First Impressions of the Land of the Rising Sun

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My flight from Singapore to Osaka was wonderful! I had a whole row to myself..the three seats I was in, plus the four middle seats and the three on the opposite side of the plane that were all empty, which made sleeping that much more comfortable. Singapore Airlines is phenomenal! The food was wonderful, I had everything I needed and I was so relaxed. I got a bit of rest, woke up for the most delicious airplane breakfast ever as well as the sunrise, then arrived in Osaka at 8am.

Now Japan is a whirlwind! I picked up my bag and immediately changed into pants, socks, shoes and sweater, because I had definitely underestimated how cold it was going to be in Japan in March. I grabbed a coffee to warm my insides and started on my journey into Osaka. I first had to figure out how to buy a train ticket, and the right one at that. That took me about 20 minutes. Then, I got on my train and rode for about an hour and a half into Osaka. I got off at my designated stop and then had to find the subway. This took another half hour, possibly closer to 45 minutes. This is the point when I began to realize that unlike Southeast Asia, Japan does not rely on their tourism industry, therefore the majority of the population DOES NOT speak English! I tried asking a few people, with no success. I could not find the subway for the life of me. I kept ending up out on the street or back in the train station. Eventually I somehow, still unknown to me, made my way down to the subway. I finally found an employee who could speak English, to my relief, and helped me buy my ticket and get on the correct subway. It was about noon by the time I finally arrived at my hotel in Osaka where I was to meet my group that I'd be traveling through Japan with.

I checked in, used the lobby bathroom, which, by the way, had a heated seat (and I was soooo cold), and all those fun buttons that we've all seen pictures of, and by the time I came out from my first of many amazing Japanese bathroom experiences, five of my other group members were in the lobby checking in. They were four girls from England and one guy from Australia. So, I introduced myself and headed out with them to spend our day checking out Osaka, until we had a group meeting later that night once everyone had arrived. We first headed out for lunch, where I had my first experience of being handed a menu with pictures and pointing to whatever looked good. I ended up with a pork dish and..it was good. It was really good. My eating experiences of Japan were starting out on the right foot!

After lunch, we headed to what is known as the American district of Osaka. We were a bit hazy on where we were going, but being the only American in the group (and the only one without a map) I told them I'd let them know when we got there..after all, how could I miss the American district? We eventually ended up in an area with a lot of name brand shops and teenagers, walking around with bleached blond hair and crazy clothes. I guess this was there impression of America. We sat in the outside seating area of a coffee shop and people watched for the next hour or so. It was so entertaining seeing all the teenagers who were 'Americanized', along with the regular folk going about their day.

After our people watching, we headed back to the hotel for naps and showers before our group meeting. My roomie had yet to arrive, so I had the place to myself and enjoyed a little down time. We met down in the lobby at 7pm for our meeting. Our group leader's name was Axel and he was from France, but had been living in Japan for a year. He had two trainees along for our trip, Erin, the only other American, and Keiko, who was from Japan, but had lived in Canada for 5 years and had great English skills. Keiko was a huge asset to our group and we utilized her presence throughout to increase our knowledge and understanding of many foods, temples, shrines, cities, sayings and so on. Plus she was heaps of fun! The rest of the group consisted of: Stephanie and Evan, a couple from Australia, Renate and Lone, two girls from Norway, Michael from Australia, James and Paula, on their honeymoon from Ireland, a bunch of English girls, friends Anna and Hannah-Jane, sisters Katherine and Elinor, friends Parisha and Kiran, and last but certainly not least, my roomie Izabela, who is originally from Poland, but has lived most of her life now in Canada. Good group!

Izabela was not at the meeting however. I was told she would be my roommate for the duration of the trip, but she was arriving very late. After finishing all the important trip mumbo jumbo, Axel asked those of us who were interested in going to a local sushi train restaurant to follow him for dinner. About 7 of us headed over. Parisha was vegetarian and Kiran was vegan, so they did not have the wonderful eating experiences of Japan that I did. Needless to say, they did not come and I did not eat any more meals with them after that first lunch in Osaka. They were nice girls, but the food aspect, which is a huge part of Japanese culture, was not a part of Japan they wished to experience. Same with my little Norwegian friends Renate and Lone. They were about 18 or 19 years old, hilarious trying to use chopsticks, and gave a mild effort at trying Japanese cuisine, but overall were a bit uninterested in the food experience. Also a lot of fun though! Now this restaurant was my first experience of a sushi train. I know we have them in the states, but I'd never been and I adored it. I think I ended up taking 8 or 9 little plates of sushi off the train by the time I finished eating. I was stuffed and it was relatively inexpensive, which gave me false hope for Japan. I quickly realized what a good deal it was, because the rest of the meals where at least twice as much! It was such a cool first dinner in Japan and I was completely content.

After dinner, Hannah-Jane, Anna and I went searching for the internet cafe. This was expensive. I got online, only to find a chat box from Cameron pop up, in which he boasted about his day of diving with a WHALE SHARK!!! Not fair! We'd come so close to diving with them on Koh Tao and now not even a week later, he actually got to. I said all I could, which was this, "Cameron, if I wasn't so full of fresh sushi and green tea right now I'd be so mad at you!!" Haha, it was the best I had to counter with and I really was contentedly full of sushi and green tea and I really was happy for Cameron.

My first day in Japan was an adventure of the senses. I made my way back to my hotel room to find Izabela already in her bed. It was dark and I couldn't see what she looked like, but we ended up talking for a hour. She was 4 months pregnant at the time, had a lingering Polish accent and was as sweet as can be. I knew I had a good roomie and my time in Japan would be nothing but good fun. Also, I was sleeping in a real hotel room, which was the fanciest thing I'd had in 2 months! I slept like a baby.

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Photos

Japan
Land of the Rising Sun

Japan
Airplane breakfast = delicious!

Japan
Getting ready to land in Osaka

Japan
Ohh yes, this seat was heated!

Japan
And yes, I did try every one of those buttons!

Japan
American District - These guys were dubbed 'The Japanese Beatles'

Japan
American District - Hippies

Japan
Sushi Train!

Japan
Ohh yeah, I ate all that.

Japan
My favorite! I don't know what it was though, cause I can't read Japanese and Keiko wasn't there.

Comments

[RUDRA PRASAD DAS]

RISING SUN
IT'S WONDERFUL TO SEE JAPAN AS RISING LAND

[Ashlee D]

Love It
Ah yes i did it i got all caught up on your blog and am looking forward to more - I want more! Anyway it is truly a delight to read about your travels so far - sounds like nothing but fun, wonderful experiences and lasting memories. Your blog is outstanding you're so desciptive and paint such a great picture of your adventures ... Keep it up, until next time :)