Thursday April 21, 2011
After my friend got home from work last night (he is an English teacher and does private lessons each day that get him home between 8 and 9 pm each night), we headed to Namba town for dinner. His daughter was not feeling well so his wife stayed home. I had seen Namba during the day with its 3 miles of shopping malls and knew the strip would light up at night to be a fun place.
I was not mistaken as the neon signs glowed from every shop and street corner with advertising, karaoke, clubs, restaurants and more. We were going to have a sushi dinner night and started at what looked like a super local joint with the traditional style of the sushi being made right behind the counter you are sitting in. I won’t lie…the sushi was really good. Now sushi in the US and Australia has been altered and the traditional type of sushi is simply raw fish and rice wrapped in seaweed. We ate cheek tuna and salmon, as well as egg. Adam said this place was really good quality sushi and he should have taken me to it last since the next sushi place we were going to try was a “sushi train” type restaurant. These types of sushi train restaurants are typically cheaper and after our first place, I could definitely tell the quality of sushi was different by looking at the cuts of fish. It was still fun though….
I’m lucky to have a lot of my questions answered by Adam since he’s lived here for 11 years now and I know I will continue asking questions to my other friends that I stay with during my trip in Japan. I asked about prostitution….and he said that there’s certain levels of it that progress. For example, there is a bar where there are girls that will sit and talk to you, then another place where it goes a little further and they are topless, and you get the idea with the continuation of levels. There is a house near the apartment that is on the corner and stunning too….when I asked about it, both Adam and Yorioko smiled and looked at each other knowingly answering that it was owned by the Japanese mafia??!!! Yes! They are existent and the police never touch them simply because it has been a tradition that they have been here for centuries! They run everything from normal business shops, restaurants to the trades that are illegal!
After dinner we headed to his friend’s bar that was on the 4th floor of one of thousands of buildings in the Namba area. Its amazing because Adam says there are bars like this all over the city and I just wonder how you find places like that but I guess its when you have a friend of a friend of a friend that knows the place and shows you and the cycle continues to keep the joint running. The bar was really cool and we ended up staying there talking story with some of the people in there and the bartender/owner.
We got a cab back home at around 3am about 10 minutes away and I noticed that all the cab drivers are elderly men (seriously looking like in their 60s and 70s) who are dressed very well in suits and their cars are immaculately polished and clean. The late night meant I woke up late as well at 10am and my plan to head to another district called Umeda was quickly getting dismissed as I ate a late brunch, met Yorioko’s mother who came over and took a nap with baby Tiffany who was still a little bit sick so didn’t go to school. After the nap, I finally got the motivation to head out and it was definitely a warmer day than the last two…..sunny as well! Umeda is a very busy station known as a real travel hub. I am starting to get a feel for all their train lines and learning how to buy a ticket from the machine. To do so, you have to work out on the map how much your ticket will cost and then insert your money first. I try to ask station staff and they have so far been so helpful with good English. Umeda---like I said, a huge hub and that meant sooo many people (plus I think it was people going home from work and school). So many retail shopping stores again which to be honest, quickly got old for me. The sales assistants were sooo incredibly beautiful dolled up as every just like their female customers. I am continually impressed! This shopping complex had a ferris wheel on the top (9th floor) so I headed up there to check out the view.
I walked and walked and walked around enjoying the green trees planted around the giant buildings to add some ambience at least to the area. I then headed over to “The Floating Garden”, and this is a building 36 floors high with an observation deck. There are two buildings and they are joined by a walkway at the 33rd floor. I didn’t want to pay the observation deck fee plus it was getting late so I just took the elevator for a ride and the incredible view and then checked out the gift store up top before coming back down. There is a restaurant at the observatory, which I could imagine is a popular place for couples. It was not busy at all though during my time there. The view made me realize even more how big Osaka is…and I haven’t even been to Tokyo yet!!!!
I found a bathroom in the bottom floor of the building and again was baffled in delight with the whole contraption. Next time, I want to take a video. This was a public toilet and super clean! I decided to just press all the buttons for fun. There is a voice that talks to you in Japanese and I have no idea what she is saying. I think I got the hang of the whole thing and am understanding the controls now too. So, to start of you walk into the cubicle, you can clean the seat with this sanitizer that is dispensed. Adam also says there are some home toilets that will sensor your entrance into the area and lift the toilet seat up for you! Ok, so after sterilization, you can warm the seat up with a temperature control, you do your thing and you can put a waterfall sound on during this time, then you wave a sensor to flush the toilet. You can then get your bottom washed with a water that sprays up, then you can dry the area, and then spray a fragrance in the air….pretty impressive right!!!!! I think I’ll just end up going into toilets now without even needing to goJ
The train ride home was easy as well and pretty busy. Adam says that there are actually people hired to push and pack the people onto the train in the mornings during rush hour! The school children’s uniforms are soooo smart and adorable – I just want to make them into figurines and want to try and take some photos of them without looking like a creepo! Hahaha! We had home made pizza for dinner and I think I will try and head to bed at a decent hour tonight so I can waker up earlier and plan a trip out to Kyoto or Nara tomorrow!
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