Konnichiwa!

I have been in Osaka for three days now, first impressions were that the city is quite different from Tokyo and Kyoto, and sure enough one evening walk down Dotombori street shows you clearly that that Osaka has its own charm. It is a WEIRD, AMAZING place with some frankly rather dodgy areas. I have decided to base myself here for my remaining time in Japan and take day trips out to other places.

When we first arrived it was swelteringly hot, I think even hotter than what it was in Koya-san. Some of us checked out Dotombori which is just opposite the hotel, it is a single, long street and the heart of nightlife in Osaka, even in the daytime it's crazy with people in strange costumes and trying to sell you octopus balls. A few of us then checked out Den Den Town, famous for its electronic and anime stores. After that me and Greg took the subway to Kaiyukan, one of the largest aquariums in the world. I hadn't been to an aquarium in a long time so found it quite enjoyable seeing lots of strange animals, the main attraction being Kai-Kun the whale shark.

After the aquarium we headed back to the hotel to meet up with the others for the last supper, the final night of the tour. We couldn't have chosen a worse place to eat. Hardly any of us got what we ordered and some people didn't get anything for hours, all I had was a couple of "fish fingers" and two bottles of sake (and I only ordered one!). When it was time to pay we made the mistake of saying "betsu-betsu" (meaning "separate") and then the **** really hit the fan, everyone was debating what they ordered and what they actually got and trying to explain it all to staff who didn't speak a lick of English. Eventually everyone decided to make a run for it. The only cool thing about the place - apart from payment being hilarious - was that everyone sat on a big boat with tanks of water on either side and you can literally catch your own fish!

To prolong goodbyes everyone headed to Dotombori to find a karaoke club, we rented a room for an hour and everyone sang/drank their woes away. But the inevitable time must come and it was time to say goodbye, most people separated there and then but a few (my favourites) were staying one or two more days so I would see them the next day.

Even though the tour was over and everyone had the chance to lie in, me, Greg and Victoria somehow found the will power to get up early and set out to Nara, a nearby city and Japan's first permanent capital. It is an exceptionally beautiful place, with hundreds of very tame (but hungry) wild deer roaming around. Unfortuantely our fellow travellers were not the only ones who had said goodbye; the sun was nowhere to be seen and rain hammered down all day, but we tried to make the best of it and headed to arguably Nara's main attraction; Todai-ji, a Buddhist temple, the largest wooden building in the world and home to the largest enclosed Buddha in the world. It is MASSIVE. After that we explored Nara for a while, got some lunch, climbed some steps and found some breathtaking views that overlooked the city. We didn't have much time before Greg had to catch his flight so, after stopping at a free rest station and sipping some green tea, we left Nara and took the subway back to Osaka to see Doctor Fish. Yes, your heard correctly. We went to a place called Spa World which is pretty weird, it's a huge complex where everyone is walking around in identical pijamas getting different treatments; there's massages, swimming pools, water slides etc but most of it looks open planned with no privacy, it sort of reminded me of the film 'The Island'. All we wanted to do was see Doctor Fish, and we did. You put your feet and hands in water and tiny fish nibble at them and feed on your dead skin, the first thirty seconds felt really weird and I couldn't stop laughing but after a while it just feels really good, I could have stayed in there for ages, in fact I wanted to put my whole body in! But it was time to say goodbye.

I'll miss Greg a lot, he's been my roomy at every place we've stayed and I've bonded with him, but I'm sure we'll stay in touch. Me and Victoria met up with Ben, Gavin and Dean for the REAL last supper. We walked the Namba-Walk, an underground shopping centre which actually links the Nipponbashi and Namba train stations. We had a nice meal at an Italian place but it wasn't long before Victoria also had to say goodbye, we walked her to Namba station and parted, and then there were four. After walking the street of Dotombori one last time it was time to say the final goodbyes to Gavin, Ben and Dean, who were all catching flights the next day. In the words of Gavin: I am the last man standing, I am the winner of Big Brother.

The next morning I woke up quite alone, it was strange. Man, it's been a long time since I felt this alone. I decided to have a lie in. I just laid there, feeling completely overwhelmed. Eventually I got up and went out into the rain, and it wasn't long before I was smiling. I decided to just spend the day in Osaka to recuperate; heading back to Den Den Town for a better look, I meandered the shops for a while picking up a few things and going in these enormous, multi-floored stores with shelffulls of toys, anime and manga.

After that, I'm fairly certain I met Park Ji-Sung. A Korean guy came up to me in the street and asked me where I'm from. I walked with him for a while as we talked, he only spoke a little English but in there somewhere were the words "Manchester United" and "I'm from Seoul" and "match against Japan" and "Park Ji-Sung". He said I was handsome and asked me why I don't I have a girlfriend. After parting I came here, to this internet cafe (which is amazing by the way, I'm in a private booth with a computer AND tv, while waiting for photos to upload there's two channels showing table tennis), and then it dawned on me; hold on... that was Park Ji-Sung, I just didn't recognize him, I looked at pictures and yup, that was him. Cool.

So, two more days in Japan and no one telling me what to do, should be good. :D

Ja mata,

Lee-san