back to kyobashi

Yesterday was Friday–Kyobashi for Katie from 1:45 to 9:30 p.m.  The company she teaches for is all over Japan teaching kids and adults English after school and weekends, which is why she usually has such a late schedule.

Again I thought the trip would be familiar, but except for the Daikokoucho station it certainly was not.  When we got to the school, however, I remembered the area across the street with the gambling and pictures of women.  And I remembered the crazy mall I got “lost” in, with Katie’s school on the 6th floor.

Even I am getting tired of hearing me talk about the weather.  I willed myself not to be “such a baby” yesterday and decided to walk to Niffu Temple during the hour and 10 minutes until I met Katie for lunch.  As soon as I left, it was drizzling and I might add it was 47 degrees.  “Cold is a state of mind,” I told myself.

I really didn’t know what to look for.  I had not seen anything anywhere that looked like any type of religious place, with the exception of a small church in Nara, with it’s cross poking up shyly.  My map didn’t seem to know either.  Finally I heard the words, “Your destination is on your left” from my coat pocket–I had forgotten to turn off my map.  I didn’t see a thing except a bunch of buildings, but when the map showed the photo, I realized I had walked right by it.

When Katie and I were in Europe, we decided that if a door to a church or synagogue was unlocked, then you could go in.  I wasn’t sure the protocol here though, but just as I got to the top of the stairs, a lady came through the door and waved me in.  Inside was unremarkable, but I think they were closed, since there was a window with no one staffing it.  There were stairs and I saw several pairs of shoes at the bottom and hoped I wasn’t interrupting anything.  I decided I should leave but……….the doors were locked!  Uh oh!  I pulled on one, and pushed, nothing.  Then the other again, nothing.  I started thinking I was going to need to text Katie or something, when I noticed low on the door a deadbolt of sorts.  Thankfully it turned, but I was wondering how I was going to lock it up.  For a few seconds I stood there and really felt like a jerk. Then, duh, the doors slid to the left and right–I really hoped no one was watching on a security camera!

I tried to notice more of the surroundings here.  There were banks and small restaurants crammed in, and maybe apartments.

The sky was bleak, with virtually no sun.  I noticed by the mall that housed the school, there was a long rack of bicycles, again mostly unlocked.  Behind it was a “Smoking Area,” made up of like glass walls with open cubicles.

Over lunch, Katie and I talked about the Osaka Loop Train Line.  Rather than an underground subway, it is a train that fully encircles the city; one train goes clockwise, another counter-clockwise.  I decided I would take the train awhile and see what I saw.  It was dreary, windy, and cold–45 degrees and I was not up to another museum.

It’s hard to get any good pictures from the train, but as we circled the south end of the city I really tried.  Katie had told me that the tallest building Japan was in Tennoji (64 floors), so when it came into view it was remarkable, standing there all alone.  I decided to get off at the Tennoji Station to get a better look.  It was so cold out that I checked my map from just outside the station–I didn’t want to walk 50 feet in the wrong direction.  Well, duh, because the train station was in the bottom of the building haha!

It really looked amazing and I wanted to explore or walk home but it was so cold!  Next to the building was….a mall, of course, “Q Mall,” as a matter of fact.  The initial opening to the mall was outside and I thought oh good grief and figured maybe the builders were also willing Japan to be warmer.  When I stepped inside an interior door, the warmth covered me completely and it was like catching your breath.

I found that the mall was actually really nice.  Several stories high, it even had an American Eagle, Zara, and other American stores.  I found “Q Foods” and decided it was time for me to order food all by myself, even if just from a food court.  I pointed to the picture of the food I wanted just as I had seen Katie do.  The food court was full of happy, warm people and had a cute area with little low tables for small children.

I really didn’t want my first Japanese sushi to be at a food court, but so it was and it wasn’t bad at all.  The dumpling-looking things were sweet on the outside and ended up being filled with rice.  You can see the cute little plastic fish with the red cap–soy sauce.  The packet turned out to be wasabi.  The soup had a bland, smokey flavor.  I managed pretty well with my chopsticks!  All for 410 yen.

I had been looking for a real hat to take the place of the thin headband I brought.  Katie had told me that the thing here was to wear a knitted cap with it lose on the top, like puffed out from your head.  I found a store that sold hats and the clerk, a young man with no English, helped me get my hat just right!  I also bought a pair of socks 🙂

I needed to buy coffee and had planned to stop at Life Grocery Store by my apartment.  But the thought of going any farther outside than necessary made me really want to find coffee in the mall.  I had noticed that many of the malls had grocery stores within the mall.  It seemed weird to me at the time, but now it seemed brilliant.  And when I found the “7-11 Ito Yokado,” a full-size grocery store on the bottom floor, I was really happy!

The wind was tearing through the buildings when I left to go back to the train station.  The feels-like temp was already in the 30’s, so there was no thought of walking home or anything clever.  Everything looked amazing at night though!

When I got home, it took me a few minutes to figure out what they were showing on TV– it was the opening ceremony for the Paralympics in Korea.  It seemed funny to watch TV that was live from Korea–one hour time difference from Japan!