Japan, Day 1

Normally, I try to post pictures on the blog first, but I couldn't this time because the site was down.  But unlike facebook, I will write a short narrative as I go through the pictures. 

Arrival at the Kansai Airport:

From Japan

It's always a little depressing to walk out of an airport by yourself.  It wasn't my first time completely alone in a country where they didn't speak English or Korean, but I was confident that everything would be alright.  I took the Nankai line to Shin-Imamiya Station as planned.


First picture in the train. While Koreans use the words 'subway' and 'railway,' interchangeably, Japanese strictly distinguish the two. 

After getting off at the Shin-Imamiya Station, I quickly ran into trouble.  I was supposed to get off at the east exit, but I didn't know which direction was east.  So I decided to go out and walk around the vicinity a little bit.

From Japan

hmmmm, may be I should ask for directions instead of walking around too much...



I was surprised at first, because the area was much dirtier and more ghetto than I had anticipated.  I expected Japan to be super clean and nice everywhere, but that obviously wasn't the case.

I stayed at a 'hotel/hostel' called Hotel Chou.  I've stayed in better places in Mongolia and Mexico before, BUT to their credit, it was 2,200 Yen a day (that's 22 bucks if the exchange rate is $1 = 100 Yen, though it isn't). 

After unpacking, I decided to venture out and go to the Osaka Castle.  I was a little worried because Japan's railways are somewhat complicated - public lines, JR, private lines, need to distinguish railways/subways, two different maps... in Korea, you have one map, one card that pays for everything, without distinction between railways/subways and public/private rails.  It's not that I mind getting lost, but it's just that public transportation in Japan is quite expensive and I didn't want to make extra expenditures.  But I was able to figure out everything in about a day.



Area around the Osaka Castle:





 



The Osaka Castle itself: 








After touring the Osaka Castle, I had a sudden impulse to check out J-House.  The only problem was that I didn't know its location.  But I vaguely remembered where Kevin had marked on the map, so I just decided to pick out a station that seemed familiar and go from there.





And guess what? After choosing a random exit and walking around, I miraculously ran into J-House. It was one of the crazier moments of my life.






And this is where I decided to have my first meal in Japan:





It was excellent.  The curry was good, but I was especially impressed with the freshness of the oil they used.

After dinner, I went to Dotunbori, near Namba station, where all the good restaurants are at (supposedly).





And I saw this place, which reminded me of Bryan:



...so I had to eat here.

my second meal in Japan:



It was good, but it wasn't great. It was actually quite similar to Yoshinoya back in Cali. For the rest of the day, I walked around Namba station and went back to the armpits of Osaka I mean er, the hotel.