Good evening Japan.
So we landed in Japan and had a couple of days in Tokyo which were a blur, and not a great beginning as now appears customary for our initial entry to a country.
Late at night our miserable taxi driver literally dumped us on the freeway because he couldn’t find our Ryokan. Thank goodness for the wifi router that was delivered to us at the airport - perfect efficiency - together with google maps, we eventually found our place over the freeway, hidden in a maze of backstreets. Our Ryokan was a matchbox of heavenly bliss, ruined only by us and our luggage. Westerners were not designed for spaces like this.
Our first impressions of Tokyo are not wholly great, somewhat uncomfortable to be honest, but we are returning here for longer at the end so our opinions may very well change.
Travelling down to Osaka on the bullet train was quite an event - so many jobs, all requiring a uniform. Meet the team…
Captain and Co-pilots
Flight Hostesses
Flight Attendents
Flight Cleaners. 8 minutes per 120 seated carriage and its like new
You never travel facing backwards on a bullet train. Each seat is swivelled round after the carriage is cleaned.
Flight Cleaning Team
Back to base.
Three hours, 552km later… Welcome to Osaka.
Gone are the incredible colours, rich light and the unexpectedness of India. Gone is the warmth and friendliness of Taiwan. Osaka is silent, slow, clinical and predictable.
Umeda, is a white backdrop with a few shades of grey through to stark black of business suits a plenty. This is Osaka’s business hub, similar to the city of London. Its cold and bland.
Namba, is a huge entertainment centre and caters for everyone from youth ‘Amerikamaro’ sub culture to the seriously mega-wealthy shoppers and a few tourist spots thrown in for good measure. It has giant shops, malls and high-rises housing intimate bars and restaurants each for about 6 people.
Boy-band Mania. Album release concert. The girls take the dolls into the concert.
Shopping, betting, gambling and slot machines are amongst Japans biggest leisure activity and like Tokyo, Osaka is no different. Huge sky-rises and malls are filled with multiple floors of casinos and slot machines. This is where the noise is, the sound of bubblegum music and money being thrust relentlessly into the machines.
Poor lady is mortified that the claw dropped her toy.
Maid bars and Cosplay shops are in abundance highlighting a culture I don’t really understand.
The maids are all very young women working in bars and the cosplayers are teenagers dressing up as ‘fictional characters’ and victorian dolls. In some cases these can be very extreme. Its a ‘look and don’t touch’ experience for males.
Young maid give out bar leaflets late at night.
Many of the images and sounds surrounding us are what we would associate with our own childhood that appear to carry on into adult life here, which is peculiar and takes time to get accustomed to. The Magic Roundabout tune, for example, informs you its rubbish collection time.
Osaka’s city starkness and sanitised structures are punctuated with colour,in the form of uniforms for multiple jobs, manicured trees and drinks machines - found on every single street.
Park Toilets
Traffic director
Each school has a different coloured hat.
The entertainment areas of Namba are about gigantic high-rise neon lights and giant mechanised signs, fairy lights and paper lanterns, many bleached out by fluorescent lighting. Its harsh, brash and dripping in wealth.
Taxi Driver in Namba
The Glico running man is one of the most well known landmarks in Osaka. This huge brightly lit sign has glowed over the Dotombori canal in Osaka's premier shopping and entertainment district for more than 80 years. The running man advertises Glico, the manufacturer of one of Asia's most famous confectionery companies.
Canal water deforming Glico’s man
Japan’s cleanliness is like nothing I have ever seen. No car is marked, dirty or noisy. No dog messes in a public space. No rubbish, no eating in public spaces.
Chewing gum marks are removed from the pavement.
No-one speaks, there is human silence everywhere, except that is until 10.00pm when the soulful karaoke begins.
Home time.