Day 3 - Irrasyaimase!

Today was really a two part day: before noon I went out on a rented bike and found the supermarkets and the 100 yen store, which would be like a dollar store if the exchange rate wasn't so crappy right now. Both of these were in a neighborhood of two story buildings that mixed residences and small businesses.

After noon, I walked/biked around the Kita area of Osaka, home to its shopping centers the likes of which I have never seen before.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The very first thing I did was meet a few of my dorm-mates. David and Eric are from Australia, Shane is from New Zealand, Mark is from France and Jason is from California. And they are all in Japan for the same reason: to teach English. At least I know that there are a number of friendly guys who know the area better than I do.

When I went to borrow a bike (it's 100 yen a day, which is about $1.20) Kazo-san was in a room with about a hundred of them. It seemed absurd when he only had about 15 rooms in the place, but then he told me that he also runs a bicycle repair business. In Osaka, and likely all of Japan, bicycles have an added rear wheel lock attached to the bike. It's like a built in bike lock, although the signs all recommend also using a bike lock wherever you can. Many more people use them to get around than in America, on average I saw three or four cyclists on any given street, and there were always at least 10 bikes chained up in front of major businesses. There are signs all over saying where cyclists can ride (which is pretty much everywhere) and where they can park. Altogether it is a much more cyclist-friendly city than, say, NYC.

While on my bicycle tour/quest for the dollar store, I realized why cars imported to America from Japan are always so compact. It's because all of their cars are compact. All of them. Even their dump trucks are about the size of American's large trucks. While we have gotten bigger and bigger over the years. Japan even has delivery trucks that are much smaller than even the taxi's here. They aren't shaped any differently, though, so they are just funny looking miniature delivery trucks.

I spent the second half of the day marvelling at the huge shopping district in Northern Osaka. All day I was in and out of shops, and each time you enter one the shopkeepers and/or shelf-stocking employees say "Irrasyaimase!" which basically means "welcome". I must have heard that literally 100 times today.

The 100-yen store was all bright colors and excited people, but even the man at the diamond store, who I expected to be more calm, was shouting out to passers-by about the great deals going on then. He was one of hundreds of stores in the underground mall that is about the size of a city block between two major train stations. One of the train stations itself has two stores, Lucua and a store owned by Japan Railways, that are similar in structure and content to a Sears or J.C. Penny's. Except that they were seven stories tall. Imagine for a moment 7 stories of Sears. It was intense.

After that, I went to the HEP building, which is one of the greater attractions in North Osaka, because of its ferris wheel. It also has a giant red whale on the first few floors.

 That wasn't a joke.

 The ferris wheel is planted on the 7th story of the building, and goes up to a height of about 150 meters. the view was incredible, and I have included them in a  gallery here. The rest of the pictures are here.

The last thing I did was to go to a Japanese candy store. One of my goals is to try new things here and the store was designed such that I could purchase a number of types of candy in a bag based on weight. When I tried to give my money to the cashier she gestured to a plate in front of her. I placed the bill there, and thats where she put the change. I remember vaguely something from one of my Japanese classes about passing money from hand to hand, but I can't remember it. That woman was the only person today to ask me to do that, so I think it may also have had something to do with personal preference.

So, I've explored the area around my dormitory today, and tomorrow I will target specific sites, including Liberty Osaka, the reason I chose Osaka over Tokyo. In the meantime, check out my pictures and feel free to email me your comments if you don't have an account that allows you to do so here. Alternatively, you can send them to me on facebook if we are friends on facebook.

Once more, goodnight (or good morning)

Cory