses under the air raids, so everything has been rebuilt since the 1950s.  Since the creation of the first one, they have made a statue every 10 years.  The first six were lost with the temple during the war, but the subsequent seven are on display.

I think it's a really interesting thing to do and I kind of get why they do it, but it kind of grosses me out.  Like I find the thought of someone's remains being made into a diamond to be gross but interesting and understandable.

I headed down the hill to find Shinsekai. The name means 'New World' but it's a sad shell of its former self and is almost a tourist trap for being a FORMER tourist trap.  It's interesting.

Anti-climactic first look.  It looked more exciting - or at least more colorful - online.

People lined up around the building for the kushi-katsu here.

As I got closer to the tower, I found more people and more color.  On the other side of it, I found lots of brightly-colored shops and balloon-like decorations on them.

Fun building decorations.

These looked like wood, but I don't think they actually were - that would be awfully heavy!

Sumo decorations on this one.

This fancy person could cut your hair.  OH OSAKA.  I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE.

A more exciting vantage from the other side of the street.

After trying really hard to find the area where my hostel guy said there was a good kushi-katsu place, I kinda gave up and went to a place that looked good.  The person there said they were full, would I like to go to their second shop?  Uh, okay.  So an employee led me a little way down the road to the secondary store.

Where I was the only customer.

Is this where they put the gaijin?

Once seated, I was given my sauce and cabbage.  <___________<

The multi-lingual menu with the strict ONLY DIP ONCE rule in the corner.  Their shirts said it too.  And he told me about five times there's a no double-dipping rule.

I ordered: (on the left, back to front) lotus root, onion
(on the right, back to front) mochi, Camembert cheese with blueberry sauce, eggplant, and mushroom
And I'll give a shout-out to my ginger ale back there.  HELLO.  YOU TASTED VERY AVERAGE.

 It was very yummy.  I got a bit more.

This is garlic, pumpkin, and some sort of small green peppers.

I mistakenly thought they'd DO something with the garlic.  However, it was just... garlic.  Hahahaha~~  As much as I love garlic, I normally don't just eat it outright like that.

The sun was setting and I wanted to visit Cynthia's host family's liquor store, even though I didn't have time to get the token gift I meant to take for them.  I found it just fine and bought a bottle of whatever the lady recommended for something sweet and easy to drink.  Then I got all awkward and asked if she was Ueda-san and said I was Cynthia's friend.  It was a brief conversation.  Not a bad one, but slightly awkward.  Then I took my pink umeshuu and left.

It was pretty and well-organized.  The staff lady was very helpful.  GO HERE.

After that, it was back to the hostel to wait on Ashley and start this.

The room.  It's quite cold.  The only source of warmth is the kotatsu.  We're currently planning on sleeping with our feet in the kotatsu and just nesting our upper bodies in our futons.  I like this plan.

I got this mostly done, then went to meet Ashley at the station.  Uhhh.  That's about it.  I'm not very awake now.  Tomorrow: Osaka Castle, DenDenTown, Dotomburi, Amerika-mura, and possibly other things.  Yaaay.  T__________________T

Time for bed.