Osaka and Nara: Canadian Invasion

**NOTE: In the last blog post (Kyoto: Oko-oko-oko okonomiyaki) I mentioned a passion fruit & banana flavored Kit-Kat. Gilbert, bless his heart, notified me that it is actually just passion fruit- no banana. It is yellow, though. Thank you, Gilbert. To show my gratitude and as a sort of dedication because he had to go back to Canada (*sob*), in this post Gilbert the Great Goat (GGG) will be referred to as Gilbert the Beast (GB). Also, because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want.**



One of my... nay, my favorite thing about traveling is the people I meet. Sometimes it's locals and sometimes it's fellow nomads. Everyone has a story and I love hearing each person's unique tale. When I travel I make so many new friends and it's great. It is bittersweet at times, though. Saying good-bye to friends, new or old, is never easy, but it's definitely harder when you aren't sure when (if ever) you'll see them again. I try to keep in touch and Facebook is a fantastic tool for that, however it is far from perfect. I like meeting people and getting to know them and spending time with them, but I still get sad when we have to part ways. Especially if I don't know if it is a permanent farewell or not. So when I was on the death march led by Troy my last night in Kyoto I was chatting with GB and I felt a bit sad or subdued because the next day I would have to say good-bye to GB, as he was going back to Tokyo and I was staying in the Kyoto-Osaka area. GB convinced me to come to Osaka and spend the day with him and the French-Canadians before he took the night bus to Tokyo and I went off to Nara. We high-fived in the street when I agreed.

The next day most of us who had gone out the night before checked out of K's House. Troy and Josh were off to Hiroshima, Payden was going to Tokyo, the four French-Canadians were going to Osaka, GB was going to Tokyo after a day in Osaka, and I was going to Nara after a day in Osaka. Sean was staying at K's House for a couple more nights, but he came to Osaka for a day trip. So Sean, Steven, Simon, Laurent, Elias, GB, and I took a bus to Osaka.

The four French-Canadians were staying in Osaka for the week, so while they went to check in to their hotel GB, Sean, and I hung around Osaka Station. GB and I also checked our backpacks at the station so we wouldn't have to lug them around all day. This is when I realized I lost my camera. Sean said he would ask about it when he got back to the hostel that night. When we met up with the French-Canadians about an hour later we set off towards Osaka Castle.

On the way to the castle we passed through a park with a Thai festival going on. There were loads of food vendors all selling "Thai" food. It wasn't very good, but it was only ¥500 and I was hungry. We walked around the Thai festival while we ate lunch and noticed a crowd forming around a boxing ring up on a stage. There was an announcer, but of course we didn't understand what he was saying. It turns out he was announcing a juvenile Thai boxing match.

The first match we watched was two boys about ten years old. They wore helmets and boxing gloves, but they were really going at it. The second match was a boy about ten years old and a girl about eleven. The girl kicked ass. After the first round they took a small break for water and to readjust their helmets. The girl looked fine, but it was clear the boy was furious. The second round the boy tried valiantly, but the girl blocked nearly everyone of his attacks. She won fair and square. It was a good match to watch. GB said it can get pretty brutal in Thailand and kids even younger are in the ring.

From the Thai festival we went to Osaka Castle. The castle was pretty cool. There were ten floors I think and each one had pictures, relics, and information about the ancient kings and warriors of the area. It was interesting, honestly; and I recommend this site to anyone going to Osaka, but I was (barely) functioning on only about three hours of sleep and there were a lot of stairs and a lot of reading. I was very tired. I was also a little preoccupied thinking about my camera and I was bummed it was my last day with GB. I got a few photos and the view from the top was nice.

Osaka Castle

After the castle we wandered around the surrounding area for a while and some of the French-Canadians got some takoyaki. It's funny that I refer to the four guys traveling together as the "French-Canadians" or sometimes simply "the Canadians" because GB is from the same city as they are, and Sean is Canadian as well. I was most definitely outnumbered. I didn't mind, though. I'm used to not seeing many Americans when I travel. What's up with that, anyway? It's so great, more of you guys back home should go abroad... and Cabo San Lucas or Mazatlan, Mexico doesn't count. OK, I'm rambling...

We found dinner near Osaka Station. It was kind of a big ordeal. The restaurant we chose didn't have an English menu and no one there spoke English. I wasn't hungry, but the Canadians were. Eventually they got it figured out and realized it was a shared meal kind of thing, where the whole table orders a couple dishes and everyone eats from everything. They said it was tasty.

After dinner we went to the Pokemon Center in Osaka Station. I sometimes played and watched Pokemon with my brother over a decade ago and I didn't realize until I was at the Pokemon Center how much information I had retained. Or ever knew in the first place, really. There were cards, toys, arcade games, and all sorts of memorabilia. There were a bunch of kids frantically playing the arcade games and a group of teenagers/young adults huddled together playing their Pokemon Gameboys. There were also tables set up for tournaments, but no one was playing. It was worth a visit.

After the Pokemon Center GB and I got our bags and we all prepared to go our separate ways. I planned to meet up with Sean and the Canadians the next day in Nara (only about forty minutes by train from Osaka), but this was the real good-bye for GB. I gave him a hug and told him if he's ever bored in Canada in the next year and wants to get out, to look me up. I would love to meet up with GB again. I really want him to meet up with me in Latin America. I don't know if he will, but it would be such a blast.

When I bought my ticket to Nara (only about ¥700) the woman told me it would be about a forty minute ride). I fell asleep on the train and woke up after we had been moving for about forty-five minutes. Oops. I did not have a map of the stops the train would make before and after Nara, but I supposed it would not have mattered anyway because I couldn't understand the conductor's announcements. I asked an older gentleman what the current station was. He told me, but all I understood was "not Nara." I asked, via a series of gestures, if we had passed Nara and he said no. When the conductor announced that Nara would be the next stop, the old man sitting across from me said "Next stop. Nara." The ride from Osaka to Nara was about one hour.

The directions from the station to the hostel were very clear except the beginning. The directions said "follow the road," but failed to say if I should follow the road left or right. Right seemed to be the way to main-Nara, so I chose right. I chose wrong. I only wandered for a few minutes before I found a police station and asked for directions. The police didn't speak much English, but they spoke enough to recognize the name and address of where I was going and one officer told me to follow him. We were about four blocks away and the policeman escorted me all the way to the hostel door. He just as easily could have pointed or taken me to the first turn, but he didn't. I was very grateful.

It was about 9:45PM when I checked in to the hostel. The hostel was a converted Japanese house and it was a labyrinth. In my room were two girls from Hong Kong and an older woman from Spain. I took everything out of my bag and looked for my camera, to no avail. I sent Sean a message and he said he asked the hostel-- also to no avail. I called K's House to describe where I thought I lost my camera and they said they would go to the room to search and would email me if they found anything. Unfortunately they didn't find it. I was so tired I didn't even shower or change into my pajamas before passing out.

In the morning I properly met the Spanish woman from my room and her friend. It was here at breakfast that I first realized how rusty my Spanish has become. I could understand what they were saying (for the most part), but when I tried to form words is when it became difficult. I knew I just needed to practice some more. I gave (or tried to give) the Spanish folks some advice on going to Kyoto, then I left the hostel to meet up with Sean and the Canadians at the Nara station. I was very low on cash, so I needed to find an ATM. In Japan the only places I can take out money are 7/11 and the post office. I had some US dollars I was going to exchange at the bank, but wouldn't ya know? It was Sunday and the bank was closed. Sean played banker instead. There is a general stereotype that Canadians are extra nice (the Canadian version of the board game Monopoly is Sorry!), and it's totally true. Sean sold me some ¥2,000 for 20USD. What a guy, that Sean.

We kept an eye out for a 7/11or a post office on the way to the Nara sites. Nara is a nice, quiet little town. The span of the town can be walked in about 30-40 minutes. Wild deer roam freely in the streets and park. Originally the deer were there because Buddhist monks believed them to be sacred messengers from gods. The deer remain there because they are fed by the hundreds of humans that pass through the town daily.

Nara deer waiting for handouts

The main thing people come to see in Nara is Todai-Ji Temple. The giant Buddha , which has actually been rebuilt and is one-third of the original size, rests in the Great Buddha Hall. The hall was dark and the photos I have do not do the religious structure the justice it deserves. The following measurements might put the giant  gold-plated bronze statue into perspective.

According to the ticket from the Todai-Ji Temple:
Height of body: 48.91 feet (14.98 meters)
Length of head: 17.39 feet (5.33 meters)
Length of eye: 3.34 feet (1.02 meters)
Length of ear: 8.33 feet (2.54 meters)

It is literally a huge tourist attraction. And it is not even the largest Buddha in existence today.

Giant Buddha, Nara, Japan

As with nearly every other place in Japan, hoards of school children were at the temple. A group of kids about eleven years old came up to me and my Canadian friends. They told us where they were from, showed us on a map of Japan, then pulled out a world map and asked us where we were from. They were impressed at how far away we lived. The gave us an origami ball and asked if they could take our photo. Steven took a photo with his camera as well. It was really cute and kind of funny talking to these kids. It was obvious they had a memorized script and they didn't know what to do when I varied from it. (I asked if they were having fun and they just smiled because they didn't understand).

Next we went to Kasuga Taisha Shrine. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of lanterns lining the path to this shrine. None of them were lit, though. Apparently twice a year all the lanterns are lit for certain festivals. That would be neat to see. We walked around by the shrine for a while then made our way over to Gangoji Temple. None of us were too keen on going inside, but the owner of my hostel recommended the neighborhood to me.

We looked for a while for a place to eat lunch. Simon found a good looking, inexpensive restaurant, but when we tried to enter, a waitress told us no. I don't know if she was turning us away because they were full or if she just didn't want to deal with foreigners. We hung around the shop for a couple minutes to try to determine her reason. A few patrons left the store and it was clear there was now room for us. We tried to enter again when a couple leaving gestured to us that there were open tables inside. A different waitress seated us. We still weren't sure if we were seated because there was room or because it was a different girl. We were a little nervous to order (especially Sean, who just hates to tred on toes), but decided we were paying customers and if it's run like any other business, our money would be welcomed. We were right. I had a salmon fry meal and it was delicious. Everyone enjoyed their food.

It had been raining a little when throughout the day and it was only getting worse. We didn't want to visit more temples because as crass or uncultured as it might sound, the general consensus was if we had seen one or two, we had seen them all. I would like to say I'd feel different if I were Buddhist or Shinto, and the reason I get bored is because I don't have a strong understanding of the religion or it doesn't mean much to me. However, I feel similarly with museums and cathedrals; even when they are relevant to my life. I guess it's one of the spoils of traveling so much. Sometimes I kind of feel guilty for not wanting to see these places but then I remind myself that it's my life and I should do what makes me happy. Right?

After lunch I did find a currency exchange location and I was able to exchange some US dollars for Japanese yen. I thanked and repaid Sean. The guy at the money exchange didn't want some of my twenties, though, because they were worn and a little bit faded. He said it was "dirty money." At least he took some of it. By this time it was raining pretty hard. I was OK because Steven was sharing his umbrella with me. Sean bought an umbrella and he and Elias were fine, too. But Simon and Laurent practically ran ahead of us to get to the station. I had another bittersweet good-bye with my new Canadian friends and walked back to my hostel.

It was only about 5:00PM when I got back to the hostel, but I wasn't in the mood to go out exploring. I wrote hung out in my room, wrote my first blog post, chatted a bit with GB online, and socialized some with the Spanish woman in my room. I also researched what there was to do in southern Japan as I still had about a week-and-a-half till I left for Beijing. I was talking to GB about some pictures I lost of Tokyo and how I felt like I missed out on some great parts of the city. I also told him I was sad to say good-bye and I wished we could have hung out some more. Eventually I decided I needed to give Tokyo another shot The next night I would take an eight hour bus ride from Osaka to Tokyo.

Be careful of the Nara deer