Day 15: 15 April 2009

LOCATION: OSAKA
MOOD: UNFINISHED BUSINESS
LISTENING TO: THE OFFSPRING – CHANGE THE WORLD

SWIMMING WITH SHARKS:

Today was my last day in Osaka; tomorrow I leave the neon haze behind for greener (and more cultured) pastures in Kyoto. After a rainy day yesterday I decided that the best way to use my final day was to hit up the sights that I had missed the first time around.

The first stop on my list was the Osaka aquarium. I had initially been skeptical, but after a few recommendations from fellow travellers and locals (not to mention the clincher - a positive review in my Lonely Planet Guide) I was convinced that it was worth a shot. It didn't disappoint.

Random Cute Animal Picture No 001.

I'm not sure why, but this seal just looked sad without a big beachball to balance on its nose.

The aquarium is modelled after the so-called Pan Pacific Ring of Fire and Ring of Life. Starting north of Japan, a winding circuit takes you around the Pacific in a clockwise direction, culminating with marine life from Japan itself. As with the Osaka Museum of History, you start off on the top floor and wind your way down. It really is quite a trip, given that the ring of fire stretches all the way from North America to Antarctica to the Great Barrier Reef.

I'm not exactly sure why the sloth was included in the exhibit. He didn't particularly look like he wanted to be there either.

I tried humming the Happy Feet theme, but nothing. What are we paying these guys for, anyway?

The Great Barrier Reef exhibit. Just how I remembered it from when I was a kid.

There are of course the standard features of an aquarium: hundreds of different types of fish, interesting factoids and a gift shop. What sets Osaka aquarium apart is the breadth of its displays and its unique structure. A trip through will let you get up close and personal with every form of marine life from spider crabs to whale sharks, with a fair dose of cute furry animals (seals, penguins, otters) thrown in for good measure. If you can stand the squeeling of teenage girls at the dolphin section you can even stick around long enough to see them do a couple of tricks.

The Great Barrier Reef from the floor below.

The whale shark. I'm glad there were a few feet of acryllic glass between me and it.

For some reason that little fish was swimming below the manta ray. The ray tried to shake it off by doing a loop-the-loop, but it just ended up with the little fish swimming on top of it instead. It's nice to know that shameless mooching isn't a behaviour limited to our species.

As mentioned before, the other fantastic thing about the aquarium is its structure. It is multileveled, meaning that as you wind your way down you can get a different view. Particularly impressive is the central tank that houses the collossal whale shark, a fair few sting rays, a handful of octopi and a spectacular selection of fish.

Wouldn't be a Japanese aquarium without some puffer fish, would it?

Apparently I can look forward to catching some of these spider crabs in their natural habitat when I travel further south.

You should be warned, however, that Osaka aquarium is a perennial favourite of both locals and tourists. I had been warned against going on a weekend, so I went on a Wednesday. I had done so in the hope of avoiding the rush of young families that flood the place on weekends, but I ended up with a couple of school excursions instead. Add a pack of boistrous high school boys and a veritable herd of primary schoolers to the aforementioned squeeling teenage girls and you've got the equivalent of a coal-fired power plant in terms of noise pollution.

WHEN YOU RUN OUT OF TRAVEL STORIES, WRITE ABOUT FOOD:

After finishing up at the aquarium I headed to the nearby shopping mall to get a mid-morning snack. I was doing fairly well money-wise, so I decided to splurge 350 yen ($4.50) on a 'sakura-flavoured' ice cream. The result was spectacularly underwhelming – it tasted suspiciously like strawberry to me.

It sure didn't taste like Geishas and drinking sake under a full moon, that's for sure.

To add to my misfortune it was around that time that my trusty old pair of earphones died. Well, that's not entirely true – the left one died. Why is it always the left one? I've had close to ten pairs of earphones over the past eight or so years and it's always the left one that dies first. Anyway, I decided to check out Den-Den Town, the electronics capital of Osaka and its answer to Tokyo's Akihabara.

"Are you sure this is Den-Den Town?"
"Pretty sure, yep."

To be honest, this place was also kind of disappointing. Perhaps it's because Akihabara truly is in a class of its own, but I just didn't get the uber-geek vibe that had been so overwhelming in Akihabara. While Akihabara is a place with a unique character, Den-Den Town just feels like a bunch of electronics shops stuck together with a smattering of second hand CD stores and a few cheap eateries added in for variety. I stopped at one such eatery for lunch, then stuck around for a few hours browsing the stores. Japan seems to have an obsesssion with inner-ear earphones at the moment, but I resisted the temptation and got a regular set. The last thing I needed in an urban jungle were noise-cancelling eardrum destroyers. It's hard enough to tell when there's a cyclist behind you. I also managed to find the Tower Records that I had been searching for a few days back, although their selection was much more limited than the Tokyo branch's.

Lunch in Den-Den Town. I was considering trying the same meal in a can, which I'd seen selling in a nearby store, but I decided that it was a dish best served hot.

By then I had done a fair bit of walking and my camera was out of batteries so I went back to my hotel to charge it up and rest for a bit. Later that night I headed out to downtown Osaka for one last glimpse of the flashing lights and decided to continue my day of Japanese cuisine by trying Japan's answer to McDonalds: Moss Burger. Apart from the unique Japanese take on hamburgers, the thing that sets Moss Burger apart is its focus on the actual burger. When you order McDonalds you usually get a set, whereas with Moss Burger people are inclined to just get a burger with a complimentary glass of water. Interestingly enough, Moss Burger also has strong ties to the agricultural sector in Japan and spruiks an 'eat Japanese' policy. It would have been nice if that meant Wagyu beef in my burger, but it was still pretty tasty as it was.

Just look for the crimson arches.

This is the first time I've had a burger that actually looked like it did in the advertisement (see below).

The headline reads "Let's munch on Japan". Probably catchier in Japanese than it is in English.

The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. I went back to Amerika-Mura, checked out some clothes (didn't find anything I liked enough to buy) and sat on the banks of the Dotombori-gawa watching the night go by. It was a surprisingly relaxing end to a frenetic week in the party capital of Japan.

Day 14: 14 April 2009 (Osaka)

LOCATION: OSAKA
MOOD: EXHAUSTED
LISTENING TO: JAY-Z – 03 BONNIE AND CLYDE

WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?

I was up quite late last night, and given the amount of walking that I had done yesterday I slept in until around 10 this morning. Upon waking I took a look out the window and saw that it was raining heavily. Those two facts combined with the fact that I had a bit of admin stuff to cycle through (this blog, postcards, arranging accomodation for the next leg of my trip) led me to decide to spend the day in my hotel resting up and clearing the decks.

However once I had finished with the work I started reflecting on the past two weeks. It's normal for travellers to wax lyrical about the country they're visiting; after all, you're on holiday and you're in a good mood, and furthermore it's only polite to be complimentary about your hosts. However, in a break from tradition, the dreary rain-drenched concrete scene outside of my window has inspired me to come up with a list of things that suck about Japan. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here (I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be), but there's no point in pretending that there aren't aspects of Japan that drive me up the wall.

1. Cyclists:

Put it simply, I hate cyclists. Well, that's not entirely true. I don't mind cyclists in parks or velodromes, but bicycles in an urban environment are an endless source of irritation for me. Climate change be damned, I can't stand them. And Japan has plenty of them. Footpaths are especially broad in Japan, but even then the congestion is such that there's always bicycles blurring past you and careening head-first towards you. I've worked out the best way to ensure your safety is to just ignore them; try and move out of the way and you end up with that problem that you end up with walking down long corridors – you inevitably both evade in the same direction.

Nothing makes a statement like rocking up to the spot on two wheels. Right?

2. Lack of seats:

Put simply, unless you pay for a coffee or a meal there's literally nowhere to sit in Japan. It doesn't matter whether you're walking the street or walking in a shopping centre, you should keep moving until you get wherever you want to go and not stop for a rest. At points I found myself looking forward to train rides because I could finally have a seat (if I was lucky). There's a reason why homeless people flock to parks – they're the only damn places with benches. I would understand if there's not enough room for benches, but Japan places such a premium on broad public spaces that it's really difficult to understand who would be inconvenienced by placing seats at the sides.

Would it kill you to put in a bench?

3. Lack of trash cans:

This follows in a similar vein from number 2. I was told last time in Japan that the reason for the lack of bins is that this country doesn't really have much of an 'eating outdoors' culture. Perhaps that's true in the country (where I was last time), but in the city I see people eating outside all the time. Fair enough, they say that there's a positive correlation between the amount of bins a city has and the amount of trash on its footpaths, but in a convenience-obsessed country you would expect there to be a better way to dispose of your garbage than having to carry it with you to your destination.

I didn't have a random photo of garbage, so you'll have to put up with this photo of my bemusement instead.

4. Lack of street signs:

Navigating in Japan is usually pretty easy if you stick to the beaten tourist path; signs in English will usually point the way. Either that, or you can just follow the white people. However once you head off on your own navigating can become a tremendous pain. None of the cities I've been in so far have been planned cities; buildings have literally sprouted up wherever there has been room. Organic cities make for fantastic photos and create an amazing 'concrete jungle' atmosphere, but they're hell to find your way through. This is not helped by a lack of street signs; even on major roads, they don't print the road name, the signs just tell you which suburb you're in.

The problem with travelling alone is that you can't use the "I was following you" excuse.

5. Public obliviousness:

Japan is renowned as a polite society, and a Japanese friend once told me that Japanese people usually have the problem of thinking too much about others. In a relationship sense this is usually true; a lot of the communication is subtle and unspoken, with Japanese people preferring that you get their drift rather than having to say it plainly. However, in general movement on the street there have been a number of instances where the locals have been either oblivious or just plain rude. Walking directly in front of a person with a camera is one example, cutting directly in front of you in a queue for train tickets is another. Perhaps it's just because I'm in the big city, but it's just something I didn't really expect in Japan.

Camera rage. It's only a matter of time before it explodes.

6. Cash Money:

This is one of the stranger aspects of Japanese society. I cannot understand why Japan has been so resistant to both credit cards and cheques. Apparently it's preferable to carry around the equivalent of thousands of dollars in currency rather than install card readers. The height of this ridiculousness becomes apparent when you're booking accommodation online. You'll be charged a non-refundable deposit and booking fee (which has to be paid by credit card), but when you arrive you can't actually pay by card.

Sometimes it feels like I'm carrying this much currency.
(Cheers to Henry for this photo)

But those are really my only complaints about life here. Having studied Japanese society for a couple of years at uni I know that there are much deeper societal problems, but as a foreigner these are really the only things that irk me. But I've only been here two weeks – there's plenty of time for more irritants to service over the next 67 days.

Day 13: 13 April (Nara and Osaka)

LOCATION: NARA AND SHIN-SEKAI
MOOD: ADVENTUROUS
LISTENING TO: GOOD CHARLOTTE – BREAK APART HER HEART

CRACKERS, TREES AND BUDDHA:

It's forecast to rain tomorrow, so today I hopped on a train for Nara. Nara is a small-ish city about 45 minutes away from Osaka by train and most well known for Todai-Ji, the world's largest Buddha. To get to Todai-Ji you have to walk through Nara and up into the moutains, where the temple is nestled in the expansive Nara national park.

You also have to pass this McDonalds. I'm thinking of submitting this photo for Pulitzer consideration under the title 'East Meets West'.

I also passed by this pagoda, which was completely made out of wood. It's apparently the second-tallest wooden pagoda in Japan, pipped by a mere few centimetres by a pagoda in Kyoto. Why didn't they just do what Malaysia did with the twin towers and elongate the spike at the top?

Apart from Todai-Ji, the most iconic emblem of Nara is the deer: in ancient Japan they were afforded semi-divine status, and even now there are around 1200 wandering around the forest and the parks in the city. They're almost as tame as the pigeons in Fed Square/State Library, and if you buy deer crackers from any of the numerous street stalls you can feed them. I even had a couple of them follow me around looking for a bite to eat.

'Wazzup?'
'Nothin...just chillin', watchin' the game, havin' a brew...sup witchu?'

Although I wrote of eye-candy fatigue in my last entry, Todai-Ji was a big enough hit to jolt me back into action. The actual temple complex is impressive enough, but when you enter the shrine and see the massive Buddha it's hard not to be impressed by its size.

I don't think this photo really does justice to the scale of the operation, but it'll have to do. And to boot, this hall is actually two-thirds the size of the original. The little dots in front of the temple are people.

This freakish looking character is apparently a healing saint. You're supposed to rub the part of the statue that corresponds with the part of your body that's afflicted. One only hopes that STD rates were lower in the 16th century.

Well that's not really that impressive, is it?

Well ok then! Now THAT'S what I'm talking about.

After finishing up at Todai-Ji I decided to explore the rest of the park complex. The further you get away from the city the deeper you get into the forest, and the park descends into a maze of winding paths, small shops and temples. The scenery is really quite serene, and I could easily imagine myself coming back here just to chill out for a while if the need ever arises. I can easily imagine the local kids coming up here for some buddha, although not quite the type that the tourists come for.

I'm thinking of making a jigsaw puzzle out of this. You can place orders by e-mail.

'Yo brother, you got anything to eat? There's so much buddha around here that I've got the munchies and I'm just jonesing for some crackers...'

Country Road.

I took a peek around a couple of temples, but after a while they all started to look the same. So I did what every self-respecting tourist does when they get bored - I bought stuff. Like this Shinsengumi uniform. It was really only a matter of time before this blog got ridiculous.

For those not in the know, the Shinsengumi were a group of samurai who were essentially the enforcers for the military government that controlled Japan from around 1600 to 1868 when the government was overthrown by Imperialists who wanted to restore the Emperor to power.

This one's gonna come back to haunt me, but oh well.
Totally worth it.

I could have complemented my outfit with all manner of arcane weaponry, but getting it through customs would probably have led to a Matrix-esque debacle.

THE CITY OF LIGHTS:

After purchasing what is likely to be a constant source of embarassment when I run for President later on in life (oh yes I can!), I then decided that it was time to head home. I was pretty tired after a few days of fairly intense walking, so I decided to take a quick stroll back to Shin-Sekai to check out the Tsutenkaku Tower, which I had passed on last time I was there. I already had day shots of Osaka's skyline, and I wanted a few night shots to round out my collection.

Shin-Sekai by night.

Brushing off the aforementioned roving packs of youths and boozy hookers I made it to the tower and wandered around taking snaps of the blanket of lights that composed the Osaka skyline at night. It took a while to get the right settings on my camera to get decent pictures, and I made sure I took several of each shot just in case some of them came out blurry.

And this was with a point and shoot. Imagine what I could do with a chunky SLR and a tripod.

I'm glad I didn't come here during Earth Hour.

My hotel was down there somewhere. Don't make me go all Google Earth on you.

The only other thing to note about Tsutenkaku is the curious statue they have on the observation deck called Billiken. The strange sculpture was apparently created by an American early in the 20^th century, and is now the defacto mascot of Shin-Sekai. Legend has it that if you drop a coin in the donation box and rub his feet, your dream will come true. The inscription around the base of the sculpture designates Billiken 'The God of Things As They Ought to Be', but given the present state of the district he represents I figured that Billiken probably wasn't a deity whose help was worth invoking.

I felt a little guilty about going all the way up the tower and not dropping in a donation, but there was a pack of pretty young things there at the same time who gave the little fella a nice rub down after I had taken my photos.

Tsutenkaku Tower by night. Going from the serene hills of Nara to the neon chaos of Shin-Sekai was a bit jolting, but all in a good day's work.

PS: Sorry for all the stoner deer jokes. Once the idea got into my head I just couldn't get rid of it.

Day 12: 12 April 2009 (Osaka)

LOCATION: OSAKA (SHIN-SEKAI, TENNOUJI PARK, SHITENNOUJI)
MOOD: SATURATED
LISTENING TO: 2PAC – BETTER DAYZ

MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE:

Japan has a reputation overseas for being flashy, futuristic and clean. It's not until you've actually been to Japan that you realise that there's also a lot of really run down infrastructure and urban grit. This is particularly true in the area of town that I'm staying in, which probably explains why my hotel is as cheap as it is.

Welcome to the 'New World'. More 'Back to the Future' in my opinion.

I'm staying near a district known as Shin-Sekai ('New World'), an ironic name given that it is in effect a crusty, run-down entertainment complex. When it was founded it was intended to represent everything new, but since then progress has apparently forgotten this part of town. Shin-Sekai is a conglomeration of small eateries and pubs, pachinko parlors and bargain stores. It's not too bad when you walk around during the day, but at night it gets pretty dodgy. You get large packs of young men roaming the streets and not a few hookers past their prime asking if you want to get something to drink. It's best to keep your head down and keep walking. Pretending you don't speak Japanese also helps, but only with the hookers. Here's a few photos from Shin-Sekai:

Nice and wholesome during the day, not so much at night.

There were quite a lot of young families out during the day as there's a zoo and theme park just nearby.

At the centre of Shin-Sekai lies the crusty old Tsutenkaku tower, proudly brought to you by Hitachi. If that's not smart product placement, I don't know what is.

Also near my place is the Tennouji area, a major hub for the rail network and home to Tennouji Park and Shitennouji temple. Neither of them sounded too flash from what I'd read, but I figured that since they were in my neighbourhood I owed it to myself to take a look around. Tennouji Park is nice for a stroll on a Sunday afternoon, but given the other parks that I had been to in the past week and a half it didn't really impress me. The temple at Shitennouji was similarly underwhelming. The structures in themselves were interesting, but I was starting to develop eye-candy fatigue. That being said however, you probably haven't, so here are some photos:

I can't even get away from anti-war protesters on holiday. This was right next to the public bathrooms, and it was almost impossible to take a whizz when some high pitched woman was ranting about Afghanistan and Iraq. It also didn't help that the public bathrooms were particularly filthy.

Tennouji Park. The sakura were still in bloom and plenty of families were out enjoying the sun. Apparently on Sundays the homeless population of the park cranks out generators and mics and try to make some cash by holding impromptu open air karaoke sessions.

You didn't think I'd go an entire post without a gratuitous headshot, did you?

And the award for the most useless plaque goes to...

Shitennouji Temple. I made the unfortunate decision of touring the outskirts first, and by the time I finally got around to the main complex it was closing time.

One of the sub-temples on the perimeter. There was a priest conducting a ritual inside, but I figured it would be kind of hard to be zen with some random tourist snapping photos.

It's nice to see the LGBT community getting their representation among Japan's commemorative statue population.

Kind of hard to see at this resolution, but this little stone island was inhabited by turtles. I was considering tossing a vial of radioactive material at it and seeing whether I could make an army of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The big city waits for none, and neither does the grave.

If you want something you've got to work for it. I'm not quite sure whether it was actually a thousand paper cranes, but if it wasn't it sure looked pretty damn close.