Day 134 - 11th of January

10:36am　普通
天気：曇り
I forgot to bring my journal, so I’m writing this in my iPod. I’m on the local train to Hirakata, where I’ll be switching over for a rapid express to Kyobashi. From there, I’ll take the subway to Shinsaibashi. I know it’s a bit of a late start, but I had a terrible night’s sleep, so we’ll see how I go… I’m not sure if it’s some sort of holiday today, but when I went over to the bank, it charged me overtime. Anyway, I think today will be a lot of fun; hopefully find some interesting things.

11:18am　地下鉄
I’m just getting on the subway at Kyobashi. I love the sound of the warning signals in the subway; so pretty. I’ve decided to go to 長堀橋 (Nagahoribashi), which is one stop from Shinsaibashi, and walk down to 恵美須町 (Ebisucho), through Den den town.

6:15pm　地下鉄
I’m on the subway back to Kyobashi now; still standing. I haven’t sat down since lunch at about 2; found a really great, cheap ramen shop in Den den town. Well no, I lie, I did sit down (on the floor) in the Yamaha music shop in Shinsaibashi, before purchasing two Studio Ghibli piano solo books; that was about 30 minutes ago. Today has been… long; so much walking around! I basically made a big “U”, going from Nagahoribashi, down through to Den den town to Ebisucho, before going across to Namba, and then up to Shinsaibashi; actually it was more like a backwards “Y”, since I went all the way down to Ebisucho, but anyway. I spent most of my time in Den den town, which was amazing; total overload of stuff! My bag is now filled to the brim with goodies…

6:46pm　特急
Now I’m on the limited express back to Hirakata, and I’m still not sitting down; so sad… so as I was saying, my bag is filled with goods; I can’t recall everything I bought to be honest. I found lots of Final Fantasy paraphernalia and some Hetalia stuff too. I was really tempted to buy a model (either from Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts) actually, but decided against it this time. My biggest purchase was a DS lite; yes, I finally got one. It’s crimson and black. I did a lot of shopping around for it, and got one for a decent price; unfortunately the one time I found them for really cheap (like half the retail price), they were sold out. I was determined to buy one today though, so I just went ahead and did it. As for games, I bought Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (really cheap), and Pokémon: Heart Gold (best price I could find); very happy.

Yes, Den den town was amazing, but it was also a lot of the same. It basically went like this: Electronics, CDs, manga, adult shop, video games, second hand goods, furniture, DVDs, manga, CDs, models, records, adult shop, electronics, adult shop, second hand goods, CDs, electronics, video games, manga… with a sprinkling of restaurants and duty-free shops, two Makkas, and at least six convenience stores. Yeah, there were a lot of adult shops (mostly selling DVDs and comics) in plain sight, all the way along the right side of the street, which I walked down first; many of the multi-storey shops had adult sections in their top floors as well. I was pretty indifferent to it; a whole lot of all-too-busty females and yaoi…

7:04pm　枚方市駅
In the station now, waiting for the train to Makino…


7:06pm　準急
Yay, I’m sitting down; in the train… I walked all the way down the right side of Den den town, and reached Ebisucho, where I wondered down a street under the Hanshin Expressway, past stalls, to find myself amidst a festival; how lucky. I’ll have to look up what it was all about; there were so many people and stalls. After walking around the shrine that was hosting the festival, I found a taiyaki stand, bought two custard filled, and walked a bit further south to the 通天閣 (tsutenkaku)…

The tsutenkaku (lit. tower reaching heaven), was a really great sight to see. I really wish I could have seen it at night though; maybe next time. I was disappointed you couldn’t actually climb it (as far as I could tell), but I thought it was cool how a road past underneath it. So to date, I have seen 4 towers in Japan; 5 if you count the Umeda Sky Building. I walked back from the tower, and back up the other side of Den den town. The limits of the “town” are clearly defined by the decorative pipe-like structures of different colours that bordered the walkways. There wasn’t as much on this side, so I went back to the other side for a while, looking for a good price for the DS. There were some video game shops, a few with heaps of retro games and consoles; I’m sure dad would’ve loved it. And in all of them, I was beckoned by Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Final Fantasy XIII, bellowing from the speakers, and playing on the flat screen TVs. I really want a PSP now; might be my next big purchase!

I finally left Den den town at around 5; it was almost night. I got to see it with the lights, which wasn’t all that fantastic. I walked back up and across to namba, just taking in the sights and the night life. The 南海難波駅 (Nankai Namba station) was very beautiful; European influenced architecture. And across the way, there was what looked to be a Kabuki theatre. It was closed off for construction though, so I wasn’t entirely sure. I soon found myself in familiar territory, and went to find the hotel the Devoys had stayed at, in Dotonbori. Happy with a shot of the 4 statues out the front, I continued on and soon found myself in Shinsaibashi. I was actually really surprised how close everything was in terms of walking; I guess the subway stops aren’t that far apart when I think about it. I didn’t have that much money left, and I didn’t really see anything of interest anyway, until I found the Yamaha shop. It was a 4 storey shop and wow, there were so many instruments. It also had a great selection of sheet music, so I took me a while to choose the books I wanted; high grade, and jazz arrangements. My feet now sore, and bag felling very heavy, I decided it was time to head home… the walk back from Makino wasn’t that bad, it wasn’t that cold. I noticed a banner on the way back, with information about the Ebisu festival celebrations in Makino; so that was it.

The 十日戎 (tooka ebisu), is a festival that celebrates Ebisu, one of the 七福神 (shishifukujin – seven lucky gods), and a patron of business and commerce. For this reason, he is particularly popular in Osaka, being the merchant capital. It’s a three day festival, from the 9th to the 11th, with the 10th being the main day (tooka means 10th of the month). The shrine I went to is called the 今宮戎 (Imamiyaebisu), which is apparently the place to go during the festival. I consider myself really lucky to be there, especially considering that fact that I had no prior knowledge of it; I basically stumbled upon it. I mean, I could have gone any day, but I managed to pick a day when a huge festival was on; so cool. And it was huge! The amount of people pouring in, making offerings to Ebisu was incredible; there was a continuous clinging sound from all the money being thrown into the shrine.

The priests were giving out bamboo fronds, and people would then proceed to buy charms to hang from them; I first noticed them when I saw a man walking around with one in Den den town. I found out that these are called 吉兆笹 (kichousasa – “lucky bamboo grass”), and are decorated with models of 鯛 (sea bream), 小判 (koban – former Japanese oval gold coin), and 米俵 (komedawara – bags of rice), which represent flourishing success in business. I’ll definitely have to come back and get one, when I get into the market. Today though, I was just happy to look on. I noticed that there were lots of people coming into the shrine with their old bamboo fronds, presumably from last year; they had browned. There was actually a bin in the shrine, called 古笹納所 (furusasanasho – “old fronds offerings”), and inside there was indeed the old fronds, charms and all; I hope that the charms are recycled. Apart for food, there were an abundance of stalls that were also selling ornaments featuring Ebisu himself, with his benevolent smiling face. I wish I’d brought my video camera, but at least I got some decent photos.

Getting back to the seminar house, I found my room still Ryan-less, chucked my bag down, and went up to have dinner. Katie was back from Singapore, and I talked with her and Ash until they went back to their room. I decided to just make another pizza, since I hadn’t gotten any meat out of the fridge. With the crust defrosted, I went about making it, and talked with Jacinthe. She was making a cake, and I helped her with it. The recipe was really simple, but the end result was amazing; I love Jacinthe’s cooking! After that, I went back down and unpacked my bag. Soon, everything was strewn across my futon; bags, plastic, books, and other miscellanea. When I opened the DS box, I realised there was already an adapter included, and, of course, I had bought one separately for it; so stupid of me. So now I have two, which I won’t be able to use in Australia anyway; might come in handy later on in life I guess. Apart from that, I’m really happy with my other purposes, and would really like going back again. I had a lot of fun just browsing; there was just so much stuff. Most of it, I wasn’t interested in buying, but it was still cool to look at; especially all the models. I’m kinda glad I’m not really into manga or anime; otherwise I’m sure I would have spent a heck of a lot more money there.

Day 126 - 3rd of January

6:57am　First Kitchen – 梅田
天気：曇り
I’m in First Kitchen with Tamblyn; just had some breakfast. Wow, last night was really great… I finally found the hotel in 道頓堀 (Dotonbori), after walking the streets for a while upon exiting Namba station. It was about 3, and they were all waiting out the front. It was so cool to see Peyton and Laine again; they’ve grown so much. And of course, seeing Tamblyn, Peter and Naomi was great. The kids instantly attached themselves to me, and I spent the majority of the day holding their hands, helping them up stairs (carrying Laine at times), and looking out for them; it was a lot of fun. Our first stop was Osaka castle; we went up to Umeda, and then across to Osakajokoen via the loop line. It was already pretty late when we got there, and by the time we got to the castle, it was only 20 minutes until closing time. Peter decided he’d go in anyway; the rest of us sat outside waiting.

He emerged well after 5. The sun had already set, and the castle was all lit up. It was very beautiful, and since I’d never seen it close up at night before, I was really appreciative of coming. Tamblyn found one for his favourite drinks in a nearby vending machine, and decided he’d buy some for himself and his friends; meaning 8. It’s called Fanta furufuru; jelly and soft drink in a can. Since I had a bag, I was stuck carrying them around for the rest of the night. After the castle, we went to Shinsaibashi, and Peter and Tamblyn took Peyton to go and buy shoes, while Naomi, Laine and I went to design them! We went to the Nike shop, where you can create your own personalised shoes, and had fun choosing colours, styles and materials for what would be Tamblyn’s new shoes. Laine fell asleep on the stairs (so cute), and we had to drag him up when it came to finalizing the purchase. Since they wouldn’t ship the shoes overseas, Naomi needed a Japanese address, and that’s where I came in. It was all sorted out fine; I’ll be expecting shoes in a month.

Coming out of the shop, Laine was tired and said his feet were hurting a lot. Naomi and I took turns carrying him for a while, trying to track down Peter. Laine started to really complain, and we figured out that his shoes were causing the problem; they were new, and cutting into the top of his feet. We tried at first, to loosen them, but that did no good, so we took them off entirely and then went on a quest for slippers; getting many stares from the natives. After going to two shoe stores, a Disney merchandise store, and a convenience store, we finally found some in a pharmacy. They were too big, but Laine complied and did his best; such a battler. Still unsure of where Peter was, we continued down the street until we reached Dotonbori, before Laine insisted he go to the toilet, so I took him to Makkas. By luck, when we came out, Peter was there with Naomi.

Peter, Tamblyn and Peyton went on to the restaurant, and we made a quick stop at a specialty store to see if we could find the green tea air fresher that was used in their hotel. There were so many imported goods; they even had timtams!!! Unsuccessful (but still laden with goodies) we made our way to the restaurant; an okonomiyaki place. After a short wait, we were seated. The food was spectacular; best okonomiyaki I’ve ever had. Very satisfied, we went back to the hotel, and it was 11 before long. Tamblyn was supposed to return to his host family, but we sorted it out so he could come out to karaoke with me. We were in Umeda, and after a bit of searching we found a reasonably cheap place (the one with the huge dragon head coming out of it), considering it is New Years. We went from just after 12 till 6; another all-nighter. It was a lot of fun, but I’m so tired now; gonna get home soon and sleep…

9:55pm　セミナーハウス
Feeling tired still, even though I slept most of the day… I left Tambyln (I let hime know I was going), to sleep in First Kitchen at about 7:30, and made my way back home. I was tired the whole way back, and in the walk back from Makino, I was in a daze. Finally at home, I had a shower, and then crashed; Ryan wasn’t there. I woke at 1, and decided it would be a good idea to have some lunch. Almost immediately after, I went back to sleep again. Waking at 6, I went up and made dinner (chicken parmigiana with garlic bread), and watched TV for a while. These two Japanese guys were travelling the world and participating in unusual sports. They were in Estonia doing a sport involving flinging yourself around a swing standing, before going to Indonesia for the water oxen festival, where bulls are raced, chariot-like, across shallow water; both sports looked really challenging. Ryan’s still not back, so I guess I’m going to have a pretty early night; maybe go to Kuzaha hall tomorrow for the last day of sales.