Big Trip to Japan Take Two: "Wherever we go, we go as high as we can!"

The "Wasted" Day

After my exceptionally late night editing photos and then still waking up first and posting the last entry, I really was not in a position to go out. I really wasn't. I was soooooo tired. And so was Hubbo - in fact, he ended up sleeping until 13.07, which he was really angry about in the end. And I can see why, but he didn't wake up when the cleaners were hoovering or when I was sneezing my brains out on 3 or 4 occasions, or leaving and entering the room, or swearing at my laptop cause the program I was using had frozen for the upteenth time, so I figured he needed the sleep.

We got up, got dressed and were out of the house and at Akihabara by 3. We headed for the building we knew would have a great haul, and it did.💜

I got the three "jam jar" Moomin terraniums I would have tried to get for 5x the price on ebay. We saw presents for people - to quote my bestie, "Why does Japan have all the good things?!" - and Hubbo got himself a treat or two.

Then we went for food, because if we didn't, I'd probably faint. 👍   Ramen-O'Clock!

The Best Street Food Place Food

We got up bright and early after the occupants of the room opposite us had finished talking all night and elephant-stomping along the landing. For those of you who are used to a range of tourist types from various origins, I will leave to your own mind to guess which nationality they were. Let's just say it was good to know that even after university age, they don't grow out of the sheer inconsideration for others and blatent rudeness.

Even though we left in good time, it was raining, so we just about made it onto our shinkansen - though that's largely because for some reason the station doesn't tell you what platform the train will be on, only the time and how many carriages. #helpfulnothelpful

I missed most of the journey to Osaka because I was either laughing at the bumbling baffoon in front of us, who was absolutely adorable, or witnessing the entirety of a young girl's waterbottle waterfall all over the floor because it had lurched forward and she'd not put the lid on the bottle, or sleeping. Sleeping was good and sleeping was necessary. 

Osaka was just as we remembered it, and we made our way to our hostel, the same we stayed in last time. It is a really really nice hostel - even if you aren't keen on the idea of hostels, this one is clean, has private rooms available and a great atmosphere, hanging on simple and easy-to-follow rules. Also the futons were way more comfortable than the matress in Tokyo, so we enjoyed that. 

Hubbo did not sleep on the train. He does not sleep sitting up (weirdo) and so he rested his head for an hour while I did a wander around the neighbourhood, photographing what I liked without worrying about holding others up. It's nice to see residential areas sometimes too - there are shrines dotted about in random areas you'd expect to see a garage, the houses are all higgledy-piggledy and you can see the locals going about their business.

Downtown Osaka:

Then I made some green tea in the common room and then I fetched Hubbo and we made our way to Tenoji, which we didn't visit last time.

On google, Hubbo discovered that it was the site of Japan's tallest building (not to be confused with the even taller Tokyo Sky Tree, which is a tower) and wouldya believe it, as he read it out to me, I was staring up at it - it was right at the station entrance as tall and obvious as you like!

Obviously we decided to go up it. No matter where we go, we always seem to go to the highest point. Excep this time (and I guess when we went up Fuji and had to stop) because there was no way we were paying extra to go the last 50m to go on "the edge" at 300m. No, 250m was high enough. It was really pleasant - the building, like Sky Tree, had plenty inside it to fill your day but we wanted to see more. We noticed a park from up the tower building and made our way to it.... but it was closed already. Awh.
So we looked at a couple of statues, walked over the zoo (best sentence ever) and smelled the flamingos before we spotted them and over towards a little area called Shinsekai.

Tenoji and up the tall building:

Shinsekai is a sweet little place by day, but well known for its open prostitution at night - and I hear that the law turns a blind eye to it there.  For its slight problems and being on "the wrong side of the tracks", it was a nice place to visit. The food is cheaper than at Dotonburi but no less good. And what amazed and entertained us were the little random arcade rooms. We're talking a 3mx3m room with arcade machines and stools, from various years - there was one with 1984 pacman. We played old-style Puyo Puyo and a Sailor Moon side-scroller fighty game. I lasted longer than Hubbo which means I win. 

We got to eat the local delicacy which was devised during the war and post-war period: Deep Fried Anything On A Stick. We found a little joint that wasn't too expensive and ordered Set Meal B, which was the same as Set Meal A, only it had a couple more pieces and was an even number, making it easier to share equally. 

There was fried chicken on a stick, fried sausage on a stick, fried fish sausage on a stick, fried rice cake on a stick, fried asparagus (which was my favourite) on a stick, fried sweet potato, cheese, sausage and cheese, beef and pork - each on a stick.  You dipped the fried goodness in the sauce and ate - didn't get enough sauce the first time? DO NOT DOUBLE DIP*. You scoop some sauce out of the dish using a piece of raw cabbage as a spoon. Trust me, it works a treat. 

*There was even a law passed to ban double dipping, because hygiene.

Shinsekai:



After that, we made our way over to Dotonburi, walking through cutely lit streets (👆I got photos - even though my camera kept telling me it wasn't possible. Hah!) and a really really long shopping tunnel.

Dotonbori was busy, of course, and we walked through the areas that Hubbo had visited in his video games, which is more or less the exact way we went last time we came. But this time there was something different! There were drums playing! And sportsball fan singing! And chanting! And waving of flags and umbrellas!  YES! The Baseball had happened! (We think it was baseball)

Upon closer investigation, we found that it was a Buenos Aires team and we suspect they won cause two bridges and the area between those bridges were clad in red and white banners and jumping and chanting fans wearing team shirts.  They were mostly Argentinian fans but there were a few Asian fans there too, while the majority of people in the area were looking on in baffled amusement.

There is also a new statue - Osaka is home to the 2025 expo, apparently, and it has a shiny plaque to go on a shiny granite fist. I liked it, was a cool design. It was punchy. 

After wandering about and drinking or nibbling here or there were made our way back to the hostel because Hubbo booked us an early train to Hiroshima - we're heading to Miyajima!

Dotonbori: