Osaka

I woke up at the Osaka Nagai Municipal Youth Hostel. After a few errands, I set out for Osaka-jo (castle) by train. After getting off the train, as I was walking toward the castle, I met a Korean woman, maybe 60 years old. She was in Japan sightseeing, just like me. She spoke no English, but she did speak Japanese, probably better than me. We walked together and chatted (in Japanese) for quite a while. I was quite enchanted by the idea of speaking Japanese necessarily with a Korean person. I never did get her name, but somebody later said her name might be Minami.

As we walked, we ran into a group of middle school students who were visiting the castle on a class trip. We talked quite a bit.

This photograph shows the group of middle school students with Minami and me on the left.

We all stayed together for most of our tour through Osaka-jo. There was an elaborate museum inside complete with holographic movies. (Well, they weren't holograms exactly, but they looked like holographs. Anyway....) The castle was very beautiful. It was built beginning in 1583 by Hideyoshi Toyotomi. It was destroyed completely in 1615 and restored in stages since then. Currently, everything looks pristine. At the top of the castle, you can look out over Osaka. It's quite a sight.

Here I am at the top.

After I left the castle, I wasn't sure where to go. I just got on a train and got off at a stop where lots of other people were getting off, thinking it would be an exciting place. It wasn't. I sat down and read my guidebook. As I was reading, I met Tatsu. He prefers to be called "Tats". Tats works at a nearby English school as a manager. Like many Japanese people I met, he says he likes to drink alcohol. He was about to ride his motorcycle home when he stopped and offered me assistance. He had previously lived in Australia, so he spoke excellent English. I wanted to go to a famous Osaka comedy club and/or eat some famous Osaka food. He suggested I go to the Namba area. We had quite a nice conversation standing there in a parking lot.

Tats took my photograph with his cell phone and emailed it to me. (This feature is on practically all cell phones in Japan. It is definitely not just a geek toy.) This is the photo he took.

On Tats' advice, I headed for the Namba area. I didn't take pictures, but there is a link below to someone else's vacation page with some good pictures of Namba. Namba is a big business district with lots of bright lights. It is typical of Japanese big cities. I wandered into an adult entertainment district where I found many clubs advertising time with girls for about ¥12000 per hour (US $104), in increments of 10 minutes. There were men on the street trying to persuade passers by to come in for some enjoyment. If you search Google for "Osaka Namba", the 9th item that comes up is a porn site. Needless to say, I soon left that street. I did try for a while to find a certain famous adult vending machine but I was unsuccessful. Getting out of Namba was a challenge. I was lost. I asked for directions a few times, but the people I talked to just said it was complicated and far. So, it took me a couple hours to get back to the hostel.

I stayed at the Osaka Nagai Municipal Youth Hostel again. I squeaked in 2 minutes before the curfew.