My trip to Japan didn’t end in Kyoto, I also was fortunate enough
to take in Osaka for a few days. The closest I had gotten to Osaka in the past
was owning one of those Superdry Osaka t-shirts that everyone had in the late
00s. Why were they so popular? Were Japanese people wearing t-shirts with
Bradford emblazoned on them? I didn’t see any while I was there.
The train didn’t take too long and I was out sightseeing
before lunch. First stop, the Shitenno-ji Temple. It’s the first official
temple ever built in all of Japan dating back to 593. And it seemed that they
were still building it.
Those scaffolders didn’t take the Zen vibe into
consideration much. I think even Gautama Buddha would have lost his rag trying
to meditate during that racket.
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| It looked better from this angle. |
Onto the next quieter sightseeing destination, and I ended up
at the Namba Yasaka Shrine. Some say it’s a huge lion’s head, others say it’s a
demon’s head. All I know is that it’s too big for my apartment. It’s actually a
platform where they stage performances. It’s over the top and tacky, but that’s
Japan. I liked it.
Next on the agenda – Nipponbashi. It’s a shopping district
popular with “otaku” (people who are fond of anime, manga, video games, and
such collectables) or “nerds” to most normal folk. I walked around wide-eyed.
What happened to Japan? The men have gone from samurai warriors and kamikaze
pilots to socially inept men who fall in love with a pillow.
OK, maybe that’s a
huge generalization, but these people exist in large numbers. I wandered the
streets questioning how anyone could be interested in such things.
I found a retro gaming shop. It was the one shop that I
genuinely enjoyed looking around, I suppose it was nostalgia more than
anything. Entire walls of SNESs, Nintendo 64s, PS1s, Gamecubes, Sega Mega
Drives, Dreamcasts, games and memorabilia. Maybe, just maybe my inner otaku
came out a little.
In the evening I looked around the areas of Shinsekai and
Dontonbori.
Dinner, a little sake, a few beers, and then bed was the
plan. I ended up meeting these two fun guys, Justin and Aaron. They were fun in
the “we love Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli” sort of way.
Justin, a professional dancer, and Aaron, a naval officer
(the two gayest professions after rent boy) had the audacity to ask me, one of
the butchest men wearing a pink t-shirt, if I was gay. You can imagine my
horror.
They were both staying at a Japanese pod/capsule hotel nearby.
Maybe it was a subconscious decision, fitting into tight spaces.
We were a Brit, an Aussie, and a Yank drinking in Osaka. It
sounds like the beginning of a terrible joke, but it turned out to a great
night and I got to bed at 5am. My own bed. I was drunk, but I wasn’t that
drunk.
The next morning, after shaking off the hangover, I took a
wander over to Osaka Castle. Probably Osaka’s most famous site. It played a
major role in the unification of Japan during the 16th century. This
blog is not only homophobic, but also informative.
I flew home the next day. I like Japan.
