Advertisement
Published: October 18th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Don't jump!
Nick, Mike, and Mayumi on the bridge where people jump So the prior entry was titled by Mike as I was getting ready to leave Fumi's apt this morning. It was in reference to how crazy the Japanese language is. Mike said he thinks that's what he sounds like to the Japanese while everyone else just sounds normal. There were also a few things that were pointed out to me that I forgot to blog about yesterday. One was a guy on the subway who I actually have some video of (if I can figure out how to post it). He was this unfortunate 20-ish year-old, dressed in a suit with a backpack, and who was soooo tired that he was falling asleep standing up. And I don't mean that he just nodded off for a minute, I mean he
fell asleep. Each time he nodded off, he started falling over, and each session usually ended up with him falling. He even drooled at one point. I don't think he ever woke up. Nick suggested that he might actually have gone home, gone to bed, and is now sleep walking. It was so amusing that we stood outside the train at our stop and continued watching him for at least a
Crabby
The famous crab in the square in Osaka few more minutes. Laughing our butts off! The other bloggable item was the random DUI check. After Fumi picked us up from the train station, he was stopped by a cop in the street who had him roll down his window and blow in his face. I guess that's the low-tech breathalyzer. It was too funny!
Today, we started out with an amazing breakfast from Fumi's wife/fiancee. She had gotten up 2 hours earlier, actually
made bagels, and made bagel sandwiches of cream cheese and prosciutto. She also made this really yummy blueberry yogurt, vegetable soup, some weird egg thing, hot dog/sausage things, and sausage patties. Yum! How impressive. Oh, and I can't forget the fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice! Set the day off right! When we were done, Fumi dropped us off at the train station. We left for Osaka around noon, and got here about 3 hours later. Actually it was more like 4 with the transfer. We're in a town between Osaka and Kyoto (Takatsuki, but we're going to call it Osaka for arguments' sake) and staying with Mike's prior host mom. He lived here with her for 5 mos 7 years ago. But he's kept in touch,
Glico
The famous Glico sign in Osaka and his host mom even visited him in the US. He's also been back and visited, last time about 2 years ago. Actually, at his last visit, he showed up on the exact day that their son was having a baby. Tomorrow, we're supposed to meet with them and see the now 2-year-old son.
When we arrived at their house, we dropped our things and sat down for a while -- the normal custom in Japanese places I think. Their house is a nice 5-level or so place in a quiet suburb of Osaka. Each floor is not that big, so overall I think it equals out a normal house. But at least this time I have my own room. We sat and talked (which isn't as exciting if you don't speak Japanese) and pretty much just hung out til dinner, an hour later or so. Dinner was homemade curry rice, some hamburg thing, and a salad. Not too bad. Just before we sat to eat, their current student, Morgan, came home from his day on the town. Seems like an ok guy, but young -- a junior in college. He has midterms coming up, so we won't be seeing much of Morgan. Just after dinner, Mike's friend Meyumi (not to be confused with Megumi). She's a friend of his host mom's daughter. They met 7 years ago and have kept in touch since then. She came over and we all left for Osaka. We took more trains and subways, and finally made it to Osaka -- then we walked.
We found the square with the giant crab that's famous for some reason. Also the same place with the bridge that everyone jumps off when the Tigers win (their baseball team). Apparently people die when the Tigers win and people jump. Not to imagine that it looks like a sewer -- like jumping in the East River. Our only other destination/objective for the evening was a bar. We found an ok one called the Old Sontory (a whiskey) and had a drink. I finally found a bathroom in Japan that was disgusting (every one has been nicer than hotel bathrooms in the states -- whether it was a restaurant or a 711. Nice!). This one smelled like pee and had a wet floor -- I'll give you one guess what was on the floor. Drinks were ok, but really expensive. Too bad we couldn't find one of those all you can drink places here! I had a nice green tea and milk cocktail (yum! I think it was green tea liquour). Our next bar was more of a sports bar with darts, card games, board games, and jenga. Bees darts (or something like that) was ok, but $7 for a frickin glass of beer is a bit much. We played a game of Uno, then realized that we had to catch the 12:30 train home since they don't run after that in Osaka. How crappy is that??!! We made it back to our home base, but not before running into Mint, our Thai friend from the Sapporo Bier Garten, on the train. How random! She was in Osaka today doing lots of shopping. She leaves tomorrow, so no hanging out. Once we got back, it was still pretty early for a Sat evening, so we set off to find a place near the station. On the way, we stopped in a 711 so I could use the bathroom. And that was where I saw the 2nd dirtiest bathroom in Japan. ew
Where we did finally end up was the Japanese version of a Fridays, apparently. It wasn't bad, but there was a lot of smoking. Yech. We stayed for a drink, then headed back. All in all, a fun night out. Especially since I was tired to begin with.
I can't find my camera cord, so no pictures yet, but Ill upload some as son as I have a cord....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.225s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 19; qc: 65; dbt: 0.1705s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb