Spring Trip To Kansai (Osaka)

- Never Stop Dreaming -

And here are the photo updates of the Spring Trip down to Osaka. Will update the Kyoto ones when they are ready.

When my alarm clock rang at 0330 hours on the cold silent morning of 27th March 2009, I was pretty reluctant to get out of bed because the warmth that I had accumulated beneath my cosy fur blanket was simply too comfortable. Hesitant, I knew I can't miss the 0450 hours bus down to Kansai. So a can of Asahi Morning Shot coffee and some bread from last nite, I was navigating my way thru the heavy snow storm in the dark. The snow was definitely a blessing though a bit late since it's already Spring now but nonetheless, my Accord glimmered thru the white slippery surface with ease. Was too cold and too hazardous to pull out my camera from my 15kg bloated pack while I was driving so no pics.

Boarded the bus and went straight for the back row while trying desperately to steal some precious nap before the sun wakes. Of course had to transfer buses 2 times which took me by surprise since I didn't saw that coming. By now it was the 3rd bus and last bus to transfer and was pulling away from Ina (伊那) and heading towards Kyoto via the highway. The sun was trying to peep thru the thick fluffy white skies so I took the chance to fire one from the back.


See how the foggy roads ahead were still white on the sides...

Then along the way the sun finally shone thru and the gentle rays lit up the otherwise sleepy white town below.




See how the mountains on the other side woke up with a sweet golden glow on this cold wintery morning.


Then when I hit Kyoto, quite simply I stashed away my camera and slept thru the 1 hour journey from Kyoto to Osaka. Well I thought I would be in Kyoto 2 days later for the temples, shrines and cherry trees so I shall skip the boring city of Kyoto for now.

Upon reaching Osaka, the first thoughts that surfaced were street candids so pulled the first one here where the cones lined up unevenly.


Then came the attempt to frame people off the streets but the problem soon arises since everytime I looked into the viewfinder, people tended to shun so to make it less obvious since I was using a 35mm prime, I simply punched in the settings after metering off the viewfinder, held the cam to my chest level and fired away randomly hoping to catch some unsuspecting victims. Viola...


"Weird leggings"


"The Sound of Music"


"Tall hat with no Chocolates = No Charlie and no Mr Depp"

And the entire afternoon I spent a boring time with a friend in Osaka but I shall skip the details since I have already said it was boring. Towards the evening I passed the underground Namba Walk to find my sleep hole when this interesting "Wall of Moving Lights" caught my attention. The whole underground walk kinda reminded me of City Link beneath CityHall in SG.


So after exiting JR Namba Station, I happened to cross this bridge when the reflection of the setting sun of the river and the buildings almost killed me. Mesmerizing I thought and POOF!, I let my camera do some magic and so these were quite possibly some of the most beautiful ones I took in Osaka.



And then in the end I found my little Capsule Hotel where I rejuvenated for 2 nites in Osaka. Located deep in the American Street in Namba, this steal was only ¥2,000 per nite. Of course the downside was that it was a all male capsule hotel I presumed and the locker space was big enuff to fit a puppy.


And Elsie said it looked more like a pet shop selling dogs.


And I said it was big enuff to fit persons smaller than 175cm.


And Mum said it looked like an oven.

All that spelled the end of Day 1 in Osaka so moving on to the 2nd day this was my Breakfast - Freshly brewed coffee, Japanese curry bread and fried pork bread...pretty yummy.


When i finished chomping my breakfast, I had to lug the now 16kg ++ bag around because the capsule was closed from 1000 hours to 1600 hours and EVERYONE had to checked out and re-check in from 1600 hours on daily. Cash only and reservations had to be done online. Whatever...so with my tripod on the left, I strapped my jacket on the right of my bag. Draped in 2 T-shirts, Levi's denim and desert boots, I stormed Den Den Town which is about 15 minute walk from where I stayed. It's kinda like Akihabara in Tokyo where toys, games, anime, maids, figures, gadgets, cameras, porn, were everywhere except this is in Osaka.


Yep Volks Inc and boy do they produce some of the most amazing figures and dolls. There are about 5 or 6 floors dedicated to different categories of toys ranging from Gundams, robots, to figures and of course wonderful wonderful life-liked dolls. Though I visited other stores that thronged this place, photography was prohibited inside the compound so again no pics. Then comes more street candids...

While crossing the street...


This Ah Pek was filming something and I shot him! Yeah he did caught me snapping him and gave me a really unfriendly stare.


This was what he was filming, 2 full floors of adult anime-themed games, videos, figures, cards, gay, lesbian, cosplay, anything fictional related that pleases the senses. So I decided to go there and have a look but the lights were red...


and I saw this 3 brothers and their dad. SNAPPED!

Kinda reminded me when I was younger because I was the middle child with 2 brothers as well but the light turned green and they fleeted.


Hmm I was greeted by this really crowded alley before reaching MelonBooks and curiosity took the better of me. SNAPPED and SNAPPED. These people here were actually OTAKUs aka Japanese geeks and most shared a similar trait may be offending if I spelled it out loud here so go ask your Japanese teachers, friends, bosses, EXs, etc and go figure.


And apparently this was the place pushing out some anime-themed event that drew a huge following and nah I didn't bothered to shove thru the crowd to get in. Besides there was an entrance fee I presumed.


Moving towards MelonBooks, this 2 adorable kitties posed across the street when they saw my DSLR...SNAPPED!


I signaled to them that I wanted a closer shot and yep these fluffy kitties agreed readily.


Then there were the more ordinary looking maids which I had skipped altogether except for this one.



Took a nice tour inside MelonBooks and upon exiting saw this anime-themed Silvia S15...SNAPPED!


Moving on the street in front of MelonBooks, snapped a maid cafe sign that says, "Welcome back my Master". Interestingly there were a lot of different themed maid cafes which offers interesting experiences but most were priced by hourly package which can be anything from ¥3,900 for an hour. Nothing too sleazy or shady like China Crows in SG though but still pretty exorbitant which sort of justifies the young 18 or 19 year olds, sweet looking maids in your favorite cosplay outfit serving you and addressing you by Master.


Before heading for a late lunch saw this sweet bond between father and son.


Walking along the different aisles of Den Den Town, I found a ramen store that serves Tonkotsu Ramen aka Pork Broth Ramen named KamiTora (God Tiger). They had the regular white based "God Tiger" ramen, the black based "Black Tiger" ramen and the red based spicy "Red Tiger" ramen. I had the Black Tiger set without the Singapore Tiger (Beer) of course which was replaced with Asahi Super Dry. The noodles were a little too soft for my liking but the mini Kim Chi Beef Bowl was not too bad. (And that is my personal chopsticks!)




The cute waitress Yuki told me that I was very cool and wanted to be my friend. Done and we exchanged numbers...now I have 1 more friend in Osaka and she have 1 new Singaporean friend in Japan. Got them all 3 to ignite more entries for my "Mystery Message" project. The young chef and owner of this ramen store is on the right with the cap.


After the late lunch at around 1630 hours I had ample time before I meet my cousin Terry and Kirsten later in the evening. Popped by the Taito Arcade building and tried my hands on Street Fighter IV and got my sorry ass kicked hard. Then it was simply watching how the pros mashed buttons and chained combos. This sick dude trashed every challenger with Zangief and held on to some 15 wins champion.


There after I went on to BIC CAMERA to check out more camera gear. Initially wanted to get some decent second hand strobes while in Den Den Town but the 2 Nikon SB-26s I had checked out earlier had issues like non working display light or faulty batt cover. In the end I gave up searching for strobes and bought an orange foam pouch for my camera. Around 1900 hours, I travelled to Shin Sai Bashi to meet up with my cousin and while crossing the lights beneath the highway, a sleeping quarters of some begger had 2 cats and a white fluffy dog sleeping in it. Warmth in odd places was how I felt.