Osaka: another big, bustling, grey city

I got to Osaka about 4 hours after leaving Sendai (man I love the shinkansens), so thankfully it was still light out (I've grown to dislike arriving in new big cities at night after my experiences in Shanghai and Tokyo), and I easily found my way over to the hostel, Guesthouse KOMA. Like I mentioned before, I tried my best to wing as much of the trip as possible, but it's hard to do it in a country like Japan, and I fully realized it staying in Osaka. I actually had no intentions of staying in Osaka. I wanted to stay in Kyoto for a week, and visit Osaka as a day trip (since it's only 15 minutes away by shinkansen), but because I planned the rest of my trip on my last day in Sapporo, I found there was no room in any of the hostels in Kyoto for the first 2 nights of the week, and only the decent hostels in Osaka had open spaces left. So I guess the trade-off of trying to do a freestyle trip is having to stay at some not-so-clean hostels every now and then. Guesthouse KOMA was this, surprisingly dirty (which was strange since it was Japan)...it was almost as dirty as my rooms in Shanghai! But at least this time I knew what to expect going in (based on the reviews I read) so it wasn't a shock to me like in Shanghai. It was the best rated hostel left in Osaka with available beds...I can't even imagine what the other remaining hostels must have been like. Dirty kitchen and bathrooms, one dingy shower (for the entire hostel!), makeshift lockers, reported bed bug problems (luckily my bed had none), and not the friendliest staff around (also surprising for Japan)...I definitely would not recommend this place to other travellers. But thankfully it was only for 2 nights.

Arriving in Osaka (Shin-Osaka is the name of the train station where the shinkansen stops for Osaka).


Guesthouse KOMA. The one cool thing about the hostel was that I got to stay in the tatami mat dorm room (versus the dirtier regular-styled dorm rooms).

Anyway, by the time I got settled, the sun was already starting to set, so I decided to walk over to the famous night district of Osaka known as Dotonbori since it was within walking distance. It took a bit of wandering around to get there since the road on the map that appeared to lead directly from the hostel to the area actually had a break midway. So I ended up wandering a bit north first and ended up in the Shinsaibashi shopping arcade just north of Dotonbori. This place was packed, and it only got worse as I made my way closer to Dotonbori. By the time I got to the popular walking bridge called Ebisubashi bridge (which connects the Shinsaibashi shopping area with the Ebisubashi shopping area), there was not a single floor space that wasn't occupied by a body. But I could see why this area was such a popular tourist attraction - the arcade, which runs parallel to the Dotonbori canal, was lined with a variety of restaurants and food stalls that filled the air with fragrant odours, bustling game and pachinko centres, the usual busy souvenir shops, and more shops selling everything from unique Japanese snacks and candies to clothes and DVDs. And no matter what the buildings were used for, every building along the arcade was lit up like an over-decorated Christmas tree...I've never been to Manhattan, but I'm pretty sure the Dotonbori arcade could easily rival Manhattan at night in terms of the number of flashy neon lights and billboards in use. It made for a great night/metropolis atmosphere.

On the way to Dotonbori. This shot is from a bridge near the hostel overlooking the Dotonbori canal.


Shinsaibashi shopping arcade.


Approaching Dotonbori arcade from the Ebisubashi bridge...look at all the people!


The bright lights around Ebisubashi bridge.


Along Dotonbori arcade and some of its interesting buildings. The second photo is of the Shochikuza theatre.

One of the culinary specialties of Osaka was takoyaki - a popular Japanese snack/meal (depending on your appetite I guess) of diced baby octopus cooked in batter and topped with aonori (dried green seaweed powder), okonomiyaki sauce, and bonito flakes. I really wanted to try it, and the arcade was the perfect place - it was lined with several food stands selling the stuff, the majority of them with long line-ups...so I chose the one that had a moderate line-up because I didn't feel like waiting forever. I ordered a serving of 10 balls (they have a diametre of about an inch or so?)...I didn't expect them to be my only thing for dinner, but they were surprisingly filling (and I was used to eating less by now). After a 15 minute wait, I finally got to try them. Quite tasty - the outside was slightly crispy, but inside the batter was still quite soft, which was instantly contrasted by the chewiness of the baby octopus.

Making of the takoyaki - they're made in what looked like cast iron tray specifically designed for takoyaki (or something of a spherical nature).


My first time trying takoyaki.

After my quick dinner, I headed down to another area known as Nipponbashi...I prefer it's other name "Den Den Town"...an area full of shops selling electronics (new and used), similar to Akihabara in Tokyo. By the time I got there, it was near closing time so most of the shops were starting to close up. There was a 7-floor store there called Shanghai XTD that was dedicated purely to the Chinese customer (with sales people who spoke fluent Mandarin!), which was surprising to see. After briefly browsing through a few open-box netbooks, I made my way over to the nearby shopping alley known as Doguya-suji arcade, a shopping arcade with shops that only sell kitchenware and related things. It's where restaurants come to buy their supplies, as well as the fake food models that many Japanese restaurants use in their front window display cases to showcase what they serve...unfortunately all the shops were closed when I got there, so I didn't get to see anything interesting. So I started to work my way back to the hostel, passing through Ebisubashi shopping arcade along the way (which has a ridiculous number of pachinko parlours - basically Japanese psuedo-gambling centres that use pinballs instead of money, and where only prizes can be exchanged for the winnings, since gambling is illegal in Japan...since photos aren't allowed in the centres, it's better if you just Wikipedia it to get a better idea of what I mean), and then through some random streets.

Den Den Town.


One of the many pachinko parlours in Ebisubashi shopping arcade.


Some of the interesting buildings on the walk back. The first photo is of an entertainment complex building called Namba Hips, and the cool thing about the building is that the peanut shape space houses a 74m freefall ride...but I didn't ride it, it was quite pricey for just a freefall ride. The second photo is what I can only asume to be a shopping plaza, because there was a different clothing display in each of those many windows.


A rare look (at least for me) inside a Japanese ambulance...I happened to pass it was I wandered through random roads back to the hostel.


Along the same street where I saw the ambulance, I passed by the interestingly designed Dotonbori Hotel.


A view of the Dotonbori canal as I got closer to the hostel (west of the Dotonbori arcade). This small area had a couple of upscale restaurants. The large crowd in the background was wedding party leaving one of the restaurants. It was strange - when I passed by the group, a couple police officers were questioning some members of the party, and I saw some wet footprints near rail beside the canal, and a few pieces of clothes nearby...I guess someone got a little too drunk and decided a swim would be nice?


A bag of 4 different baked goodies I picked up along the walk back. They were a "deal" (in Japan) - I passed by a bakery as it was closing that was selling the leftovers of the day at a reduced price...just under $4 CDN for the bag.