osaka

So, we get to Osaka and find our way to our subway stop.  There, though, we find that there are over 20 exits and our hostel directions did not specify which one to take.  Two old Japanese guys happened to notice our lost-ness, so they made their way over to us and offered to help.  The guy in the yellow jacket kept stopping and thinking and wondering aloud where we were.  After some thinking, “Wait.. um.. where are we?  Oh yes, well… we’re… drunk.”  He called the hostel several times and they walked us all over until we finally made it there 20 minutes later.  So awesome of them.

I was so happy to be in a big city again.  Kyoto isn’t a small city by any means either, it has maybe 2 million people, but that just wasn’t doing it for me.  Seems like I must be in the most densely-populated areas in the world now for me to feel comfortable.

Sharon, Kenna, Justin, and Joy.

I feel like this sums up Japan pretty well.

A line of fancy loud cars came rolling out of a parking lot and we were told not to take pictures.  Maybe it was the yakuza going to kill people.

Anime hair all over the place.  Cool in theory, stupid in reality.

At a sake bar near our hostel. these three got cup after cup of sake poured for them by this guy:

They first ordered three shots and got three huge cups.  After finishing and thinking we would be leaving soon, he poured them more.   And more.  Then after pushing the sake off to some older Japanese guys there, we ran out before he would try to get anyone any drunker.  He wouldn’t let us leave without taking two bananas, an orange, and two sticks of fish sausage.  It was funny how the old Japanese guys dressed just like American ones.  Korean ajushis only wear suits or track suits it seems like.

The next day, we got up early so we could see some sights before our flight.

Osaka Castle.

We had a photo shoot by the castle, which turned into Japanese people taking pictures of us.  (Pic from Justin)

Little girls in training to be typical Japanese women.  The girls in Japan look somewhere between awesome and ridiculous, wearing a pound of makeup, blonde hair, and stripper heels 24/7.

It was funny because I saw these, and was like “Oh just some more dogs with dyed hair and clothes,” then caught myself and realized this is absurd.  I was the only one who even took a picture because living in North-East Asia seems to have made us jaded of bizarre things.