yesterday today tomorrow

Konnichiwa from Thursday evening, March 16!

Yesterday was a grand day!  The weather was the best, reaching 70 degrees and sunny.  Katie had plans during the day with her  friends from work.  One of the realities of this lifestyle she has had is that she makes great friends, but then everyone goes their separate ways.  And not like moving to Clermont.  One of her friends is moving to Hong Kong, another back to the states, and a third is staying in Japan.  Katie wants to move to London.  She is great at staying in touch, but still.  So I was really happy they all had a common day off to be together and we made plans to meet up later.

After hanging out with Katie for breakfast, I decided to walk to Osaka Castle.  Generally speaking, I needed to go north and east.  I couldn’t use my maps the whole way without risking my battery running out for the route home.  With my pioneer-like sense of direction, I used my compass, zigging and zagging for many blocks, then checking my map.

Katie had explained that there are little pubs called izakayas where you can go in and have a bite and a beer, so even though it was only 1 p.m., I started watching for a likely place in Namba.  I am really still struggling with walking into restaurants and trying to order something–usually chickening out and getting stuff at Family Mart or the like.  I don’t usually drink during the day, but it does somehow underscore what it really means to be retired 🙂  Finally I found a little place that had the words “English Menu” on the door, so I mustered up the “courage” and walked in.  It was a tiny little place that apparently specialized in pork burgers.  That didn’t remotely sound like something I wanted so I went for the dried figs and cream cheese.  I am not sure what I was expecting, but here is what I got.  And it was really good, actually!  Since this place was in the neighborhood I will be living in during April, I wanted to remember it.  But as we know, everything is on the corner of I-Have-No-Idea and Who-The-Heck-Knows, so maybe I’ll find it again, maybe not.

I was right to wait the other day to see the castle–it was breathtaking on this glorious day!  It is a compound of buildings and walls on 15 acres with a rich history from the 1500’s.  Every direction you look, you can see the city with mountains in the background.

There was this time capsule on the grounds that was buried in 1970 during the World Expo.  There are 2 identical capsules–1 to be opened every 100 years, the other to be opened in 5,000 years in the year 6970.  I thought, what are the chances?

It was just too nice a day to take a train, so after touring the grounds and identifying more birds (!!!), I started wending my way home, zagging and zigging this time.  There is so little grass in Osaka, or room to put any for that matter.  I saw one home with like astroturf for their 10×10′ yard.  Even the parks are just sand.  When I found one with grass, I was pretty happy–then I realized it was covered in this heavy metal grid across the entire park.

I drifted through Dotonbori, which you’ve now seen in several photos.  Yesterday though, it just seemed insane!  I guess it looks like International Drive, but this thing just seemed ridiculous, or maybe it was just the striking contrast to the rest of the day!

I’m not sure what time I got back, maybe 6 p.m.  I felt really tired and when I checked my phone I had walked 10 miles, sheesh!  When I didn’t hear from Katie that was fine.  By 9 p.m. I was in my pj’s when she finally texted:  We just got to karaoke hehe.  Do you want to come?

Well how many times in my life am I going to be invited to karaoke by my daughter while staying in Japan?!

So I got dressed while she tried to figure out how to tell me where it was.  All we had was somewhere in Namba, walking distance.  Then, no kidding–she sent me latitude and longitude and told me to paste that into my maps!  Oh good grief!  But I did and followed my map.  It was pretty funny because when I got “there,” my little blue map dot was just sorta hovering over a couple streets, not really sure where I was.  A few minutes later her friend came around the corner.

Karaoke here is really part of the culture and not like at home.  If you’ve ever seen the movie “Lost in Translation” with Bill Murray, that’s exactly how it was.  We entered a store front, right behind 3 businessmen in fact.  We went up an escalator, then another, then I saw the sign Rainbow Karaoke. Then another flight of stairs into a huge area of separate rooms–I’m not sure how many but we were in room 34.  And while I’m sure What happens at karaoke stays at karaoke, I can tell you everyone is a rock star behind those closed doors with your microphone!   We stayed for hours and hours and it was just so much run!  The place is open 24 hours a day.  It’s just like the spas–a great, inexpensive way to relax and cut lose and I’m adding it to my list of things we need in the USA!

So that was yesterday and my tired self did almost nothing today.  I thought, if learning new things through exploring is my “job” for now, I almost feel guilty if I’m doing nothing, since it is an awesome job for sure!  But then I thought–even the best jobs require days off to be sustained.  So I may take a couple days and do nothing.  The forecast is a bummer–rain comes in during the night tonight, then it’s back to 40’s tomorrow afternoon.  Bletch!  The thought of trying to push through that just sounds awful, so I may just do a couple days of movies and shopping, and maybe cooking for Katie:)

I so appreciate everyone staying in touch and encouraging me to blah blah blah.  It has really helped make me feel connected.  I hope everyone is well <3 Love from Osaka

P.S. Today’s cantaloupe price was 2980 yen–$29!

Photo:  Osaka Castle