nothing to prove

party people

Lately I have been spending more time traveling than sleeping but that is what I get for wanting to see as much of Asia as I can while I am still over here. The most recent trip was Osaka. On Friday I had to get up bright and early to head over to Melissa's apartment so we could head to the airport together. After a short hour flight we were in Osaka. Apparently not getting enough sleep affects my ability to read maps because I was struggling with directions all weekend, something I normally can hold my own with. Once into central Osaka we checked our bags at the hotel and headed towards the Umeda Sky Building. It was there that we got a couple of beers and some microwaved karage (fried chicken) for an afternoon snack. The view of the city was gorgeous and it seemed that our luck of great traveling weather continued.


Next we wandered more around the Umeda area and headed to this giant ferris wheel, which Japan has too many of, that was located in the HEP5 building. Along the way we were trying to look for lunch but in the end waited until we got there. Luckily Melissa wasn't in the mood for any Japanese food because we found a Subway there! Oddly enough we had been talking all morning about how awesome it would be to find one and have an actual sub sandwich. After the amazing lunch we wandered the rest of the mall randomly shopping at stores. It was here that, with Melissa's help, I managed to get a cool pair of Aviator sunglasses. I will be the first to admit that I don't look great in many pairs of sunglasses but these are definitely awesome.


When I studied abroad we had a whole class on Japanese culture so I thought that it would be a good idea to check that out while we where in Osaka. Bunraku is traditional Japanese puppetry that involves up to three people manipulating each puppet. With all that in mind we headed to the National Bunraku Theater but they don't tell you that Bunraku is only performed there at certain times of the year. Needless to say the last weekend in February is not one of those times.

Instead we took a long walk and found ourselves in Dotonburi, which is one of the large entertainment districts in Japan. It was here we managed to find this awesome pirikura (print club) both and rockstar it out. Afterwards I read in one of the guides that there was a nearby shrine, Houzen-ji, so I asked the local kimono wearing flag bearer where it was. If you look in any way foreign they tend to take you places instead of giving you directions, which is exactly what this guy did after handing over his flag to his police uniform wearing partner. At the shrine you do the typical coin toss into the wooden box but then you toss water a few times on the shrine to ensure good luck for the evening.



At that point in the evening it was time to actually check into our apartment and get ready for a night out. There are plenty of people from St. John's and St. Ben's down in Osaka and we took the opportunity to reunite and party it up. We met April Becker, who I was an English camp counselor with a couple summers ago, and Mike Staffa, who was my Biology TA sophomore year, for dinner in Umeda. The two that were supposed to know where we were going got a tad lost so we ended up walking into a random restaurant to get some food and drinks. Suprisingly enough the food and drinks were really good so the night was well on its way.


The Irish pub was next on the list of places to go and it was here that a bunch of ALT's were having a concert. April found some of her friends here and we met up with Staffa's friend Blaine, who I also randomly knew, as well. However, the first thing we did upon entering the bar was grab a round of Jager Bombs and it felt like we were at Sal's all over again.

After a few more beers Staffa had to ditch out and the rest of us headed to the next bar called Caligula. We ended up walking there which turned out to be the better part of an hour and when we got to the bar there was a "drag show" going on. Let me just say that I think the Japanese version of a drag show is considerably different that the American one. In Japan it seems they like to flaunt the fact that they are guys dressed as women, which is fine, and they make no effort to do a great job on makeup or attire. Maybe it was just the bar we were at. The girls weren't having quite as good of a time so they decided to head back a little early. Blaine and I thought otherwise so we continued to drink and talk well into the night before crashing.


After getting around four hours of sleep it was time to get up and head out to our next set of adventures for the day. The first stop being Himeji city where the most famous and beautiful castle in all of Japan is located. It is here that we met up with another one of my friends from college, Marian, who I had nearly every art class in college with. Once again luck was on our side weather wise and we had another gorgeous day to play around outside in. All the sun seemed to get the best of us as we strolled through the castle taking ridiculous pictures as we went. We sat down for a quick lunch and then headed off to Kobe.



Truth be told there wasn't a whole lot to actually do in Kobe but it was a gorgeous site. The city is relatively new because it was practically leveled in an earthquake about ten years ago. Sparkling new buildings combined with a great harbor view made for a nice afternoon walk. We managed to make it through a few parks and a mall before parting ways with Marian to get ready for our second night out.



Since we were feeling kind of drained from the day and lacked sleep from the previous night, a power nap was in order. Once we were up and ready, we met Blaine for dinner at an actual Mexican restaurant where we got some good Mexican food coupled with Margaritas. Then we met April and Marian, who had just finished up with a concert in Kobe, downstairs. It was there that we got to take a picture in front of the famous neon sign of a running man, don't ask me. From there we headed to a nearby bar where we were debating our next moves for the night.

In the end the ladies ended up at all night and all you can drink club called Pure while Blaine and I took the evening off because of all the drunkenness the night before. We grabbed a couple of drinks and walked to the riverfront to chat for a while before talking the long walk back to his place, which oddly enough was a nice chance to chat it up some more. The rest of the night we watched a movie, called Cellular. It was a decent movie about a woman who got kidnapped and she could only get of one guy on his cell phone. Sadly enough I was drained and fell asleep halfway through the movie before awakening because I was snoring, which I don't normally do. I did see the majority of the movie though and after that we went to bed right away.


Another night of limited sleep and then I had to get up early so that we could check out of our hotel. Luckily I had spent the night at Blaine's because someone was occupying our hotel room with Melissa all morning. By the time I got there to shower and pack he had left but I was excited to hear about the previous nights events. Obviously we were both drained but trudged on to the aquarium, which was a good idea since it was pouring rain that day. It was clear that I was the one who had gotten more sleep the previous night because whenever Melissa sat down for two seconds she passed out. I enjoyed the aquarium a lot because I am nerd and like animals and wildlife but it was really crowded so we didn't spend a whole lot of time there.


Not wanting to drag Melissa around while she was clearly struggling though the day we headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags so we could leave for the airport. We arrived at the airport a couple hours early, which proved to be a good thing, so we took the opportunity to take another nap before our flight. Sadly that meant that we also didn't see any of my friends the last day but I know we will get together again soon. The weekend was awesome and action packed but I am just hoping I can recover before Friday. Seoul here I come.

posted by Aaron @ 5:07 AM