Birthday celebrations in Osaka!

I felt that an Osaka Birthday for my 24th sounded kind of special. Off I went on a Saturday afternoon, with no clear plan in mind, and only knowing that a friend from Kyoto was going to meet up with me somewhere, at some time, and his friend was coming too.

I wasn't dressed in my finest, but I wasn't too shabby, dressed in humble jeans, black top and a headscarf. This would not have made me feel out of place in Kyoto, but hanging around Umeda station in Osaka, or walking to the HEP building (not a hepatitis building but an Entertainment Plaza, I believe) , everywhere I looked there were glamorous people. Men women, you name it, ALL FASHIONABLE. Japanese people are so COOL, they need a new word for it. Piercings, tattoos, manbags, skinny jeans, massive hairdo's, bling, headwear, footwear.....they do it all really well (and occassionally all at the same time!). I think it was bargain season, because as I walked into the HEP building, and other shopping plazas around the area, there were lines of people waiting to get INTO a store to browse!. I picked up a small vest and a pair of strappy sandal/thong things, nipped into a bathroom (with added powerding/pampering cubicles) and changed. I still wasn't a blip on the Osaka-Fashion-Meter, but i didn't feel like a hobo in comparison. It's easy to feel like a hobo in Japan, when you're watching 'Life Size Nihon Barbie' walk past, complete with blonde extensions, suntan, and boyfriend Ken-ji.

I started walking to the Shin-Umeda Sky building. I read that it offers an incredible view of the city. Unfortunately I got lost along the way, but saw a foreigner walking in my direction. I stopped him to ask for directions, and it turns out he's originally from Perth! He's lived in Japan for about 20 years now....but it really was strange to run into someone and find out they were from my very own city. He pointed me in the right direction, and I was able to find the bilding. There I went up 4 escalators, bought my ticket, headed upwards in the glass elevator (like Charlie!), which is not for vertigo sufferers, and then got on another escalator that crosses from one tower to the other, on the 39th floor of the building! It also has glass windows so you can see just how high up you really are while you rely only on a rotating stairway of metal to carry you a distance of about 20 metres. I went to the rooftop observatory, and snapped some pictures of the bustling busy city that is Osaka, and felt a few pangs when I realised I had no-one next to me to share the experience with. They even have little love seats facing large windows so you can sit and chatter while idly watching the cityscape....but I didn't want to sit alone, so I moved on, went downstairs and got some pictures of a water garden complete with lanterns. People were sending prayers out across the water in little candlelit coats, and i wandered through like a ghost, not speaking to anyone, nor having them speak to me, only observing, recording and musing.

After this I caught the subway to Shinsaibashi - a fun hangout for young people - but again, being alone was no fun so I went on to Tennoji to meet my Kyoto friends and actually managed to get on the same subway train as them, though we didn't realise it until getting off the train at Tennoji and spying eachother on the platform. One thing I love about meeting up with my foreign friends is hugs. You don't realise how important hugs are until you don't have them anymore. In Japan I do a lot of bowing, handshaking, and nodding, but very rarely do I hug any Japanese people. If I do get a hug, even from Japanese people I know, it's a bit stiff and there isn't the warmth you get from hugging your best friend or a loved one. I hugged this Japanese guy we met bgy the river in Kyoto once to say goodbye, and that was a nice hug beacuse he'd lived in America and had obviously learnt the technique. Maybe I could start some workshops, make a bit of extra cash. What do you think?

Anywhoo. In Tennoji, we were standing in front of the train station waiting for some friends of friends of friends to come to the station to get us, or direct us to where they were on the telephone, but they seriously had NO idea how to do that. They sent us off in the wrong direction, couldn't get a bearing of where we were and it turns out they were waiting on a bridge 100 metres down the road....I mean the words 'look for the big white bridge crossing the road' may have come in handy. One guy was on a serious schedule. 'Hello, Yep. We have some friends waiting. Let's go...' and had NO time for me even when i stopped for a maximum of 4.5 seconds to snap a picture 'You know, usually I wouldn't mind, but there are people waiting for us..' blah blah bla wanke- umm.. insert desired expletive here. The people waiting for 'us' were 15 metres down the road when he said that too. He really made my blood boil, but I wasn't the only one. Luckily he bailed before midnight and I was able to just relax and not claw his eyes out.

The bar we were in was the size of my bedroom at home, seated about 20 people, but had a really nice feel to it. I was even sung happy birthday by everyone in the bar, accompanied by the bartender's drumming. (See video for the performance.) He even built me a 'cake' which was basically a tower of chocolates put in a little bowl. I would love to go back to that place soon. We actually met this friendly Japanese guy Shinya who is a friend of a friend of the loser guy, and he came with us to Karaoke too! He's leaving Japan in December to go and volunteer in Nigeria for 2 years, teaching Volleyball. That is amazing! We went to 'Super Jankara!' Karaoke. It's pimped out karaoke, like a Karaoke hotel really. The pictures will tell you more than I can describe here. I had a lot of fun, drank a bit, tried to sing in Japanese, did a terrible Tina Turner impression, periodically dissolved into paroxysms of laughter and had a ROMPING GOOD TIME!

We left at 6am (it closed), and had a stuporific train journey to our respective cities, involving a lot of sleeping, nudging each other awake at various stations, one order of vomit (not me yay!) and general tiredness. I ran into 2 of my students at a local station (luckily I was wearing my sunglasses) and avoided embarassing myself in front of them or revealing that i had a ROMPING GOOD TIME involving alcohol and screeching at the top of my lungs for hours on end. Say what you want but a good Ka-ra-o-ke Ma-ra-son is food for the soul.


Love and happiness from the universe to anyone who does or doesn't read this!

xxx

Nikky

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