Traveling light means you can go as long as you have clean socks and underwear. I stuffed in as many as possible but had put on my last clean pair of socks the day before. My apartment has a washer (no dryer, of course), but it is on the patio and looks more like a trash compactor and I really didn’t feel ready to tackle it. Luckily, I found some socks on the floor and wow! they weren’t as dirty as I thought! Lord knows I hadn’t broken a sweat. Excellent!
Rain was forecast for the entire day yesterday, so as I had my coffee I started thinking about indoor options and decided to go to the Osaka Museum of History after I rode with Katie to work. Seems like it rains a lot. In Michigan we always said April showers bring May flowers; maybe there’s a rhyme in Japanese that says March showers bring April cherry blossoms. Anyway, Katie pointed out that it wouldn’t make sense to ride all the way to Nara with her. That trip costs more ($5) because it’s far and through a mountain. My stop was on the way, so I jumped off, pretending I had a clue. But as her train left the station with her on it, I admit I took a big breath.
There was some kind of construction at the exit from the station which required climbing 5 flights to get out. Once outside however………..oh mannnnnnnnnnnnnn! For the moment it wasn’t raining. I checked my phone map and saw that the Osaka Castle was just north of the museum. I checked my compass. It must be just the other side of the buildings. I was saving the castle for a sunny day but now I was so close I simply had to see it. The castle is the other real landmark they always show for Osaka, along with Shinsaibashi (the area that looks like Times Square). My heart was pounding a little as I rounded the corner:
It really wasn’t a castle so much as a complex of buildings surrounded by a moat. I actually hesitated to post any pictures because you just can’t tell how amazing it is. It was really raining hard now, though, so I was worrying about my phone, hair, and coat….in that order 🙂 Osaka Castle would have to wait.
The museum building and buildings nearby were gargantuan (new word!). A woman came up to me and wanted me to take her and her husband’s picture in front of the museum. Then she must have said “your picture?” in Japanese and held out her hand, so I handed her my phone. I felt like Mycroft Holmes in Sherlock, with my long umbrella; even the cool teenage boys carry them! You can see the children lined up for a field trip.
Inside they gave me a key to a locked umbrella stand, full of dripping umbrellas. For 600 yen I got a museum ticket. Then for 200 yen I bought the audio companion, which I have never used before. For 500 yen that you got back later, I paid for a locked for my coat/hat/scarf. There are lockers everywhere here, since you are so bundled up that it is hot indoors.
The audio thing was like a foot long black stick. You press the number that corresponds to the yellow circle on certain exhibits. Then a man’s voice describes the exhibit right into your ear. It was actually way better than I had expected, and I had read online it was really necessary–not much English at the museum.
The helpful clerk sent me straight to the 9th floor to start and as soon as you get off the elevator there are windows with the most amaaaaaaazing views I have seen since the ferris wheel. The weird juxtaposition of the old castle against the new buildings and mountains, along with the glare on the windows, kept me staring out those windows a long time. Had I thought Osaka not as beautiful as Europe? Really, it was incredible in its own way.
Looking east, I could see Mt. Ikowa. Katie was just on the other side of that mountain <3
I wandered into a large dimly lit room and found male and females statues……..but wait a minute………were these real people in costume? I watched for movement and yes! the clothing moved a little and the eyes moved. I stepped back. Wow! Then suddenly and without fanfare, a 100 foot long blind rose up slowly to reveal a stretch of windows and another view of Osaka. It was breathtaking.
With the daylight I could tell the people were in fact mannequins. They depicted a time in the 5th Century in the Naniwa area–my part of the city. There was a map of the world showing other huge societies that populated the Earth at the same time. North America was blank. Mexico, Chile, China, Syria, Rome had city-states that moved goods throughout the world.
I spent so long on the 9th floor I decided to regroup on the ground floor with something to eat. The restaurant showed pictures of all foods unfamiliar and I couldn’t handle that. Across the hall was a Seattle’s Best Coffee, so I got a latte and tiramisu muffin. They were building what looked like a large wooden stage in the open lobby. A dozen workers sawed, drilled, and pounded and it was very loud. I felt for the employee who no doubt went home with a headache every day. But I found a window seat and watched the rain pour down the side of the glass facade and soon the pounding faded into the background and I thought about what it must have been like to live here in 600 AD.
The exhibits included models of old areas of the city and the audio described them perfectly, integrating information about the people who lived there. As you descended down the floors to new exhibits, you could see more views of the city and each one looked different because you were lower–just like at the aquarium. A really great way to view different perspectives!
Watching outside the weather was really looking quite peculiar. The city was completely socked in with rain and clouds now; I’d never seen anything like it. No planes were landing, of that I was sure. I could no longer see the mountain hiding Katie.
Time to find my train. Google maps is so incredible that it even shows when your train is arriving and shows alternative routes–I truly don’t know how they do it. When the map said, “consider also this train,” I thought, ok then! I’ll try another route. I had closed down the museum at 5 p.m. so it was rush hour and I jumped on the Tanimachi Line. According to my map, I only needed to go 2 stops.
This train seemed different–definitely full of commuters rather than students or travelers. When you exit you walk straight ahead so people getting on can wait on either side to get enter. I exited with purpose but my steps faltered. I didn’t have a clue where I was and there was no google map to help me this far underground. I really started wondering about myself. Did I have to learn the entire system in a week?
I decided I would take the train I thought I should take, but not very far. If I was still confused, I would go outside and regroup, taking a train I was familiar with for crying out loud! As it turns out, it was the right train though! I ended up in Namba, just one stop from Daikokouchu. Like I did the other day, I got off the train and decided to walk the rest of the way. First though, I decided to see if I could get a paper subway map–something I should have done day 1. Call me old fashioned, but sometimes it is just easier. Namba Station is so big that there was a lady at a stand answering questions. She asked where I was from and struggled to remember where she had been once in the USA. Near Mexico, she said. California? No. Texas? No. Finally she blurted, “Arizona!” Huh.
It was pouring very hard now and there was a sea of umbrellas. Namba is going to be my home in April, I reasoned. I should suck it up and move through the city like someone who lives here. But the reality of traveling light also means I only have one pair of shoes (apart from bright blue tennis shoes to work out in, and I was not going to wear those clunky things in the city). I decided to walk across the street to the Tully’s Coffee Katie and I had stopped in last week.
I grabbed a tiny strip of sandwiches from the case and went upstairs. The package was long and narrow with shrimp, egg, and chicken salad sandwich squares. They were really yummy, with only the orange colored egg salad like anything I had had before. The chicken salad had maybe potato pieces in it. The shrimp salad had maybe cucumber and green spices I’ve never tasted.
I could hear English. A man’s voice cutting across the small area upstairs. “Yeah work has been slow….” “Then she said f*** that s***, I’m outta here…” “I’m not sure it’s the school I’m looking for.” Did it seem loud because it was English? Or did he have one of those voices that carried. I wondered if the people around me just heard the jibberish I heard when listening to Japanese.
I opted for the train home to my dry, warm, quiet apartment, staying up late with Netflix and emailing my cousin in real time 🙂
Photo: Mannequins at the Osaka Museum of History
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