Golden Week! Part 1--Osaka

The Golden Week holidays started on Saturday, May 2 and went until Wednesday, May 6.


Saturday, May 2

Elena and I met at Mito Station around noon and got ready for our first train: the Limited Express Tokiwa heading to Tokyo.  At Tokyo, we would then board the Shinkansen, which would take us to Shin-Osaka.  At Shin-Osaka we would have to get on ANOTHER train that would take us to Namba station that could take us to the even smaller Sakai station and blah blah blah.  Basically it was going to be a day of getting off one train and boarding another.  Traveling is so exhausting.

Journeying by way of the Limited Express made zipping across a good portion of the country very comfortable.  It felt like riding on a nice tour coach with the best shocks in the world.

You also get quite the view of the landscape as you ride the rails.  It's interesting to see how much it can change within the course of a few minutes.

The first few minutes consisted of glimmering watered fields.

Then some painted...water towers?

About a half hour in we ran into sprawling cityscapes.

We're on a train!

Riding on the Shinkansen was a similar experience, but I liked the seating and accommodations of the Limited Express a little better.  

I loved the way the setting sun lit up this whole area.
The fields looked like sheets of glass.

We finally made it to Shin-Osaka, and from there to the Namba Nakai station that was to be our main hub when catching a train to our hotel in Sakai.

After a day of train-hopping, we stuffed our faces with soba.

Namba Nakai station had this big ol' staircase we were always traversing.

The hotel was just down the street from Sakai station.  Prime location.  It was an unassuming building on the corner, across from a cute canal waving with carp flags, with unimpressive decor and bare-bones reception.  Still made for a nice stay, though.  Especially for the price.  Of course, the room was pretty small.  The two of us were almost too much for it.  I forgot to take a picture of the teeny tiny bathroom.  I am disappointed in myself.  

The window was also so low we thought we'd fall out of it.
Obviously we didn't.  But the fear was real.

Sunday, May 3

After an unimpressive hotel breakfast, Elena and I made our way towards Sakai station.  We would be meeting her friend Shoko for a day of Osaka sightseeing.  

Why must Japanese food always be so cute?

We met with Shoko (along with her husband and her friend) and followed them through Shin Saibashi-suji, a covered shopping arcade street.  There was a three-story Sanrio store in there, as well as a Disney store and many kinds of boutiques and high-end shops.  

The shopping arcade spilled out into an open plaza that was surrounded by billboards and neon signs. We noticed a lot of people taking pictures, so Elena and I did the same, although neither of us quite grasped why this place was so important.  Regardless, we did our touristy thing and moved along.  

Maybe it gets crazier at night.

A ferris wheel on the water surrounding a huge Don Quixote store?
Ok.

Lunch was takoyaki.  Lots of it.  I finally got over my fear of eating tentacles and just went for it.  It's not my most favorite food in the world, but it was pretty good.  I really like it with mayonnaise.  To be honest, I'm starting to like a lot of things with mayonnaise.  It's one of Japan's favorite condiments, so it's kinda on everything.  If you don't like mayonnaise then tough noogies for you.

Long soft cream (what they call soft serve).
Long, indeed.

After a while of exploring some of Osaka's shopping districts, our next stop was Osaka Castle (or Osaka-jo).  The entire place had been converted into a museum, which of course had a strict no-photography policy once you were inside.  It felt a bit strange to me to see the entire building look so traditional on the outside, but then feel so...touristy and gallery-like on the inside.  There was nothing left of the original architecture within the castle (or if there was, it wasn't open for viewing).  It would have been nice to see maybe just one room or floor left as a preservation of the original structure.  

Regardless of my opinion, it was still a very beautiful building and a breathtaking piece of architecture.  I'm quite partial to its color scheme, too.

And then, after a great ramen dinner, our friends took us to one more place.  They took us to the observation deck of the Umeda Sky Building, where we were able to see the night-lit city for miles around.  Even though it was sprinkling on the open roof of the deck, I took it in stride and pulled out my camera.  Nothing could beat the sounds of the trains as they passed by each other on the bridge crossing the river, or the dull pulse of the lights on the very tops of the buildings stretching into the distance.  (The escalators suspended between the towers of the building freaked me out a bit while we were going up, though.  I have such a fear of heights.)

This is a picture of our wonderful tour guides and hosts of our Golden Week trip.  Shoko and her husband were absolutely amazing to us.  They took us to awesome food places, spoiled us with sightseeing, and made sure that we had the best experience in their hometown.  We enjoyed every moment we spent with them.  I am so grateful to know such kind, selfless people!

Monday, April 27--Friday, May 1

On Monday, there was a fire drill at school.  I was fortunate enough that one of the teachers let me know ahead of time, otherwise I wouldn't have known (they forget that I can't read the school schedule sometimes).  It still managed to catch me by surprise when there was an announcement and then everyone mysteriously vanished from the teacher's room.  One look outside into the yard, however, told me where to go.  

I was also asked by my head English teacher to make some emotion flashcards.  Instead of simply using pre-made clip art, I decided to make life extremely difficult for myself and draw some pictures.  I think I did a pretty good job.

"Hungry" was definitely my favorite.

The only problem was, apparently my drawings were...too good.  The students were too busy paying attention to the pictures rather than noticing the emotions they were trying to convey.  Oops.  Guess I have to tone it down for next time.

After school, there was a heart-stopping moment where I almost left my hanko on the counter of a Lawson's convenience store.  I took it out of my coin purse in order to dig around for change and thought, "This is too important to forget.  I'll just set it down right here."  

Pff, famous last words.  

Within point two seconds I had completely forgotten that I had taken it out and almost walked right out of the store without it.  Thank God for the vigilant woman standing behind me in line who knew exactly what I had left there and grabbed me before I could leave.  I left with my hanko in hand and my face redder than before.

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Wednesday was a holiday (Showa Day) so there was no school.  I took the opportunity to go to Elena's apartment to discuss our upcoming Golden Week plans.  We were planning on the late end (compare it to planning winter break getaways three day before Christmas), but we were hoping we'd still be able to manage without too much trouble.

The bus I took to Elena's place was decked out in Girls und Panzer anime stickers.  Japan's sense of promotional decor will never cease to amaze me.  Elena had given me specific directions on how to take the bus to her stop but I, of course, went forth in the traditional Kathryn manner and promptly forgot how to do it.  I missed her stop completely and had to wait for the bus to turn around and take me back.  

When I finally got there, we couldn't decide what we wanted for lunch.  We figured we'd walk around a bit and see what looked good.  I guess we should have remembered that Elena doesn't live in the most urban of areas.  Finding a food place ended up taking us about an hour.  Also, we got lost.

Some very nice looking flowers.

Some very nice looking weeds

Folks working on the rice field at the end of Elena's street.

After wandering in a huge, convoluted circle, we finally decided on a ramen shop not too far from her house.  By this time, we had worked up quite an appetite.  The ramen shop was pretty small inside, but very comfortable.  We sat at the counter, surrounded by spices, and mulled over the menu.  Thankfully Elena can read some Japanese, otherwise I might have ordered a side of butter by itself without realizing it.  I can't remember what I ordered, but when it arrived it was absolutely amazing.  I'm always taken by surprise when a bowl of ramen is placed in front of me.  I'm not used to ramen bowls being as big as my face.  Needless to say, it was delicious.  We'll have to come back to this place again.

We ordered coke.  We were delighted when they plopped these in front of us.

*drool*

We then visited a bakery just down the street from the ramen shop.  The ladies there served us tea while we were looking around.  I walked out with a few buns of something or another.  Because I can't read any Japanese yet, some food items I buy end up being a surprise.  It can be quite an adventure.

Case in point.  I discovered salad in my bread.

For our Golden Week excursion, Elena wanted to go to Osaka to see her friend Shoko.  Kyoto and Kobe were in the same relative region, so we decided to hit up those areas, too.  We started looking up hotels.  

All of the hotels in those areas were, predictably, either completely full or extremely expensive due to the high travel demand.  All of the rooms that were left were around ¥100,000 for four nights (or $1000. Yikes.) or too far away from our destinations for it to really be worthwhile.  We'd be spending all our time traveling (in retrospect, that's what we ended up doing anyway).  

Then, by some Internet miracle, we found a hotel room for ¥40,000 ($400--for the both of us!).  It was a 2 star hotel, but it was within walking distance to the Sakai station and wasn't in a shady area.  Success!  We sacrificed a cyber goat to the deities of the Internet and turned our attention to the next thing.

Transportation.  In order to get there within a reasonable amount of time, taking the Shinkansen, or bullet train, seemed our best bet.  All we had to do was go to the Mito Station ticket office and buy some tickets.  

Maybe we should have sacrificed some cyber goats to the deities of the Japan Railway, too.  Trying to get our hands on Shinkansen tickets ended up being a huge pain in the neck.  

As per the usual way of planning vacations, everyone else wanted to leave early and get back late as well, so all the times we wanted to reserve tickets were already taken.  What wasn't taken was a Shinkansen traveling to Shin-Osaka in the mid-afternoon on Saturday (which would get us to our hotel in Sakai at 8pm), and a Shinkansen on the return trip on Wednesday at 9 in the morning (getting us back home in the afternoon).  Long story short, after a few hair-pulling days of last-minute ticket buying (and a little helpful assistance by Taylor), we got our reservations for all our trains and got ready for our upcoming week of vacation.

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I can't resist taking pictures of my school's neighborhood on a nice day.  I took these while heading over to Taylor's house for dinner on Thursday night.

My apartment is behind the gym (red-striped building) across the river. 

I cross this bridge every day to get to school.

Look how cute the emergency vehicles are! Like Tonka Trucks!

At dinner, Taylor introduced me to his elderly neighbor, Mr. Kobayashi.  Mr. Kobayashi is a sharp old gentleman and very charming.  We passed the evening talking about our families, how I was enjoying Japan and my work, and about ourselves.  We also enjoyed a delicious crock-pot dinner made by Taylor.

I think I must have had like, three bowls of rice. No wonder I'm fat.

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I bought a Japanese magazine while I was at the station at some point.  It had Baymax on it so of course I was going to buy it.  

Japanese magazines are interesting.  Sometimes they have gifts in them that are advertised on the cover.  They're mostly little things like bags or pouches, but sometimes they'll shove a small umbrella in there.  Japan's pretty cool like that.

Now...what to put inside this...