The Boys

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

This is a picture of John, Malcom and I outside the Osaka aquarium a few days ago. Our thanks to the anonymous lady who made this picture possible

This picture sums up Japan

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I took this picture outside of a large department store in Osaka. Believably or not, it's an advertisement for a clothing store

The image proves the old adage that the more things change, the more things stay the same

Some fish in Osaka aquarium

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

There must be a plasma TV at the top of their tank I guess

Kansai 3: Kuidaore Harder

Greetings folks. For the past three days I've been doing more than just my regular weekend routine, which normally consists of WoW, drinking and oversleeping. Instead I have been making use of my long weekend and John's last month in Japan to have some adventures down into the heart of Kansai.

On Saturday, I packed my backpack and headed to Nagoya to meet up with Malcolm and John. We caught the three-hour Kintetsu express to Osaka,
spinning our usual extravagant tales while playing Mario DS. We
arrived in Osaka at sunset, wandered around for 1 hour trying to look
for John's hostel (poorly staffed and not signposted). Afterwards we
headed into Shinsaibashi for dinner and over to America Mura. We found
a great bar called Mercyshire Mojo's bar, which had a great crowd of
crazy people and a wide selections of beer.

Later that night we went to a House club with some okay music, but it
wasn't as enjoyable as I hoped. We let when I got into a situation
that involved John having to take a bullet for me (metaphorically) :-(

As Malcolm and I had no place to stay, we went looking for a capsule
hotel. I was pleasantly surprised- the capsule was quite comfortable
and it had a sento, which was quite relaxing after a hard night's
drinking. If I had to do it again I would, but next time I want to
make sure I have a hostel or business hotel booked.

The next day we went to the Osaka Aquarium, a five-story tank which
houses a whale-shark and several other hundred fish. The highlight for
me was the absolutely freakish crabs found in the Seto sea and the
anime version of Jack Sparrow (photo forthcoming). Later that day we
went to Kobe, where I stayed at a hostel out in the suburbs. The place
was built as part of a car dealership, but otherwise it was a good
place with really nice people. That night we splurged at the Shin-Kobe
Oriental Hotel with a $100 Kobe-beef meal which was delicious (and for
$100 I would expect no less).

Finally, today we tried to go to the Kobe earthquake museum, which
John thought was in Osaka. Unfortunately for us, he was in charge of
the directions so we went to Osaka. Ending on a high note, we went to
the Umeda Sky Building, one of Japan's most interesting buildings. The
view from the top was great, even though Osaka was pretty smoggy
today. We did manage to gaze out to the bay as well as have a view of
Osaka Castle in the distance.

It's been too long since I last went to Kansai. It was a great trip
which I hope to be repeating again in the near future. I will post
some pictures in the next few days.

-Blake

(I now pronounce you Man and Horror. You may now kiss the giant-mechano crab!)

W00t Dragons!

Now. I'm not what you might call a fan of 'the baseballs,' let alone any other sport. But tonight the Chunichi Dragons, the prefectural baseball team won the Japanese championship for the first time in over 50 years, so it might be what is considered 'a big thing' over here.

I was clued into this fact when the owner of the yakitori bar I frequent pulled me off my bike on the way home tonight with the cry "Blake-sensei! Free beer!" The man was true to his word, so good times were had by all, especially my wallet :-)