First impressions are everything in Japan, and my first impressions of Osaka were...
Well let's just leave it at 'not favourable.' If I were a magic eightball, I would probably say something along the lines of, 'the outlook is bleak.'
I arrived extremely late, because I was having so much fun in Kyoto that I forgot I was supposed to go to Osaka; (a couple more Kyoto posts to arrive on your desktop at a later date) so I didn't have anywhere to stay that night. This is not uncommon, as I've not booked accommodation since I've been here, travel information or other tourists have provided me with places to stay. Not to mention the amazing house I stayed in, and hopefully will stay in again before I head back. (More on that later, as well).
So I met a dutch guy, a Japanese guy, and then an Italian guy on the train from Kyoto to Osaka. The first two were here on business, the Japanese guy was showing the Dutch guy around, because the Japanese guys' company buys a lot of stuff from Mr.Dutchmans' company. This surprised me, I didn't think Holland had much of an export industry. Anyway, they were shocked at my lack of preparation, and I explained that things usually end up alright in the end.
At this point the Italian guy hopped onto the train. So we were all laughing at my struggling with my bag, (or maybe it was only them laughing?) and a conversation started. It turns out the Italian guy was on his way back from a sightseeing trip, so I asked him where he was staying. This is how I ended up where I am now, and is pretty much in keeping with the philosophy of my trip so far.
I've not seen the Italian guy since, but your name is Fabio, and I thank you, sir. Your English is also excellent. And yes, Japanese people are afraid of everyone non-Asian, don't worry, it's not just you, you don't smell.
So the first day of actual exploring began extremely late, due to me being very tired and forgetting to set my alarm. I won't tell you exactly what time I awoke, for you would be ashamed; let's just say it was well into the afternoon.
I went for a soak in the sento, which is kind of like an indoor onsen, which is like a natural hot spring bath thing. So it's essentially an indoor hotspring bath affair - I promise it's a lot better than it sounds. A short while later I went and found a restaurant, sampled some more of Japans' delicacies and headed around the area. I spent an awfully long time walking around, and have a vivid map of the area in my mind.
Unfortunately I walked into the red light district of Osaka straight away, which reminded me tremendously of Amsterdam. And this pretty much sums up my impressions of Osaka. It's like a European city. If you read Chris's (the photographer) website, you'll notice he uses the word 'hedonistic,' a few times when writing about Osaka. To be honest I think 'hedonistic,' was on his 'word of the day,' calendar when he was writing his website, because it appears a few times. I would describe Osaka as, 'dirty,' if I were brutally honest, and 'extremely interesting,' if I were feeling particularly kind at the time of writing.
It is dirty. It is more dirty than Tokyo, and Tokyo has ten times the population living in it. Having now been to a few areas, there are some clean tourist and working areas, but generally speaking it's not an attractive place to look at. There is a far higher concentration of homeless than in Tokyo. Even counting for the fact that my accommodation is probably in the worst area (the price is ridiculously cheap; to the point of it being cheaper to live here than in an apartment) in Osaka, it has a serious homeless problem. I stayed in the area reknowned for deprivation based problems in Tokyo, and it wasn't as bad as here.
Brothels and homeless aside, everything is extremely cheap, and the people are extremely friendly. If you haven't spotted where this is going yet, I think Osaka should twin with Hull. I wouldn't be surprised if they already were. The people in both cities seem to be extremely simple, straight minded people who want to live their lives in the moment, rather than looking for the big bucks cities like Tokyo or London offer.
I noted in an earlier post that it's the similarities that astound me, more so than the differences. Although Hull doesn't have the population, or economic importance of Osaka, both are very similar.
I walked into Osaka expecting to see something akin to what I'd seen elsewhere in Japan, and was shocked to see something so completely different. I walked into Hull expecting the worst, but it did me well; and I'll never forget it.
So we now move onto the real purpose of this entry: I visited Osaka castle today. It's just about the only kind of culture in Osaka, as far as I can discern. (Zoo's, while fun, don't count as culture.) Upon walking around I was attacked by hundreds of small school children, and Chinese people.
The children I don't mind, they run around and shout, are obnoxious and occasionally say hello. The Chinese on the other hand, were annoying as hell today. They barge you out of the way, like the elderly Japanese, as if they own the place, (regardless of age) and walk around everywhere shouting. Even if there are only three people in a room, myself and two Chinese, my eardrums still bleed by the end of the encounter. Listen up China, you will soon rule the world, we all know this, but you don't have to take Americas' approach to travel; THERE IS NO NEED TO SHOUT EVERYWHERE YOU GO. Really. No need.
Apart from this, the trip was generally successful; I enjoyed Japans' second best castle (according to an old boy who sat down and started a conversation in Japanese I only barely understood) and am now looking forward to Himeji, Japans' number one castle.
You can actually see the sky here, which you can't in Tokyo; that's a definite plus on behalf of this medium sized city.
This is on my way to the castle. Again, lack of planning only slightly hampered my expedition, as I ambled around asking anyone who would listen where the nearest train station was.
It's fitting that Japans grottiest city has ties with Scotland.
Nuff' said.
Next time I walk into a university, I want to be bombarded with offers of how to make chocolate cakes.
If this doesn't happen I will be seriously disappointed.
Even though they're not as high as the ones in Tokyo.
And even though they're too high to be considered as picturesque as the ones in Kyoto...
There are a number of visible towers overlooking the outer walls, and the moat is collosal. There were people fishing out of it.
You can see the modernity of the city nestled in the background of this picture.
I think they're chrysanthemums, based on my limited knowledge of Japanese, I took a guess at the name.
Feel free to correct me.
The clouds didn't post a problem, and the view was fantastic, as you'll see below.
I still have the crippling need to bend into every doorway, just incase. I fear this will make me look a fool in England.
Inside it's just basically a giant tourist attraction. It's been gutted so many times in so any different wars that there's nothing left of the original place, so they just put in a lot of plastic and showy lights.
It's really a lot better than even this picture shows.
From up here you can't see the dirt, so the city looks like any other metropolitan area.
It's amazingly peaceful just metres away from all the schoolchild based hubub right at the base of the castle.
It's a really nice place to just sit down and take in the surroundings. It's free too, until you enter the castle proper. A lot of businessmen and women were enjoying lunch at the time of me taking this photo.
This pretty much sums up Osaka. It's ugly, but it's big and not going anywhere fast, so get used to it.
Well; that's my opinion anyway.
And you can see this thing from everywhere, just like the other towers in the other cities.
That's it for the blog entries today, I'll add my other Kyoto pictures, including the matsuri pictures at a later date.
10/10 on the flowers, Mum
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