Circling around town
Thursday 29th October
Today I got up early, had some breakfast and quickly checked out of the hoteru (hotel) in Himeji. A brisk walk back to the eki (station) was all that stood between me and the Shinkansen back to Ōsaka.
It still is a wonderful feeling to get on that densha (train) like it’s nothing more than a glorified chikatetsu (subway train) . xD
Once I got to Shin-ōsaka eki, I had to transfer to the Loop Line (which is a series of densha that either run fully or partially in a loop around Ōsaka) to take me to Fukushima eki, where I could transfer to Kujo via an (actual) chikatetsu line.
From there on it was another brisk walk to the apāto (apartment) which I had booked. This time the apāto is in a large biru (building) with many small studios that are being rented to who knows whom (with yours truly being the prime example, in this case). The neighborhood is nice and cozy with small uchi (houses) and a shopping mall with many kombibi (convenience stores) available.
But since I had checked out so early in Himeji (as was required), I also was in Ōsaka rather early. So much so that I took this opportunity to visit a small Harley Davidson ya (shop) , that was so small that all the merchandise they sold were clothes that were too small as well. Sorry dad! I will try again later, at another location, if I can manage.
After this, I went to the apāto. But since check in time was about 16h and momentary time was 12h, I decided to ask the host of it were possible to just leave the bag and let the cleanup crew do their thing, if so required.
Since an answer did not come right away, I went out to find a nice spot at the side of the road, where I could sit and pass the time reading. At that point the elderly man showed up. See previous post.
Soon though, I was told that it would be OK to leave my backpack. So, I did that (after again having to obtain a key via a special way) and was on my way. I just sanpo o shimashita (wandered) until I got to a kōen (park), Utsubokōen. It was nice and quiet over there and it was nice sitting in the sun.
Remarkable: there are huge sized wasp-like insects (by appearance), of which one had apparently been walking on my shoulder or so. Ugh. I think it was a hornet.
From there I sanpo o shimashita (walked) to Fukushima eki, where I took the densha to Ōsaka-jō-koen eki (literally: the station of Ōsaka castle’s park).
From here I would walk up to Ōsaka-jō, which, like Himeji-jō, is an ancient style castle, although the castle itself is not very old (only 70 years or so?). That’s because it got attacked and destroyed a lot. But Ōsakans be fond of their castle, so they rebuilt it many times. And it looks purdy.
There were many many tourists, by the way. There were almost more gaijin than Japanese. Almost.
Later I went back to the Loop Line, this time at Morinomiya eki. However, I had gotten an offer of my “host” in Himeji to show me around town in Ōsaka, Kohei.
I gladly took him up on his offer and after a wait instead (it was rush hour), he picked me up with his car (a Toyota hybrid, if I’m not mistaken) and together we took off for Namba, one of the nightlife districts. Well, that was a pretty sight, I can tell you that!
After some sanpo o shimasu and taking, we settled at an (apparently popular) little restaurant where we ate a soup with some tasty ingredients.
It was nice spending the evening with Kohei. He offered to take me to a bar for drinks which I was happy to accept. But unfortunately he at that point got a call that he had to immediately get back to work, to try and fix something.
We swapped phone numbers and Kohei offered to look me up in Kyoto in two days, which I think I would like.
After that I took the densha and chikatetsu to Koju eki and walked home. After visiting the kombini, I noticed something that made me remember something I had read at home, while booking the apāto. My apāto is situated in some kind of red light district. xD Maybe tomorrow I will investigate further.
Now I finally got to the apāto and got ready to take a shower. Except.. Then I noticed how the shower was not entirely clean. Looking further, there were wet towels hanging on the rack. And also the trash hadn’t been removed. It made me think what else was missed.
After contacting my host and reporting this, he apologized and offered a financial reduction. That sounds like a good deal, so we’ll see what happens.
Tomorrow, oh wait, it’s been tomorrow for over 2 hours already.. xD Anyways, I will be visiting Nara. I think I would like to just see what’s there, now that I’m in the neighborhood and can travel freely and without further expense on JR lines.
Presently I’m very tired from the loads of sanpo o shimasu I’ve been doing. I’m sure in Nara I’ll sanpo o shimasu some more.