Guitars, Cheese and Salami

Being a good a day as any, I have decided to start eating the massive salami and Pecorino cheese. 

 I wish I had an electric slicer. It'd be so much easier to cut some thin slices. 

 I was going to share it with the gf, but with the cold and the soothing glow from our new electric heater she fell asleep. 

 It won't be a problem though. There is still a LOT more to go to finish it. 

 Last night I looked up an old co-worker from a previous job. 

 He actually bought my very much missed Marshall stack. A few years ago he also packed up and left for Tokyo to teach English. That is one reason I was looking for him. The only problem now is that he is now studying visual arts in San Francisco! 

 Looking over his stuff on the internet made me realize that I have been wasting years not playing as much music as I should have.

  Before I left Brisbane I took this picture of my favourite guitars. 

 My absolute best guitar is the once pristine white Les Paul with gold pickups and pink binding. This guitar has mojo. Shame I had to leave them back home. 

 In class I asked students their New Year's resolutions this week and I told them mine was to learn Japanese. Now, I think to add to that is to play more guitar and record those songs in my head once and for all. 

 Later today we're going to head to Harajuku.

Where The Streets Have No Name.. Literally

One of my little irritations about Japan is the confusion with finding how to get somewhere. 

 By that I mean that most streets in Japan don't have street names, and if you think that is bad, they are numbered when they were built, NOT consecutively or logically. 

 Now normally I don't have anywhere specific to go, or my route is pretty well mapped out, but today I had in mind to take a detour to Shibuya to get my old "un-repairable" Swiss Military watch to what may be regarded as the best swiss watch repairer in Japan. 

 I left the apartment about an hour earlier to account for any problems. Lucky that I did, because I was wandering up and down those streets in total bewilderment. I asked about five people for directions and while I was in the general vicinity, I wasn't having much luck. 

 Finally I found it. There wasn't any sign in romanji or English. There was a small foyer with some japanese for the floor I was after. After going up the elevator to the third level, the room didn't even have a sign! It looked like some temporary office space. 

 Thankfully the assistant knew enough English to tell me the watch would take two weeks to overhaul and cost 15,000 yen. Not too bad. I had thought I'd be prepared to pay up to 20,000 yen before giving up to buy a new one. 

 For anyone that happens to need a swiss watch repaired, this is who they are - Taga Watch Service Centre, Mani Building 303, 37-10 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, TOKYO. 

 They are said to be the only watch repair technician in Japan approved by Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. 

 I'll be happy to get my watch back home. 

 For now it's "Mickey Time", a watch that I've had for about twenty years only requiring the occasional battery change and strap replacement that I can do myself. It's "old school" Mickey, not scary, modern "Michael Jackson" Mickey. 

 All I need now is time to get to work.

Raw Like Sushi

Last night I was reunited with the gf. 

 She had dinner with a classmate, so when I got back to Yotsuya I decided to make some curry risotto rice with vegetables and pork. 

 By the time I was almost done she came through the door and still had room for some of my dinner. 

 Today we slummed it, resting most of the day. 

 When we finally left the house we made our way to the Yotsuya library so I brought back those CDs I last had. In its place I borrowed Best of T-Rex and Nirvana, Nikka Costa (feat. Lenny Kravitz), and a Rolling Stone magazine. 

 We went into Shinjuku after that. There are a lot of clothing sales at the moment. The gf was looking for a new dress for a wedding she'll be going to in two weeks. I patiently tagged along. 

 On our way home we had sushi together for the first time. 

 Maybe it's strange after almost seven months in Japan for me to not have done it sooner. While none of the fish tasted bad, I still prefer to eat sushi in small doses. I'm just not used to eating fish raw.

This is some funny english from the menu. "We recommend this tasty tuna with BIG CONFIDENT!" and "semi fatty tuna", "mostly fatty tuna". I didn't think fish had fat. Yes, it was tasty.

Osaka Aquarium, Osaka-jo and Namba

For what was going to be my relaxing last day in Osaka, I did more than I expected. 

 I checked out of the hotel at 10am but still managed to not get myself out of Shin-Osaka until about 11:30am. 

 First, the original lockers I was looking for were already taken so I had to look somewhere else. It didn't take too long to do that. 

  Next, I had to decide where to go first. Finally over a free Maccas coffee and mama's biscuits I thought the Osaka Aquarium should be first off the list. 

 It looked to be the furthest out. I wanted to be as close to Shin-Osaka at then end of the day in case of any delays. A young station helper offered some great advice for cheaper travel. 

 Because I was going to the Osaka Aquarium, there is a combined subway and entry ticket for 2400 yen (the normal entry fee is 2000 yen). The other 400 yen is UNLIMITED subway trains for the day. Seeing that one way to there was 270 yen, this is a steal. 

 Also, it trashed my plan to walk to Umeda again. If it's this cheap I'd be an idiot wasting precious little time that I have left to look around.

  The Kaiyukan Aquarium as it's properly known, is in the Tempozan port area of Osaka. 

 It's other main attraction is (another) ferris wheel, claimed to be the largest one in the world. 

 With the rail pass it's possible to get a ticket on the wheel for 630 yen (as opposed to 700 yen), which almost tempted me to go for a spin, but again with not much time available to me, I passed on it.

The biggest surprise at the Aquarium was outside. 

 There were real penguins on show! It's a shame the gf wasn't here. She would have loved to see them. And yes, they all had happy feet.

The place was packed so it was hard at times to see all the exhibits clearly. There's something about Aquariums that I find really peaceful, watching fish go around in circles over and over again. Fish have uncomplicated lives. 

 I was probably there longer than I should, but I was well ahead of schedule still. I even managed to squeeze yet another Maccas coffee there while I MSN'd on my phone with my mama in Australia.

So, next on the itinerary I decided to check out Osaka-jo. 

 Up close the castle doesn't look too bad, but it's nowhere near as impressive as the majestic Himeji-jo. Still, it's possible to get into the castle grounds up real close for nothing. It's only charged on entry to the building. 

 After checking out the castle from every (outside) angle it started to get dark so I made my way back to the station in search of Den Den Town, Osaka's Akihabara. 

 I got out at Nipponbashi station, but for some reason I couldn't seem to locate it. I was getting disorientated somehow ending up in Doguya-suji arcade (not much there) and Namba. 

 Namba was interesting. I wish I had a bit more time to check it out properly. Lots of interesting shops.

 With little time left and for something different (well, not really), I went to Yoshinoya for some Gyu-don (beef over rice). 

 After that I finally found the Namba subway station to go directly back to Shin-Osaka on the Mido-suji line. I say directly, but for some unknown reason the train's final stop was Nakatsu, two stops before mine. 

 I got off the train and waited patiently for the next train. After getting my luggage I was at the platform with an easy twenty minutes to spare. 

 The train left at 7:10pm and arrived at Tokyo station about 9:46pm. I watched "The Descent" on my laptop. It's not a bad film, a few genuine scares but only a rental I think. Good, not great. 

 Unloading my suitcase is taking a while. This holiday has been too good. It's going to be hard to go back to work tomorrow.

Himeji Castle And Kobe

Try as I might I couldn't leave the hotel before midday, even though I got up early once more. Maybe i set the aircon too high at 31 degrees and it was making me sleepy. 

  I caught the Special Rapid train at 12:39pm to Himeji to see what is regarded as Japan's finest castle, Himeji-jo (also known as Shirasagi "White Egret"). 

 It's not the Shinkansen, but a local train. It cost 1450 yen one way. The bullet train is a bit more than double that. 

 It took a little over an hour but not worth the extra cost. It's a good thing to know, as the JR staff easily try to "up size" the ticket to people that don't know. You can trick me once, won't let you trick me twice. 

 The time went quick though. If you look out the left window not long after Kobe, you can see the longest, almost 4km, suspension bridge in the world, the Akashi Kaikyo bridge to Awaji-shima. 

 By the time I got there it was almost 2pm. I walked about 15 minutes from the station to get to Himeji Castle. 

 Apart from the Castle there doesn't look to be much else to go there for. There is a discount ticket for the adjoining Koko-en ticket if you purchase it at the same time. 

 I almost got it, but I soon remembered the last painful time I had in a japanese garden, so I gave it as miss. Arriving so late I didn't think I'd have time to see it anyway. 

  The entry to the castle is 600 yen and well worth it. I recommend it as a must see if you go to the Kansai area. I thought there wasn't entry to the actual castle building, but it's possible to go up all levels to the top. Do it, you know you want to. 

 The full tour around the castle is said to take one and a half hours, but I managed to take two hours. 

 By this time it started to get dark, so I caught the train to go back.

  Next stop was to go check out Kobe. It's on the same line, so it's a good idea I think. 

 The darkness and neon transforms all japanese cities from moths to butterflies hiding the ugly concrete structures.

 

The harbour, with it's own Ferris Wheel reminded me of Yokohama. Being only about 30 minutes from Osaka, it's a fair comparison.

I made my way to Kobe's Chinatown, Nankinmachi. 

 There were a lot of stalls selling food. I was pretty hungry, so I bought a pork sauced bun, Nikuman for the nice price of 150 yen. 

 I was able to pick up a strong wi-fi signal from there, so I loaded up the GPS and internet on my phone. 

 I'm really liking my Tytn II. Nothing like getting Google satellite maps, MSN messenger, Skype and train timetables for nix. Very sweet. 

 From there I walked to JR Sannomiya for a good beef and rice combo at Sukiya, and to catch my quick train to Shin-Osaka (540 yen). 

 I arrived home at about 1030pm, so I decided to walk around the station here. There really is nothing around here except a few other hotels. Pretty dull. 

 I found some lockers that should be big enough for my suitcase for my last day here. Well, I hope so.

Umeda And Dotombori

Even though I woke up early, I didn't leave the hotel until midday. 

 At first I had planned to go to Himeji Castle. Starting so late I thought I may try it another day. 

 In my madness I thought it would be a good idea to walk across to Umeda. On Google Earth it looks like it's not that far. 

 In reality reaching the Shin Yodogawa bridge I wanted to cross revealed that there wasn't any pedestrian access.

 

Feeling defeated I sat on the hilly bank eating the remaining corn chips and watched quite a few japanese at leisure, exercising, walking their dogs, practising baseball bating and one was even flying a kite. 

I decided to walk east along the river and try my luck at the Juso bridge further down.

Thankfully it was possible to cross on foot towards the Umeda Sky Building in Kita ("north"). This building stands out prominently in the Osaka skyline so I thought it good to go up to the Floating Garden lookout at the top. 

 

The view is fantastic. Well worth the 700 yen entry. I actually stayed there for a few hours both to take in the view and to relax.

  It's been said that Osaka people are very friendly. While checking out where places were on my map and looking at the view, a woman asked me what I was looking for. Very strange considering I was just getting my bearings and wasn't really lost. 

 I finally made my way back down and headed from Umeda to Shinsaibashi and Dotombori. 

 I was confident I was walking in the right direction, but there were hardly any people around between places and I thought that strange. It was the same thing walking from Shin-Osaka to Umeda. 

 The Shinsaibashi-suji is a long arcade area that reminds me a lot of the Hiroshima mall area. 

 As I got closer to Namba and Dotombori the crowds started to thicken.

  Crossing the bridge from Shinsaibashi-suji into Dotombori was a revelation. It's amazing what sparkling neon can do to a place. 

  I really enjoyed the Dotombori area. 

 If there's any place to be in Osaka this is it. And no, it's not because it seems like there's a UFO catcher arcade every ten metres (I only played once and lost 300 yen on a big Totoro).

  By this time I was feeling extremely hungry. 

 I saw an Okonomiyaki stall advertising 300 yen for a basic dish. I super sized it to the "Okonomiya Special" that had the works with added Kimchi, egg and spring onions for 550 yen. This was real good. Just what a growing boy needs. 

 After wandering around what seemed like an endless labyrinth and a record four Macca's coffees, I decided to make my way back from Shinsaibashi station to Shin-Osaka. (230 yen) There's no way I was going to walk all the way back. In hindsight I think it may have been better (and cheaper) to sleep at the hotel I was thinking of in Tennoji. Still, I'm getting used to this place. I don't mind it so much. I just wish it was closer to the Minami ("south") action in Dotombori. 

 My legs are tired but I think I put in a fair effort on my first real day in Osaka.

New Years Resolution

I was meaning to go to bed earlier so I'd be chipper to wake up at 6am for my flight home.

Probably for the first New Years Eve in a long time I stayed home.

The last few had been lacklustre. Everybody seemed to hug strangers lovingly, and half an hour later it felt like any other night getting pissed.

Best of all I was spared "Auld Lang Syne". Shame I can't say the same thing about "Last Christmas". I heard it a few days before the big day.

As midnight came around I could here the fireworks from the city and revelers cheering. I don't feel like I missed that much.

Let's just say that I hope that what I'm doing here in Japan is getting me closer to my resolution. Make of that what you will.

There was no problems getting the flight. I was there in plenty of time. Jetstar was surprisingly better than I expected.

The flight to Sydney was almost empty and the plane looked OLD inside. I wish it was direct from Brisbane, but I guess cheaper ticket beggars can't be choosers.

The Sydney-Osaka plane was more packed. I requested a window seat exit row. This is the best seat on a plane. First Class leg room and easy to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately I had a big sumo guy next to me which I was hoping was a seat free to lie down.

Compared to europe, flying to Japan takes no time at all. Normally a 8 hour flight.

I brought along quite a lot of food to eat on the plane - corn chips, bread sticks and ah.. mama's biscuits!

I thought I'd have to dump them at Quarantine, so I reluctantly ate as much as I could without feeling like throwing it all up.

The Customs at Osaka are pretty relaxed. I could have saved the food for my time while I am there as they let it all go through, even a monster salami and cheese that I have to go through sometime.

I caught the Limited Express Haruka train to Shin-Osaka where gf had booked my room at "Hotel Live Max" close to where my Shinkansen conveniently leaves for Toyko on friday.

I thought I was doing it on the cheap using my suica card, but an inspector said I had to pay 1150 yen supplement for being on the express. That sucked, but I'm so tired right now I'm glad to get here as quick as I could.

I found the hotel pretty easily. The desk clerk didn't speak any english so it was a little uncomfortable until he called gf to clarify a few things.

The hotel itself is pretty basic for 4500 yen a night. I have a fridge, microwave and even this open wifi connection that I suspect doesn't belong to the hotel.

Outside the weather is a balmy 5 degrees, so I'm thankful to work out how to turn the heat for the aircon.

I'm hoping for a big adventure tomorrow in big bad Osaka.