Osaka, Japan

Happy Wednesday!  Happy Tax Day!

Getting to Osaka, Japan

We arrived in Osaka two weeks ago on March 31, after a very long travel day.  Our flight to Osaka from Kuala Lumpur was not scheduled to leave until 2 AM the morning of March 31.  Because we had to be out of our AirBnB by 11 AM March 30, we were at the airport lounge for quite a bit of time.  About 5:30 PM, we received an email from the airline saying that due to “operational issues” we were not leaving until 5:15 AM.

There was a hotel right outside of the land side lounge (outside of security) we were hanging out in so we went over there and booked a room.

We got to Osaka a little after noon March 31 and it took us well over 2 hours to get through customs and get our bags.

I figured we were due for a bad travel day since we had been fortunate enough that all travel days since we left in September had been so very smooth and easy.

While we were walking from the train station to our AirBnB (which was only minutes from the train station) after leaving the airport, it started raining on us.  We ducked into a restaurant to get out of the rain since neither of us had eaten since the night before.  The restaurant turned out to be right around the corner from our AirBnB.

The AirBnB

The AirBnB is rather utilitarian.  I was looking forward to a fancy toilet like our last home stay in Osaka back in October but it is a much simpler toilet.  BUT - it still has a sink on the back of toilet on top of the tank that starts running when you flush the toilet.  This must be a thing in Japan.  No heated seat or music or complicated set of buttons on this one.

The apartment is long and narrow.  As you enter, there is a small place to take off your shoes.  You then step up into the extremely small galley kitchen with the toilet and shower rooms off to the left (they are completely separate rooms).  Then you go into the main room where there is a two-seater table and chairs to the left, various counter top kitchen appliances on the right, and Ricky and Lucy beds.  The balcony is on the other side of the beds.

What is odd is there is a little table with a rice cooker, electric kettle, toaster oven, and microwave but no place to plug them in where they sit.  You either have to move the appliance to the kitchen table or move a multi-plug extension from the other side of the room so Ami can trip and fall over the cord, to use any one of them, including the microwave.  It is so weird.

The place is very clean and the price includes a weekly cleaning. The beds are comfortable and the shower is hot with great water pressure.  And aren’t those the most important things?

We also LOVE the location of this AirBnB.  We are about a 10-minute walk from the entrance to the Osaka Castle grounds.  It is a beautiful place to walk and simply enjoy nature in the middle of a bustling city.

Osaka Castle and the Sakura

Why Osaka?

As you may remember, we were in Osaka right after we got off our cruise to Tokyo back in October.  It seems like a lifetime ago, I was standing on that packed train from Tokyo to Osaka for an hour and a half sweating like a snowman in a sauna.  That was one miserable train ride!

The purpose of being in Osaka then was some medical tourism - get our colonoscopies and my breast MRI.  However, we lost two days because we got stuck (happily so) for an extra two days on our cruise due to a typhoon.  Then we got to Osaka and our first day here was a national holiday.

As a result, we only had five days here, two being the weekend, and one day being a holiday.  That left 2 business days for 2 colonoscopy preps, 2 colonoscopies, and 1 breast MRI.  So we skipped that effort in Osaka and did it later in Da Nang Vietnam.

But those five days in Osaka whetted our appetite for Osaka.  We knew we were coming back to Japan in the spring for the cherry blossoms (we now know as Sakura) but had not decided exactly where that would be. We had read that the blossoms were wonderful at the Osaka Castle. So, of all the places in Japan to return to, we landed on Osaka as the choice.

We do not regret coming back here in the least.  We love it here!  The city itself is not as attractive as other cities.  For example, the skyline of Kuala Lumpur was beautiful. Here, the buildings are as utilitarian looking as our AirBnB.  Osaka was bombed out during World War II so most buildings were built after the war.

Osaka just has something that speaks to us.  Maybe it is because we have spent several months in places that felt more third-world than here.  We’ve been in places where if you drink the tap water, you get sick; where you can’t flush the toilet paper; where litter is commonplace; where you have to walk on the street because the sidewalks are adorned with motorbikes and seating for restaurants; where crossing the street is an art and risking your life if you aren’t bold enough to keep on walking no matter what vehicle is coming at you; and where you have to check the air quality daily to make sure you won’t have a breathing problem that day.  Part of it may be that while Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where we had just come from, had parts that we really loved, it was not our favorite place to stay for a month.

Don’t get me wrong, we really enjoyed all the places we visited.  We learned something from each place we’ve been and our lives have been enriched in so many ways by the things we have seen and the people we have met.  I don’t see how you can travel around the world and not realize there is more that connects us than divides us.

But Osaka is a breath of  fresh air, literally and figuratively. To answer your question, Jackie, so far, Osaka is our favorite place on this trip.

There are reasons we like it here other than just how it differs from some of the other places we have been on this trip.  Osaka is clean and orderly.  While I get the sense that the locals here would rather you speak Japanese and frankly be Japanese, they are kind and patient about our lack of conversational Japanese and Japaneseness.

While I think the people here are polite and kind because children here are raised to be that way and to follow very specific ways of doing things, they are still nice and helpful.  For example, when we stopped by the restaurant when we first got here because it was raining, when we left the restaurant, a man who was merely walking by the door of the restaurant as we were struggling with our luggage trying to get out the door, stopped and held the door for us to walk out onto the sidewalk more easily.  He wasn’t going into the restaurant; he was just walking by.

About Osaka

Osaka, the actual city, is populated by 2.81 million people and the greater urban area is the 10th largest urban area in the world at over 19 million people.

Getting Around

Public Transportation

The city, like most we have visited on this trip, has an extensive public transportation system. It consists of mostly trains (subway, elevated, ground, and monorail).  I am not sure I have seen many buses here. I know they have them because Google Maps gives me that option from time to time, but it is usually trains and walking.  Often you have to change trains to get anywhere here but they make it easy with signs and painted colored stripes on the ground corresponding to the color of the train line (blue line, red line, purple line, etc.).

Private Transportation

There is no Grab here and Uber is limited.  They have an app called Go which is mainly taxis, where you can call the taxi like you call a Grab or Uber and they give you a set price.  But we found the price of the taxis to be expensive.

While there are cars here, there are not many.  We have not seen a traffic problem here, not once. It’s probably because the public transportation is so widely used.

What you don’t see here which were prolific in Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, are motorbikes.  We have seen maybe a handful.  People just don’t have them here.

What they do have here are bicycles.  Lots and lots of bicycles. And walking.  I think it is wonderful!

Covered Streets

There are many covered streets around the city.  They are pedestrian only and have all manner of shopping, services, and restaurants.  They go on for blocks and blocks in a straight line and it seems each one has its own personality.

What is Life Like in Osaka?

Quiet

The first word that comes to mind is quiet.  You can walk the streets in the middle of the busiest time of day with people walking about, and it is quiet.  The Japanese do not appear to be a loud boisterous people.  They are calm and subdued, efficient in their acts and speech.

That’s probably why they don’t have motorcycles.  Motorcycles are loud.

Even the trains are quiet.  Never speak loudly on a train.  And if you have to talk to the person you are with - whisper.  They are the quietest trains you have ever been on.

Driving and Walking

Driving is on the left side of the road so presumably you should walk on the left side of the ample sidewalks, but they don’t always do that.  I think it is because there are always people riding bicycles on the sidewalk.  I think that is a negative of Osaka - having to dodge the bicycles on the sidewalks.

I read an article the other day where Japan has passed some stricter laws for cyclists and one of those was no riding on sidewalks.  If that is true, that law has not made it to the streets of Osaka!

Osakans are some cycling folk

Escalators

The odd thing about Osaka is the escalators.  While in other parts of Japan, just like you drive on the left, you ride the escalators on the left so that those in a hurry can walk up them on the right, Osaka is the opposite.  You do everything else on the left, like driving, but you better stand to the right on the escalators!  Doesn’t make any sense. 

Formality

Everything here is very formal.  Lots of bowing, which I have established, I love.  I don’t know why I love it, except that I find it charming.  Also, you don’t have to shake anyone’s hand which is likely more sanitary.

People here still wear suits.  During the work week you will see tons of people in suits.  Women don’t wear nice dresses.  They are in suits too.  And they are always dark suits.

The children even wear suits to school.  At least the older children do - junior high to high school aged.  Male and female. You see them during the week on the trains.  And they all have the exact same black backpacks.  You can’t have your own unique-style backpack; it appears there is a standard they have to adhere to with the backpack situation.

Even the little children have cute little uniforms with the cutest little caps.  I didn’t take pictures of this because I thought it would not be cool to take pictures of someone else’s children.

Children Following Rules

The reason I say the people here are compelled to follow the rules from a very early age is what we saw with toddler-aged children on daycare outings.  We have seen several groups of very young children (age 5 and under) on outings.  There is a very strict routine in how these children travel on these outings.  They must walk in a straight line two-by-two, holding the hand of the child they are walking next to.  They have two and often three workers on these outings watching the children.  There is always one adult in the front of the line and one in the back.  Sometimes they have a third roamer. If one of the children digress from this protocol, an adult is VERY quick to correct the child, whether a child tries to wander off or merely lets go of the hand of the child next to him/her. The correction is not mean or forceful.  It is a gentle but firm correction.  It was very clear that no deviation from this system would be tolerated.

Lines, Lines, and More Lines

They like to line up here.  I think this speaks to their orderliness.

When you are waiting for the train to arrive, you line up on the sides of the doors.  You must be on the sides so the people walking off the train can easily exit.  Once all have exited, the people on the sides can get on the train.  In a line.  There is no clump of people pushing to get on the train.  You do it quietly, orderly, and in a line.

Side Note:  Do not sit in the seats for the elderly, pregnant, or those with small children even if there are hardly any people on the train.  They WILL give you a look and it won’t be kind.  They simply don’t sit in these seats unless they meet the criteria. I made this mistake once realizing much later what I had done.

There are also random lines on the sidewalks into various businesses.  Some of them get very long.  I don’t know if these are just popular places or what else might be going on.  We see them nearly every day.

Vending Machines for Beverages

There are vending machines everywhere on the streets with cold and also hot drinks.  There are two right across the street from our building.  Just out there on the street against a wall.  And the prices are cheap.  Most places, a drink is only 100 yen, which at the current exchange rate is about 63 cents.  And they are not tiny, smaller versions of bottles.  They are regular-sized bottles.

If you go to touristy places, they will cost a bit more but we have never seen one more than 190 yen, which is about $1.19.

Random vending machine on the street

Automation

If you can automate something, they have done it here.

For example, the security in the mall was a robot.

Also, in most stores and in many restaurants, the collecting and dispensing of money is automated.  They tell you how much it costs and then direct you to the machine in front of them.  You dump all the change in at once and put all the bills in at the same time and it will dispense your correct amount of change.  The person working there never touches the money.

It took me a few days to figure out that you did not need to feed the coins or the bills one at a time.  I suspect I annoyed the hell out of the workers.

There are other examples of the automation but they are not coming to me at the moment.

Restaurant Conveniences

Many of the restaurants here will provide you with warm, individually wrapped wet disposable semi-cloth napkins - what we always called wet naps growing up.  They are handy but I can’t figure out if we are supposed to use them before the meal or after the meal.  I’ve done both.

Many restaurants and service places (like nail salons) will give you a basket to set your purse and other personal items in so you don’t have to set them on the floor.  In the U.S. we have solved this with hooks under bars and tables, but Osaka has opted for baskets.

Interesting Business Models

Times Car Rental

Times Car Rental is a very interesting business model.  There are parking lots all over the city for Times Cars.  From what I can see, you download an app to your phone and rent the cars by the hour or at 15 minute increments from the app.  I am not sure if you have to be a member and pay a monthly fee or if you just download the app and pay.  It appears you do not have to deliver the car back to the location you retrieved it from.  You just park it in a designated Times Car parking lot.  There are no attendants at these lots.

They say this is useful for a drive across town to shop or for day trips.  I suspect if you had a job across town and there are Times parking lots near your home and office, you could use it daily to get to/from work.

I think it’s fascinating!

Picnic Rental

Sunday we were at a restaurant called Focacciamo, which served sandwiches made with delicious homemade focaccia bread.  It is located across the street from the Osaka Castle grounds.  The restaurant has baskets and blankets you can rent for a picnic.  You fill out a 1-page form, pay 1000 yen (about $6.30), take a basket and a blanket along with your food.  Then you can hop across the street (not frogger style like in Vietnam, but nice and orderly at a crosswalk where you have patiently waited for the green walky man on the little screen to tell you it is your turn to cross the street) and have a lovely picnic in the free gardens. How wonderful is that?!

Baskets and blankets to choose from for you picnic

Cherry Blossoms

This is what they call “burying the lead” in journalism.

Cherry blossom season (Sakura) is the whole reason we returned to Japan.  This has been a dream of mine since I was a child.

This was not something Blaise really cared to do, but now that we have been here during this magical time, he has gone so far as to say, if you are going to go to Japan, you MUST do it during Sakura season and if you go any other time, you have missed out.

The cherry blossoms are nearly gone now but it was such a magical experience. For me.  I can’t speak for Blaise on this but he has admitted they are beautiful.  I actually teared up a couple of times as we walked among the blossoms.  Yeah, I know - I’m goofy.  I am sad they are gone.  But if they were around all year, would it really be as special?

There is a whole culture around the Sakura.  It is not merely a tourist spectacle. The people that live here get out to see them, to photograph them, to picnic under the trees, to spend time with friends and family enjoying the beauty.  Probably more so than the tourists.  One evening we saw a group of about 10 in suits sitting on a blanket, under the trees eating dinner.

The Japanese consider this a special time because Sakura bloom for only one or two weeks, and represent renewal, mortality, hope, and new beginnings.  More traditionally, Sakura represents the samurai spirit  - living extraordinarily and dying young.  I’ll skip that last part if I can help it.

Hanami is the tradition of friends and family gathering in temples and parks for parties, picnics, and socializing under the blooms.

There is a whole language or terminology surrounding Sakura.

Here are a few words I learned:

• Hanami - see above for the meaning

• Sakura Zensen - the forecast predicting bloom times

• Mankai - full bloom

• Sakuragari - traveling from place to place to view the blossoms (we did a lot of that)

• Hanafubuki - “flower snowstorm” is when the petals fall like snow

• Hazakura - the time when the flowers fall and the leaves appear

• Yozakura - visiting the illuminated cherry blossoms at night

There are many other words, but you get the gist.

A late bloomer we saw just yesterday.  These blossoms are fluffier than the ones we have seen previously.

Hazakura

Yozakura at the Castle

Getting Lost

We did get lost one day on the trains trying to get to the Expo ‘70 Commemorative Park to see the cherry blossoms.

Google Maps is generally fairly good here, getting us where we need to go efficiently - telling us which train to get on and which platform to use to hop on the train going the correct direction.

The day we went to the Expo ‘70 park, Google Maps failed us.

Google Maps told us to get on the express train.  I figured the stopping point was the train stop we needed since the expo park was pretty far out there.  Apparently Google Maps did not discern that this express train was going to skip our stop, along with every other stop.

After we got on the train, I looked down at my phone and Google Maps and we were all of the sudden 5 stops into our ride but had never actually stopped.  We were barreling through every station.  Pre-retired Ami would have freaked out.  But I didn’t.  Nor did Blaise.  We are retired and have all day to get there.

At the first stop, damn near to Kyoto, we got off, regrouped with Google Maps, and got on a new train going back from whence we came.  This one was a “semi express” train.  Like a dummy, I thought, OK, a semi-express won’t stop at every station, but it will make some stops.  And surely Google Maps knows what stops the semi express train will make.  I was wrong.  We overshot our stop.  We flew through all those train stations.

Again, we got off at the first stop on this “semi express” train and regrouped.

What we learned from this is to avoid any train that says “express” whether fully or semi express, if you are staying in the metro area.  If the train says “local” it will stop at every stop and you will eventually get where you need to go.

We arrived at the park about an hour and a half after we expected to.  It was an adventure and we learned something.

Things Other Than Cherry Blossoms

It is so nice to simply wander the streets here.  The sidewalks are wide and plentiful and not something we are used to after Vietnam and Cambodia.

We did the Go Karts yesterday which was so much fun!  I would do it again tomorrow if Blaise would.

Go Karting in the streets of Osaka

Tomorrow we are taking the bullet train to Hiroshima.  It is supposed to be very moving.  Hiroshima, not the bullet train.

I would like to take a day trip to Kyoto.  There is supposed to be a cool bamboo forest there.

We tried to go to a baseball game.  How much fun would that have been?!  There are two professional teams here in Osaka.  Sadly, all home games for both teams were sold out.

We met a semi-retired man at a coffee shop last week and he suggested a few places to visit so we will probably do a couple of those.

Next Steps

We leave on April 24 for Seoul, South Korea, where we hope to visit the DMZ and the Kukkiwon (the Tae Kwon Do international headquarters).

May 8th we fly to Tokyo and get on the Azamara Pursuit and head for Whittier, Alaska.

We have finally decided what to do once we get to Alaska and decided to stay on the Pursuit for the Alaska cruise that ends in Vancouver on June 1.   It is bought and paid for.

After that, we will head to North Dakota to visit some friends and then head back to Texas.

We have sold our house in Southlake and should close on it before we get home so we really don’t know where we will go once we get back to Texas.  We are looking to see what we can rent in Oklahoma so we can try to finish our house up there this summer or at least make substantial strides in that direction.

I can’t believe we are on the tail-end of this trip!