Blogs from Osaka, Japan, Asia - page 59

My overnight bus rolled into downtown Osaka from Kumamoto at 6:45 AM. I was sleepy and very haggard from the pervious weeks leaving preparations. However, that didn’t stop a very energetic older foreign man who was sitting across the aisle from me from getting up and plopping himself down in the open seat next to me. “Oh, brother!” I groaned to myself. I was anxious about getting off at the right stop and didn’t feel like chatter. Although the conversation was more one sided and went like this: “Are you going to Nara? I think is beautiful….I’m going sightseeing. Why you leave Kumamoto? Ahhhh..I see… So, you are American… I am Palestinian. I want my family to live Japan with me. But it is impossible… Your government is bad. VERY bad. We are all disappoint ... read more

Osaka My second trip to Japan. My first in Kansai. KIX is cool. As the plane was making its descent, I could see the airport's runway and terminal, and it was huge. It's too bad it's not full of planes like LAX. I've read about the engineering and construction of the airport, and to be finally standing on it, it was very satisfying. I arrived in the evening (maybe 5 or 6 PM). It's been years since I've spoken Japanese, and I was afraid that people might not understand me (fortunately, I could still read, even some of the kanji). A friend once told me, if you don't know where to go, go to the green window. That was sound advice. The green window (Midori no mado) is the name of the Japan Rail (JR) service ... read more