Japan trip report, day 10
September 5, 2007
We are on the train to Nara, where we play to see the giant bronze Buddha at Todai-ji. It's a pleasant ride with view of rice paddies, tiled-roof homes, and green, forested mountains in the distance. We'll probably keep our visit to Nara short so that we can also make it to Osaka today.
This has been such a great trip so far. The other day we agreed that both felt oddly at home in Japan. Though we barely speak the language, read even less of it, and look nothing at all like the people around us, it still doesn't feel anywhere near as alien as I had imagined it might. I love the Japanese attention to detail and design, the way even the most mundane items are often made beautiful, or even just cute. Tiny useful details are not overlooked the way they usually are at home.
Having spent a few hours in Nara, we are now on the train to Osaka. We hopped a bus for Todai-ji and explored the temple which holds a great bronze Buddha, a bronze Kannon, two huge wooden warrior statues, and a pillar with a hold in it the exact width of one of the Buddha's nostrils. Tradition holds that anyone who can wriggle through will attain enlightenment. Trowa successfully squeezed through twice. I didn't even try. :)
Before leaving the temple we bought some postcards and souvenirs. We also paid for a roof tile for temple restoration; anyone could pay JPY1,000 to print one's name, address/hometown, date, and message on a tile with ink and brush. One day the temple will have a roof tile on it with our names -- a small slice of immortality. Such a deal!
On our way out we decided to feel the local deer some senbei (rice crackers). Tame deer roam all over Nara, and they are no fools -- they know very well when someone is buying senbei for them, and they barely wait for your to put away your change before they get all up in your grille and stick their noses in places you didn't expect to feel them. Poor sweetie nearly got sodomized by an antler! It sure did make for great filming, though. :)
I bought us some soft-serve cones (vanilla and green tea flavors) and we walked back to JR Nara-eki. We passed through the grounds of Kofuku-ji on the way so that we coudl see the 3-story and 5-story pagodas. As we passed the smaller one, we heard and saw a woman inside banging a drum and chanting -- in prayer, perhaps? We continued through a shopping district on our way to the station, caught the train, and here we are. Just a few more stops to Osaka.
Now we're sitting in a hole-in-the-wall okonomiyaki restaurant in the Shinsaibashi-suji shopping district of Osaka. I'm watching one of the cooks make ika-okonomiyaki for Trowa, a big pile of cabbage, noodles, squid, egg, and sauce. I ordered something with mochi and cheese...wonder what it'll be like? It's clear from the way the staff and patrons looked at us when we entered that they don't see Westerners often. It's also clear that they consider my vegetarianism quaint. Heh.
Oh, whoops, that wasn't Trowa's dish, but someone else's ika-teppanyaki. It did smell good.
As we disembarked at the station in Osaka this afternoon, we realized that we had no real plan except to wander around and hope to find interesting things to do. We settled on a visit to the Umeda Sky Building and Floating Garden, and that turned out to be a good move. An elevator takes you 35 stories up, and then you take an escalator another 4 stories or so to an enclosed observation deck. You can then go up another flight of stairs for the outdoors 360-degree walk. When you reach the top, you have the most amazing view of Osaka, the bay, and Kobe. It was well worth the visit.
We descended to the street and then caught a cab for Osaka-jo. Too late to see the inside, but not too late to stroll around the extensive grounds and admire the sunset, the moats, and the beautiful castle situated up high. After a while we moseyed on toward JR Morinomiya-eki, passing by a pretty fountain surrounded by a copse of oddly-shaped trees. They were almost Seussian. We also passed by several squats amongst the trees, tents of blue tarp.
So, we got on the subway for Shinsaibashi, and found ourselves at Mayumi restaurant ordering food from amused Japanese women. In fact, our food was delicious.
We've been ambling around the Minami entertainment district ever since, hoping to find a love hotel. No luck yet, but we did chance upon a third-floor bar, the Time Machine Bar, which is now mostly empty and is projecting Easy Rider, subtitled in Japanese, on the wall behind the bar while playing Elvis Costello's album My Aim Is True in the background. Trowa wishes to state for the record that he's drunk more beer during this trip thanin the past year. He got a Guinness, and I got a mango liqueur on the rocks. Mmm, mango-y.
Now he's asking the bartender if he knows of any love hotels nearby. Hee!
Well, the bartender didn't quite understand the question, so he couldn't help us. Not quite yet daunted, we returned to the shopping arcade and walked around, searching for telltale signs of love hotels. There were a few false positives, but then we found the Dotonbori neighborhood and...paydirt! The first place we found was the Hotel Pamplona, and we walked right in and chose a room.
The way you get a room in a love hotel is as follows:
So, um, we had fun with the restraints and a purchased toy. :) I have to say that there is nothing quite like sex in a Japanese love hotel, in a wacky theme room, with mirrors, toys, and Japanese lactation and gang-bang porn playing on the telly.
We took quick, but luxuriant, baths in Japanese style -- soap, shower, and rinse while sitting on a stool next to the tub, then immerse in a deep tub full of hot water for soaking -- paid up, and hailed a cab back to Osaka-eki. It was after 11:00 p.m. by that point, and we were mindful that we could miss our train to Kyoto altogether, so we didn't want to chance the subway. We arrived in just enough time to catch the JR rapid transit line at a few minutes to midnight. In fact, we should be pulling into Kyoto-eki soon.
Damn, this was a good day.
We are on the train to Nara, where we play to see the giant bronze Buddha at Todai-ji. It's a pleasant ride with view of rice paddies, tiled-roof homes, and green, forested mountains in the distance. We'll probably keep our visit to Nara short so that we can also make it to Osaka today.
This has been such a great trip so far. The other day we agreed that both felt oddly at home in Japan. Though we barely speak the language, read even less of it, and look nothing at all like the people around us, it still doesn't feel anywhere near as alien as I had imagined it might. I love the Japanese attention to detail and design, the way even the most mundane items are often made beautiful, or even just cute. Tiny useful details are not overlooked the way they usually are at home.
Having spent a few hours in Nara, we are now on the train to Osaka. We hopped a bus for Todai-ji and explored the temple which holds a great bronze Buddha, a bronze Kannon, two huge wooden warrior statues, and a pillar with a hold in it the exact width of one of the Buddha's nostrils. Tradition holds that anyone who can wriggle through will attain enlightenment. Trowa successfully squeezed through twice. I didn't even try. :)
Before leaving the temple we bought some postcards and souvenirs. We also paid for a roof tile for temple restoration; anyone could pay JPY1,000 to print one's name, address/hometown, date, and message on a tile with ink and brush. One day the temple will have a roof tile on it with our names -- a small slice of immortality. Such a deal!
On our way out we decided to feel the local deer some senbei (rice crackers). Tame deer roam all over Nara, and they are no fools -- they know very well when someone is buying senbei for them, and they barely wait for your to put away your change before they get all up in your grille and stick their noses in places you didn't expect to feel them. Poor sweetie nearly got sodomized by an antler! It sure did make for great filming, though. :)
I bought us some soft-serve cones (vanilla and green tea flavors) and we walked back to JR Nara-eki. We passed through the grounds of Kofuku-ji on the way so that we coudl see the 3-story and 5-story pagodas. As we passed the smaller one, we heard and saw a woman inside banging a drum and chanting -- in prayer, perhaps? We continued through a shopping district on our way to the station, caught the train, and here we are. Just a few more stops to Osaka.
Now we're sitting in a hole-in-the-wall okonomiyaki restaurant in the Shinsaibashi-suji shopping district of Osaka. I'm watching one of the cooks make ika-okonomiyaki for Trowa, a big pile of cabbage, noodles, squid, egg, and sauce. I ordered something with mochi and cheese...wonder what it'll be like? It's clear from the way the staff and patrons looked at us when we entered that they don't see Westerners often. It's also clear that they consider my vegetarianism quaint. Heh.
Oh, whoops, that wasn't Trowa's dish, but someone else's ika-teppanyaki. It did smell good.
As we disembarked at the station in Osaka this afternoon, we realized that we had no real plan except to wander around and hope to find interesting things to do. We settled on a visit to the Umeda Sky Building and Floating Garden, and that turned out to be a good move. An elevator takes you 35 stories up, and then you take an escalator another 4 stories or so to an enclosed observation deck. You can then go up another flight of stairs for the outdoors 360-degree walk. When you reach the top, you have the most amazing view of Osaka, the bay, and Kobe. It was well worth the visit.
We descended to the street and then caught a cab for Osaka-jo. Too late to see the inside, but not too late to stroll around the extensive grounds and admire the sunset, the moats, and the beautiful castle situated up high. After a while we moseyed on toward JR Morinomiya-eki, passing by a pretty fountain surrounded by a copse of oddly-shaped trees. They were almost Seussian. We also passed by several squats amongst the trees, tents of blue tarp.
So, we got on the subway for Shinsaibashi, and found ourselves at Mayumi restaurant ordering food from amused Japanese women. In fact, our food was delicious.
We've been ambling around the Minami entertainment district ever since, hoping to find a love hotel. No luck yet, but we did chance upon a third-floor bar, the Time Machine Bar, which is now mostly empty and is projecting Easy Rider, subtitled in Japanese, on the wall behind the bar while playing Elvis Costello's album My Aim Is True in the background. Trowa wishes to state for the record that he's drunk more beer during this trip thanin the past year. He got a Guinness, and I got a mango liqueur on the rocks. Mmm, mango-y.
Now he's asking the bartender if he knows of any love hotels nearby. Hee!
Well, the bartender didn't quite understand the question, so he couldn't help us. Not quite yet daunted, we returned to the shopping arcade and walked around, searching for telltale signs of love hotels. There were a few false positives, but then we found the Dotonbori neighborhood and...paydirt! The first place we found was the Hotel Pamplona, and we walked right in and chose a room.
The way you get a room in a love hotel is as follows:
- Check the lit-up board with numbered photos of the various rooms.
- Press the button corresponding to the number of your desired room
- Walk up to the counter with the small, curtained window, tell the attendant how long you want it ("rest" for short-term, "stay" for long-term), and receive your room key.
- Go to your room, open the door, walk in, shut the door.
- Get to it! :)
So, um, we had fun with the restraints and a purchased toy. :) I have to say that there is nothing quite like sex in a Japanese love hotel, in a wacky theme room, with mirrors, toys, and Japanese lactation and gang-bang porn playing on the telly.
We took quick, but luxuriant, baths in Japanese style -- soap, shower, and rinse while sitting on a stool next to the tub, then immerse in a deep tub full of hot water for soaking -- paid up, and hailed a cab back to Osaka-eki. It was after 11:00 p.m. by that point, and we were mindful that we could miss our train to Kyoto altogether, so we didn't want to chance the subway. We arrived in just enough time to catch the JR rapid transit line at a few minutes to midnight. In fact, we should be pulling into Kyoto-eki soon.
Damn, this was a good day.