大阪 Osaka

MARCH 13, 2008

Our second day in Japan was spent exploring Namba, the area where our hotel was. Neither of us was willing to take on the daunting task of making our way to the station and trying to figure our the crazy train system! We tried to find Den Den town - the huge electronics district which is apparently only second to Akihabara in Tokyo. We’re pretty sure we never found it, but we did find many electronics stores. They are so much better stocked than the stores here in Canada. Want a hair dryer? There are over 30 models. Want a TV? Be prepared to spend a day looking at the different models. And speaking of looking...they make it easy because the stores are SO bright! And hot...we never figured that out.
In our meanderings, we stumbled on many different things all in that little area. We find a restaurant supply district (a bunch of tiny shops in a covered pedestrian street which is very common in Japan), the Sumo gym (there were Sumo wrestlers walking around the area in their traditional clothes. We later found out that there was a big tournament going on!), an enka theatre (traditional Japanese music) and a very futuristic, expensive mall.
We were greeting by comforting memories such as the shop clerks’ cries of いらっしゃいませ！(Welcome customers’ money!) and the constant background noise of announcements, ads and mysterious chiming. (We later figured out that was for the blind to indicate where doorways were.) Yui was surprised at how different the big city was from his hometown. People in Osaka are quite accustomed to 外国人 (foreigners), so I didn’t get the staring that I remembered so well from my time in Kasaoka. :(
In the evening we continued our meanderings throughout Namba and came across Dotombori, which may be the most flamboyant street in Osaka. It’s loud, crowded and epitomizes what many consider modern Japanese culture. Yui and I stared in awe as people weaved their way through the craziness, all forms of life represented, from respectable looking middle-aged folks to fame seeking teenagers each dressed just a bit more ridiculously than the previous.
One of my favourite memories from this day was getting up and out quite early, before any of the stores were open. The city was abuzz with men cleaning the streets and shopkeepers getting their stores ready for the influx of customers that would soon begin. It was not the type of thing you usually see as a tourist, or pay attention to as a citizen. There was a such a feeling of comfort watching people go about their daily business; business that happened before we got there and that is still going on now that we are gone.

Find more pictures of today at my flickr page!


ジェン