大阪二日目 Osaka Day2

Today I woke up around 8am after having fallen asleep around 3.30am. I shaved off what i could of the rapidly growing mustache which ive grown to dislike, ate a handfull of granola and met up with the fellowship (of the Kaikan). We got ourselves some train passes then made our way to 大阪城 the famous castle in Osaka. It was probably the prettiest castle iv`e seen since coming to Japan and the Sakura trees being in pre-bloom season had everyone reaching in pockets to take out cameras and hold up peace signs.

Our second stop was アメリカ村(America Town) . Seriously?
Its currently part of a strip mall (extending for miles in every direction) in the most developed area of Osaka , perfect for people who want to shop, find restaurants, spend lots of money and dress funny. Actually, America town and the areas around it were pretty cool. Think about the Gas Lamp district in San Diego, but bustling 24/7 and bigger... way bigger.

Currently were back in the hostel for now. Some of the others are hitting up a club tonight and partying till the first train at 6am while a few of us are going on our own adventure. Realizing that were not rich, some of us are buying really cheap ramen, cooking in, then testing our Japanese on the trains.


As for now, ive half asleep since getting out of the onsen. Ill just relax until later tonight when i venture back into old people ville for the supermarket. Ill post pictures for yesterday and today later!

Surviving the Boat trip and Osaka Day one...

I'd like to celebrate this moment in my life with a few seconds of silence....

Ok, so it feels like its been a really long day and It has.  This little trip of ours (about 9 people who live at the Kaikan) started with a 12 hour boat ride on the Sunflower Ferry from Beppu to Osaka.  We left Beppu port at 6.30 on Thursday night... and survived the night by distracting ourselves with various games of UNO, drinking on the deck of the ship, and playing "sleep in a room full of sickly, snoring old people." 

Thats right, I'm not so clever with words at this moment because all I can remember in my trip up to now old people, old people and old people.  

We arrived in Osaka at 6am this morning and checked into the Hotel Raizan.  Some of us took naps, but some of us decided to venture out for some breakfast.  While wandering the streets of 動物園前 we began to wonder "why are there so many old people?"  Maybe it was simply just that time of day when old people venture out into the market place, but seriously, of the hundreds of people we came across, there was nothing but old people.  Some were playing cards and drinking beer on the streets, some were walking around dazed, confused and drunk, and some were angry armed with bicycles.  All of theme were at least in their 50's and 60's.

So of all the adventures ive had today, like avoiding drinking water because of yellow ice at one unnamed restaurant to seeing a crazed woman laughing to her self saying "Mee chan!! Mee Chann!" the most memorable thing I can't get out of my head today is the sound of Jesse's old person impression.( think of Jurassic park)  Oh and not to mention feeling dirty earlier.  I was just about to take a nap, but I had the urge to check out what channels my room's tv had. Apparently, our hostel includes porn channels.  I saw what i didn't need to see, flipped to a family friendly channel and turned of the tv.  I went to sleep only to wake up feeling dirty.  ahhhh

Osaka!

Yufuin

Whenever I "climbed" a mountain in the States it was usually more of a hike. Like Cowls mountain in SD, no one really "climbs" anything. In fact, people walk hike to the highest point in San Diego on a daily basis as a routine morning exercise. ..

So when Hoon asked me If I wanted to go to climb Yufudake, I said "sure."

Which brought us to Yesterday morning. There were about five of us up and ready by 7am. We took the train all the way to Yufuin and a bus to the base of the mountain.

Do you see the tip of that mountain?

Not only did it take three hours to hike up that mountain, but we climbed all the way to the highest point on it. However, this trip was worth it. Unlike "mountains" i've been to the top of, this one required grappling and holding on chains and rocks like your life depended on it.

Getting up there wasn't much of a problem. It was climbing down that was the hard part. For some reason my leg wasn't liking to take steps down. I spent the next hour and a half feeling like an old man waddling down the mountain, holding the group back. But in the end it was worth it... or at least I hope so. I've spent most of today just resting my leg, hope it gets better soon!

The Day We Died. (could have....possibly)

Have you ever heard of Fugu?

Some people call them "blow fish" or "puffer fish". Apparently they are extremely poisonous and lethal for humans. In fact, (you can verify this on Wikipedia) chefs who prepare Fugu must be intensely trained to properly make the right cuts. It is illegal also for chef to prepare these fish without any special certification or license. Rumors say that a customer at a certain unnamed restaurant once ate Fugu that was improperly prepared... Tetrodotoxin, a highly potent neurotoxin, shut down the electrical signals in his nervous system as his muscles became paralyzed while leaving him still fully conscious. The customer eventually died of asphyxiation. The chef, feeling overwhelming guilt, commit seppuku.

Anyways...

Today I got the chance to try and eat some. I went, I ate... I survived.

My apologies. I wanted to show more footage by uploading a nice video, but we actually did get scared of eating it. We were all so cautions about trying it that we decided to take the first bite together and I totally forgot to film someone actually trying it.