osaka

Where thoughts and makeup melt. It is hot hot hot in Osaka this time of year and I must had rid my body of every toxin it had accumulated up to this point through the buckets of sweat I shed. I should really title this Osaka and Kyoto because we spent the first day in Kyoto; I didn't realize how close they are. We arrived in Kyoto after a long eight hour drive with Iwan alternating sleeping and playing on his cell phone. Yes you heard me correct he has a CELL PHONE. After thirty years of acting above us slaves to technology he now can not put his down. By the way Iwan was the only one who knew where we were going as James and I had never been there and kind of left the planning up to Iwan. We made it safe and sound though and decided to explore Kyoto a bit.

The boys had never seen a geisha so I was hoping that the street where mom and I had seen four would produce but it was a fruitless effort and we decided to push on the Kiyomizudera since Jim had missed that on his trip to Kyoto ( it is only the most famous temple and all). The streets of Gion are very traditional and provided a glimpse of life in older times but when we arrived at Kiyomizudera ...

That's right we had just missed the closing time by twenty minutes, if we hadn't have stopped at Starbucks for a nice cool drink we probably would have made it. I was all for sneaking in but the guys were not up to espionage and so we trudged back to the station for supper.

Looking a little weary after the long drive and from this picture my biceps would suggest I have been training with the German women's Olympic team.

Iwan had not made any reservations in Kyoto and we had arrived at the peak of Obon (Japanese holiday) so the hotels and youth hostel were stuffed to the brim. Iwan had been in this same situation before (I am not surprised he is kind of a fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy) and suggested we crash at a love hotel. Love hotels are mean for *love* and can only be booked by the night (or short stay) and are fairly cheap. They are also really cheesy with different themes and facades, think West Edmonton Mall for lovers. Anyhow, you drive up into a parking garage and each parking spot has a picture and price for a room. You then drive into the spot/ room you like where there is a convenient door that takes you straight to your room without having to see anyone. Our rooms were somewhat subdued only a large dumbo painted on the wall of one and a florescent light palm tree in the other. Biggest bed and bathtub I have seen in Japan and just as cheap as a regular hotel.

Next day we drove to Osaka and explored there a bit. It is only a 30 minutes train ride but it took us over and hour to get there by car. We went to Americamura, which is a supposedly an Americanized shopping district. I saw a few American stores and many wanna be hip hop shops but beyond that not too much caught my eye. Iwan was in heaven shopping for his reggae records and I think I happened upon a clothing store for transvestites (the shoes actually fit me).
Jim and I wanted to go on the trip to explore Osaka but Iwan wanted to go to shop for reggae records and see his girlfriend. Tomoko is very cool and speaks alot of English so she was great company and probably saved our butts a couple times.

Osaka is famous for takoyaki(octopus balls) and okonomiyaki. I really don't like the texture of octopus or the taste for that matter but I was all in for the okonomiyaki. We happened on a fairly famous shop and had to wait in a line for a while as there were only around 15 seats in the whole place. At some okonomiyaki restaurants you can make your own okonomiyaki and others they make it in front of you, this was of the second variety and after this experience I think I will let them make it from now on. It was delicious!

It is basically this pancake batter thing with meat and onion fried on the grill with a sauce spread on after. We ate directly off a grill like surface that ran along the seating. Here he is artfully applying the sauce.
After we went for a bit of a walk to work off the okonomiyaki and got a brilliant view of the city.

Our hotel in Osaka was a nice hotel but it was in a somewhat sleazy area with many "cabarets" and strip joints along the way. We stopped into an arcade because I was going to kick Jim's ass at taiko, again, and happened upon an interesting claw game. There are tons of claw games in Japan but this one contained g-string underwear in plastic balls (they were clean not of the used variety that apparently could be bought in vending machines). Jim was a ringer and got it on the first try. Always something new in Japan!

It was a Monday night with not much happening and we stumbled upon a bowling alley so went for a go. I had never been bowling with a big ball before (in Canada we typically go glow bowling with small balls) but I eventually caught on somewhat and it was a good time. Tomoko screamed at her ball the whole way down the lane but unfortunately it rarely listened.

The next day ventured out to Himeji Castle and the aquarium of which I will post pictures later. That day before we had happened upon an Outback steak house and decided to make it our last supper. In Japan portion sizes are much smaller and I think my stomach has shrunk somewhat and my skeptical look on my ability to finish this was justified. I ate most of the meat and left everything else. Jim can still pack it down though with a massive steak and 5 large glasses of diet coke. Iwan is simply a monster!