A Hazy Journey to Osaka

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Smoke Gets To My Eyes

“Every morning at Yokohama, it was a common sight to see well dressed salarymen and working ladies literally running for their lives to reach their workplace on time. ”


"In expensive Japan, a part-time restaurant or sales staff can expect to earn more than 1000 yen (S$13.05) an hour. "

Day 4 of our Japan tour. We bidded farewell to Yokohama, before continued our journey 500 km westwards towards Osaka. Our main purpose was to visit the Universal Studios and the Osaka Castle which the city is proud of. And of course to enjoy the 2.5 hr bullet train ride. However, as it turned out, there was nothing worth enjoying as my cabin was filled with smoke. The cabin hasn't caught fire ~ just that I was relegated to a Smoking Car away from my 2 friends.

The train was fully booked today. This was quite unlikely on a Monday morning. I sat at seat 1A literally next to the toilet (fortunately no smell), another non-smoking ang moh sat at 1B where he was making his way to Kyoto. Seated at 1C was a Japanese man who was puffing non stop throughout the journey. I was praying that he would get down earlier to spare me the smoky agony which he didn’t. Sigh! Halfway through the journey, the ang moh left his seat (perhaps he couldn't stand the smoke anymore?) and happily joined his friend behind. By the time I reached Osaka Station in the afternoon, I stinked of cigarette smells.

Lesson learnt for non smokers: Reserved your train tickets early or be prepared to stink like me.

The day before, I tasted the juciest and sweetest strawberries ever in my life before stopping by at Kawasaki for the shabu shabu steamboat brunch. By afternoon, we had reached Odaiba, a waterfront city next to Tokyo Bay which was home for the Rainbow Bridge. We also stopped by the iconic Tokyo Tower & took some pictures to show that "hey, we've been there and done that". We didn't went up the tower as there were other free "viewing spots" elsewhere in Tokyo.

Our Japan trip so far was mainly sight seeing. I was so glad that we didn't had to spend too much time at the shopping malls because they were yet to be opened when we left our hotel in the morning. By the time we returned, they were closed for the day. Lucky!

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Photos

Memoirs of a Geisha ~ Our Bullet Train pulls through Kyoto Station
The first bullet train service, the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen connects Tokyo and Osaka sometime before the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.