More Osaka Highjinks

Today I ventured into the Osaka subway for the first time; up till now it was cabs or walking, but my dogs are barking. Osaka Castle is right in the center of town.

The castle is impressive; you feel like you have gone back in time or maybe ended up in an epidode of Shogun. I was so caught up in the atmosphere that I began to imagine myself as a ronin, a masterless warrior living by his wits and his skills with a sword. I began to stride arrogently, my hand resting on my imaginary katana, ready to cut down any ineffective ninja—that is, until I walked into a group of elderly Japanese women. There was much bowing and repetition of sumimasen, and I went back to being an American tourist of mature years.The castle is pretty amazing; it was bombed flat during the war but lovingly reconstructed. I went into one of the turrets, but the line for the castle was about a mile long, so I decided to skip it; I was already getting fried by the sun. They did have a number of exhibitions, mostly related to stone cutting (the castle has parapets made with cyclopian stones), and I stopped by one where they were playing a gambling game with stone dice. I happened to have some dice in my pocket (a magician is never unprepared) and did some dice tricks for them. They had never seen that trick before and were impressed. When I did some spongeball tricks, they shouted with delight. Maybe I’m a better jester than I am a ronin.

I went over to the area near Namba station to see about buying a cheap Chromebook, this tablet is difficult to use for blogging. Food may be cheap hereabouts, but electronics, not so much. Plus, they only had Japanese versions of the various computers of interest (go figure) and they won’t work so well in the US of A so I’ll just soldier on with this tablet. They have an electronics store that is at least 6 stories high that also sells booze and sundries. I was feeling a bit worn out and hungry, so I found another conveyor belt sushi place. The owner was very friendly; he’d been all over the States. I let him suggest dishes and had seared bonito with ponzu vinegar and abalone; he laughed when I tried each dish and made something between a moan and a sigh with each bite. 

Got back to the hotel, cleaned up a little, and went out in search of a cheap rolling suitcase. I found one for about $20; what I was thinking with that backpack, I’m not sure, maybe some romantic notion of being a ramblin’ guy. I headed back to the Juggler, a traditional standing bar that is now officially my new favorite restaurant on earth.

I made friends with an Osakan couple; she’s a music teacher, and he’s a physical education teacher who coaches cross country. There was much buying each other rounds and sharing dishes: pickled cuckes with miso, some kind of omlet in sauce with seaweed, something cheesy with mushrooms, great accompaniments to beer and sake.

Tomorrow, I have to check out and find my way to Kyoto on the bullet train; its only about 3 minutes away. Once again, I hope I don’t end up in Sapporo or Nagasaki—not that it would be so bad, but I don’t want to end up in a capsule or some hostel with 20 snoring men. Check back to see if I make it.