No Cure Like Travel (Part 1 of 3)

So can I just say that  Japanese video games make SO MUCH MORE SENSE now*?

*ahem*

Another month, another blog entry. But don’t worry, I intend to get back to my weekly blogging regime. My tardiness has an excuse: I spent the last four weeks visiting awesome friends in Japan and Singapore. In fact, my vacation took so long that I am going to milk not one, not two, but three picture-heavy blog entries from it. Gentlemen, start your browsers!

My flight from Canada took me first to Osaka, where my cool friend Diana and her boyfriend, Jason, teach English (thank you, awesome hosts!). After about thirty hours of being awake and/or sitting in a zombie-like state in an uncomfortable airplane seat, I discovered that the Osaka Itami airport closes at ten o’clock – roughly twenty minutes before Diana and I were going to meet.

This picture, however, is not the airport. It’s the Osaka zoo.

As a matter of a fact, so is this one.

The zoo is definitely the place to spend your first day in Japan when you’re still not quite sure what time it is or how to get anywhere you intend to go. Jason was kind enough to guide me there on his way to work, and there were tons (probably literally) of interesting animals one doesn’t often see this side of the Pacific, including spectacled bears, red pandas, and koalas. The zoo even had a nocturnal animals section, where day and night are reversed so you can see kiwis and raccoons up and about.

Speaking of nocturnal animals, Jason, Diana, and I went that evening to an izakaya, which they informed me is the Japanese equivalent of a pub. There was some fine sushi and sashimi to be had.

Afterward, they took me on a quick tour of downtown Osaka. Jason likes to take several takes of each picture, so Diana and I decided after the first or second snap to have a loud, gesture-ful conversation in mime while we waited for him to achieve the perfect candid shot. (And, to be fair, this is pretty much the perfect candid shot.)

Here we are having our mime conversation at the place we went the next day, Universal Studios Japan.

Yes, that is Oz. Through the course of the day, with nifty rides, extremely hyper-paced movie-based shows, and fake American food galore, we learned that I had never seen Jurassic Park or Blues Brothers, a fact which led to some impromptu screenings later in the week. But first, we watched the Starlight Parade, when giant lit-up Sesame Street characters twirled down the main street, following by just-barely-not-copyright-infringing totally NOT Disney, no way, no sir, Cinderellas, Arabian Nights, and Snow Whites.

Because Diana and Jason live in Japan and, you know, actually have jobs, I hearkened to my Lonely Planet guide the next day and followed its directions. After about an hour of “following” (Japan has no street signs, FYI, so it’s not just me), I finally found the Umeda Sky Building, where you can go up to the top and see Osaka from the look-out.

Also, again just FYI, Japan can and will stop the rock.

I actually didn’t get quite as lost as I expected, so I still had a few hours left before I was to meet Diana and Jason after their workdays ended. Drunk on my new ability to use the subway, I decided to visit Osaka-jo, the city castle/museum.

Also, I decided to start an unfortunate hobby of taking photos of myself at arm’s length, but feeling like too much of a douche to actually smile.

That night, we went to Charly Brown’s American Bar with Diana and Jason’s friend Kentaro and his friends. It’s like the back cover of an album. (Just imagine guitars.)

The next day, we went to Kyoto and saw the Golden Pavilion. I don’t have any really mind-blowing pictures of the Pavilion itself (although it was quite beautiful), but I do have a whole sequence of pictures of Diana. Jason, and me getting fortunes at the end of our visit, which is apparently customary. The Golden Pavilion actually had English fortunes, so we took advantage of the fact. You buy them from little red machines.

Each fortune is ranked overall – good, very good, excellent, etc. If you get a bad one, you’re supposed to tie it to a clothesline-type-thing left for that purpose and leave your bad fortune tangled up behind you.

Our fortunes were all at least good, though.

But mine may have been a little off on the “love” advice.

Seeing the Golden Pavilion didn’t take very long, so we decided to visit Iwatayama Monkey Park, where you go inside a cage-like building and feed the monkeys bags of apple, peanuts, and what appeared to be turnip.

Or you can go outside and have your picture taken. Just don’t make eye contact with the monkeys, because that makes them go (wait for it)… bananas. No, but seriously. Also, don’t feed them after midnight.

We arrived at the park just as it was closing and had exactly the right amount of time to spend with the monkeys. Dinner was homemade tofu delicacies at a local restaurant, and then we were off to the river to watch the boats cormorant-fish for the tourists.

Next week: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and fishies.

* eg. The ubiquitous monkey-friends in games like Earthbound and the Legend of Zelda series; the shops called “Game Shop” or “Trendy Game”; the popularity of masks as a children’s toy… All those things are real! Well, except for the part about the monkeys being friendly. Monkeys are aggressive, greedy little buggers.