RoundTwo

My second time in Japan has been just as magical as the first so far. Whilst the flights are always long and horrid, its all worth it in the end. Our hostel is another old family home converted by young hipsters into a cool hang out and hostel. All traditional style rooms may disturb some but im in my element. As always, the simplicity and grace of Japanese interior design fasciates me. The woman who owns the hostel is a 30y/o Japanese girl who often invites her friend over in the afternoon to party with the gaijin and make a ruckus; which is fine by us.

The first day we were here i took Alex around Osaka for a while, to the castle and finally on to some of the famous shopping districts such as Yodoyabashi Camera and Shinsaibashi. Whilst i had seen it all before, this place, like all places, changes with the seasons. The new fashions, the new colours, everything slightly different to before making this another new experience all over. I did not go to Yodoyabashi Camera last time however but now i know how it gets its name. Imagine JB Highfi, or some such store and multiply its intensity by 20, add a couple of hundred more people and 6 more floors and you have it! Amazing!

That night we came back and Kana the woman who ownes the hostel gave us some advice for heading out in Osaka. Osaka has a notorious night life scene. Its incredibly difficult for a foreigner (or even a Japanese person who didnt grow up in Osaka i have been told) to know where to go. Everything is hidden down back alleys, or in old apartment blocks or washed out old electronics stores. Kana suggested we check-out a place in the old 1980s Blade-runner esque district for a cheap tasty Osaka dinner then a cool underground bar area.

Dinner was amazing, Don-katsu which is essentially bread crumbed pork. But like all Japanese set menus dinner came with a huge number of accompanyments, beer and a smiley old Japanese lady who was overjoyed to have 4 Gaijin eating in her restaurant. So overjoyed in fact that her husband and herself offered us all gifts upon our meals commencement.

From there we walked up thorugh a mall called DenDen town (electronics town) which was closed at this time but still lit by colourful lights and advertisements. The bars we went to were in an old apartment block which was now filled with cheap takeaways at the bottom floor. We climbed an inconspicuous spiral stairwell onto the second level to what seemed to be an old apartment floor. But now, all the doors were open with music drifting down the hall and red lights beconing one inside. Its as if everyone on the floor decided to have a house party at the same time, and you only had to choose which door to enter. Toby would have had a haemorridge from all the options! We chose a small place that looked like a washed up old American bar. The two workers were taking shifts on the decks, playing OLD American hiphop. They invited us back on the 25th for their bars 2nd anniversary party.

Yesterday we just went out of town to a temple called Hasedera. But, i will leave Alex to tell you about that later. For now, we are off to Himeji to marvel at the castle and checkout a festival. Photos will be up soon. Please excuse the spelling, im in a hurry!