Osaka mi-saka.

11/29 Osaka, Japan Album

We got to Osaka and then had to take the rail to Shin-Imamiya. Turns out that the stop right before ours is called Imamiya. We get off here thinking it was ours. We start walking around looking for our hostel. I even asked a lil aisan woman from a convenient store and she pointed down the road. No hostel. We make our way back to the station, at which time we found out it was the wrong station. Ugh! There it is, the first mess up due to the language barrier. And we had all our gear with us and just traveled 2.5 hours on the Shinkansen. The Shinkansen are the bullet trains and there are 3. The slowest is the Kodari and it can reach speeds of 80mph. We were on the second fastest, the Hikari. And it was fast! The fastest is the Nozomi- but our rail pass doesn't cover travel on this train.

We finally got to Hotel Chuo. This time we got to keep our shoes and it had an elevator. Whew! We discovered the "amazing" SpaWorld was right around the corner from us. I mean the name says it all- they have spa rooms from all over the world. Anyway, Shawn and I went to check it out a couple days ago. Get this: SpaWorld House Rules state that No Tattoos are allowed. What?!?!? So I asked the girl behind the counter if it was for real. She had no clue what I was saying, so Shawn pulled down his shirt and showed her his family crest tat. Immediately she shook her head no. Really though, look at us! I think tattoos have roots with the Asian Mofia. So they are very strict with this rule- it was #1. Do we look Asian to you?

Screw SpaWorld- we didn't want to go there anyway- actually, we really wanted to go there. We were still sore from hiking Mount Fuji that it sounded perfect. Oh well. SpaWorld is located at Festival Gate- a fancy name for an outdoor shopping center. They have a rollercoaster that weaves in and out of the building. It wasn't in service this time of year, but you could just imagine how awesome it was.

One night, we went to check out one of the contenders for the largest restaurant in the world. Hmmm- one would think that it would have the largest menu in the world. Just like many food places in Japan, they have plastic food set up in glass bins, so you can see what they have to offer before sitting down. After a tour of food, we really weren't interested. As a matter of fact, I wasn't up for paying for something and not knowing what I was getting. And nothing appealed to Shawn at all. We walked away and right next door was a Denny's! Now that, I was in the mood for- pancakes here I come. So, unfortunately we still haven't dove into the cuisine, but we are attempting to. It's just... well, you know how Shawn and I are about food.

The next night, we went to the Kansei area to see a performance. An amatuer acting group with professional writers at Theatre Pochette. All proceeds go to charity. The play was 6 one- act shows called Love Came down at Christmas. They sold-out and then some- so the place was packed- they even brought in extra chairs for the aisles. It was really casual and funny, a really good show and a great group of people. Later on, we went to Ryan's Irish Pub down the road. Everyone was dancing, and having a great time.

Osaka turned out to be an interesting place- but we didn't want to stay longer than we did. As a matter fact, we left there to go back to the Tokyo area for a few days.