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Published: January 26th 2011
Ramen
Actual good tasting Japanese ramen.Dear Blog Readers,
This is a continuation of the Japan Travels blogs. To see Part 1, click
here .
Osaka
After checking in, we needed to get things out of our suitcases and go our separate ways. The men and women have separate floors and bath houses. It was at this point we noticed two things. Firstly, Laura’s perfume that she bought for little over £1 in Korea had burst and actually melted her eyeliner pencil. She seemed more concerned about the eyeliner pencil than the fact that her perfume is potentially melting her skin. We also noticed we’d forgotten our swimming costumes, but fortunately, this was one of those ‘Oh Asia’ moments as swimming costumes aren’t needed for the bath houses and saunas!
After dumping our things we went out into Osaka which really is awesome at night. The lights, noise and sheer number of people roaming the streets is truly breath-taking and my brain was seizing at the amount of things to see. We went into a few cool looking shops and found a great ramen restaurant. If you imagine a pot noodle and then throw it in the bin and then think of a delicious
broth with thick noodles inside it then you’ve got ramen. It’s pretty good in Korean but it’s in another league in Japan. It’s also dirt cheap too which is great because most meals cost a bomb here. You can find a ramen restaurant just by listening carefully because you’ll hear the sound of hungry people slurping their ramen out of their bowls at high volume. Slurping isn’t frowned upon here, in fact, it’s actively encouraged as the true way to enjoy ramen!
We got back to the hotel and went our separate ways. I got my things together and ventured into a relaxing naked bathing session. You have to shower and wash yourself before immersing yourself into these two huge warm baths which convert into a Jacuzzi at your choosing. There wasn’t anybody else there so I had the place to myself! I then ventured into the sauna which was reading 85C so I could only stay in for about 5 minutes before passing out. However, I didn’t even make 30 seconds as I sat down on the bench I felt my nose start running. A quick inspection meant the arrival of NC=2. Absolutely gutted. Why am I such
Side Streets
All of them are this cool. a nerd?
The capsule itself is actually quite cosy. It’s about 6 and half foot long and about 2 foot tall. You don’t get the sense that you’re in a coffin which is what I was worried about. I opted to have a capsule with a plug so we could charge up the laptop and camera. Laura opted for the TV but didn’t know how to turn it on. At about midnight the fire alarm started going off. I guess I should have been concerned being trapped inside a claustrophobic box and not really being able to read the Japanese telling you where the fire exits were. Instead I went back to sleep. It was only until the morning when Laura said she’d had to get out of her capsule because she smelt burning!
Inside the hotel you are supposed to wear the pyjamas that they provide. They are a dog-poo brown colour and you can even have the luxury of purchasing your very own to take home with you. There is also the option of buying a t-shirt or a “Japanese strap”(?!?). Anyway, as the fire alarm was going off Laura began to panic. Not about the
Capsule Hotel
Our accomodation fire alarm or the possibility of burning to death. No, it was because she’d gone to bed wearing her bright purple flowery fluffy pyjama trousers and her EPIK teacher which has the word ‘maestro’ scrawled across the back in numerous languages, including Japanese. Reluctantly, she got out of the bed and arrived at the assembly point to discover the other 6 women staying at the hotel were wearing the pyjamas that were provided.
We woke up and went for some breakfast. Japanese breakfasts seem to be similar to at home and they’re quite content to have a cup of tea or coffee with a pastry so we fitted right in. The tea is actually brilliant here so it’s got a big thumbs up from me! I even saw an old guy having a hot dog for breakfast so I’m now having a dilemma over which breakfast would have the least chance of stomaching. The hotdog or kimchi and rice?
We arrived at the subway station and tried to decipher what we were meant to do and where we were meant to be going. This took a lot longer than we anticipated. Ten minutes later we noticed a sign
Capsule
Not a coffin. which said, “No My Car Day Pass”. What? We enquired and found out that this was a day travel card but it was only valid on Fridays and the 20th of every month. Damn, it was Thursday. We’ll have to fork out an extra couple of quid. Just as we were about to put the money in the machine I looked at my watch and realised it was Thursday 20th January. Result. So off we went with our No My Car Day Pass!
We arrived at Osaka Castle shortly before lunch. The castle is amazing and much more different to the castles back in England. Built in 1583 by a workforce of hundreds of thousands, the castle was said to be indestructible. Thirty-two years later, the castle was destroyed and has been rebuilt to its present day state. We stopped off for a snack en route around the castle. I grabbed myself some “French fly chips” and Laura got a “beel”. We’ve come to notice that the men and women toilets are not necessarily separated by gender. Upon arriving in Japan, my first encounter with this was mid-stream when I turned my head and stood next to me was
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How in the souvenir could you not buy one of these? a small woman cleaning the toilet. Laura had a similar experience at the Castle when an old man walked straight into the ladies and offered her some toilet paper. Brilliant.
We then went to Kita and realised how good the country smells. I guess we’ve become so accustomed to the smell of rotting cabbage. We found a little gem of a restaurant and got an amazing meal at a really traditional Japanese restaurant. Underneath the table the floor is carved away so that you can actually sit at the table to avoid the getting uncomfortable whilst sitting cross legged. Genius. So with blood still circulating around the lower half of my legs, I was able to tuck into my “sautéed mung bean sprouts with pork unless specified”.
After filling ourselves up for dinner we headed towards Umeda, and more specifically, the Sky Building. This had a see through lift all the way to the 173m top which was nearly as bad as Gyro Drop at Lotte World! We then had a see through escalator to the observation deck. We managed to see the sun setting along the river and got to see Osaka by night where it really
Disney Store
Where the store attendants are actually about 13 years old. came alive. We went back to the area around our hotel and did what Laura knows I love best, shopping. This included the Disney Store, which unlike other Disney Stores; the store attendants actually look about 13 years old. I picked up a few toys and wiped away the blood of the small Indian child whose hands intricately stitched the fabric together. I then pondered over the ‘Disney Mobile’ that they were selling. It seemed like they were bringing out their own contract phones. I can just imagine them ripping off small children who have no idea what they are buying. We then visited a clothes shop which had four and a half floors for women’s clothes and half a floor for men’s. Half a floor! To rub salt into the already gaping wound of shopping was that there was no sign saying, “Those of a highly heterosexual disposition please turn away now”, since the clothes I was looking at in the men’s section clearly belonged to one of the other four and a half floors.
Anyway, it was back to the capsule hotel for a relaxing spa, this time, only a small nosebleed whilst I was having a
shave with a terrible razor. I got tucked up into bed and drifted off to sleep. It was all very peaceful until about 2am when I awoke to what sounded like a group of women being assaulted in the capsule next to me. It then dawned on me that a metre away from me was a filthy man watching porno on his TV which he’d managed to work out how to use. This level of smut left a scar on the capsule hotel that I didn’t want, but I guess it was a possibility that came with the territory of a type of hotel which can attract this sort of clientele.
Onwards to Tokyo!
Tink and Laua
PS: Japan Travels Part 3 - Tokyo ... coming soon!
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Gavin
non-member comment
Womb
Brilliance! Was the floor slippery in Womb?