Tomorrow I am leaving for Tokyo again. I will be heading back onto the Shinkansen (bullet train), taking me through the heart of Japan as I head North to its capitol. It's been a good 6 days with my friends. 6 days surely isn't enough time to make up for the years we haven't seen one another but at least it's a start.

Spent the day hitting the final round of shops for last minute purchases. I chastise myself for spending so much during this leg of the trip partly due to the fact that I have freedom to spend without a male presence glowering over my shoulder, inspecting every purchase. In Tokyo, time is spent immersing myself with the people and taking in the sights and sounds. Here, in Osaka, I take my time strolling in and about the stores purveying the goods that seem to tempt me at every turn.

osaka's giant street banners

I make a trip over to Takashimaya - an upscale department store that I thought was very stuffy in Tokyo, yet its Osaka counterpart was perfectly appealing. There are still a few days before Christmas but everyone seems to be making the most of their time left. A few things that stand out in this department store is their basement level food extravaganza, their scarves & handkershief dept. and its interconnecting, underground labyrinth to another subterranean shopping complex called The City. Nothing still quite amazes me so as much as the food levels in the department stores. Their wide selection of goods combined with their appealing packaging makes for a great gift, not to mention just something nice to splurge on yourself and your stomach. I purchase a gift from the cookie and cake stand Yoku Moku for my friend's parents since they were so kind to have me over for dinner a few nights ago. Sure it's about 2,500 Yen a box but the nice tin box is something that hoarding Asian women can't quite part with.

I gaze upon the scrumptious bentos, the freshly fried tempura, the sizzling grilled unagi, the enormous assortment of prepared salads, the crispy brown croquettes and wish that I could take this all back with me. It's no wonder that women don't need to cook as much here since they can easily pick up these freshly prepared goods and serve them up for lunch or dinner. And with the size of the kitchens being the way they are, it's no surprise if they come back day after day for groceries.

Scarves and handkerchieves. Cosmopolitan. Chic. Alluring. And oh so, useful. And being that Japan's washrooms are usually without handtowels to wipe your hands with - it explains their popularity and necessity. In America, this particular item has never really caught on but how many times have us women swooned over men handing over a clean handkerchief to a woman in need as we often times see in movies? It surely beats the look of a flimsy pocketed into a ball Kleenex. The selection is indeed enormous from various colors, patterns, sizes and designers to choose from, they are a great gift and can even use them to tie around your neck should you feel a sudden chill or to add a splash of European coolness to your outfit.

Takashimaya houses an assortment of upscale clothing designers in their multiple floors of goods. I was especially taken with their Agnes B. corner showcasing more goods than their US sister stores. I probably got the best find on this entire trip there. A Christmas red wool Made in Italy scarf for 2,000 Yen. And if you know anything about Agnes B., you'd know that's a steal. Also picked up a very nice thin wallet to fit into those small girls night out on the town purses.

Another designer that I wish they would carry in the States is Burberry's Blue Label. Burberry as most people know are rather staid, conservative and classic. In the past few years, they began offering a younger line called the "Blue Label" which targets a (doh) younger crowd with their classic plaid looks but in a range of modern colors and designs. Their felt hats, plaid totes and "i'm a bad catholic girl" cool clothes are really eye catching.

After scouring through the other levels of clothing, and their seemingly endless counters of makeup I cut through some underground passageways and ended up in a whole different shopping center. It was quiet there but it led deeper and deeper into the depths of the underground. I found a whole slew of restaurants in there and decided to take in a meal of katsu curry. This place I later found out was called "The City." They offer many individual independant shops, mainly clothes, but also a lot of personal goods, makeup, etc. However if your sense of direction is not too good, this place can be one your worst nightmares since only certain escalators take you to certain levels and you might just hit a dead end at the entrance of the subway station.

And on a historical footnote here, this part of Osaka is called Nanba which used to be the most famous place for leeks. Yeah. I'm sure you needed to know that.

Headed back onto Midosuji to avoid those leechy guys and made my way towards OPA - a multistoried building that has a second sister building on the block behind it. It's great shopping for people my age. Young. Lively. Alive. Plus it houses many stores within its frame. One of the more popular stores is called franc franc which sells alot of cool looking Ikea-like household items. It's not a big store but it certainly has it's share of bubbly colorful packaging and neat-o products. OPA has a nice makeup emporium on its first floor where you get to dabble into the goods and play around. On one of its upper floors, therein lies a Bumble and Bumble salon and on the second floor, there is a whole section dedicated to skin care lines.

Makeup. Certainly one of the things that keeps me on my toes is seeing all the good stuff we just can't buy back home. *frown* Aside from the supergigantic single-gloved salespeople of Sephora, Japan and HK certainly has more than you can ever use in a lifetime. Department store brands still get a large segment of the clients, but small individual stores carry many of the special goods that you can't seem to find anywhere else. And lastly, the drugstore makeup and skin care products can leave you idling in the aisles for hours. I just can't even begin to describe the different kinds of stuff they have there. The brands. The packaging. All that pampering goods! I've died and gone to heaven I think.

last dinner in osaka

I finally said goodbye to the shops and streets of Osaka that I have called home for the past 6 days and trudged home to get ready for my last evening here. Jay and Arin are taking me out for shabu shabu. It's actually a very popular restaurant in Osaka that offers set dinners at an incredibly affordable price (by Japan's standards anyway). It's right near the Osaka Dome and once you step inside, you are required to take off your shoes and stow them away inside these wooden cubbyholes with antique wooden locks. Very retro. It was obviously a popular place as we had to wait a good 30 minutes for a table...on a Thursday night.

wooden cubbyholes to stow your shoes

The menu has large and colorful mouth watering pictures of dinner sets, shabu shabu & sukiyaki meals - reminds me of a Denny's menu really. We all opted for something different and at about 1,900 Yen a pop, it was a steal for so much good food. Now if I could only remember the name of the restaurant.

After dropping Jay off back at home, Arin and I went to pick up her sister May - whom I have affectionately nicknamed - Neesan (older sister, since she's the older sister of Arin). Both of them are actually older than me and that night, they both give me my first taste of a Pachinko parlor.

Cha-ching!

Pachinko. You've probably seen documentaries on these loud machines with hundreds of spinning steel balls that filter through an upright machine. It's very much like the slot machine really and there is an amount of control you need to exercise to guide the balls where you want it to go. Pachinko parlors are popular and they are nearly everywhere. Neesan was nice enough to give me 2,000 Yen ($20 USD approx.) for a go at it. The smoke filled room and the loud blaring music combined with the whizzing and buzzing of the machines made me almost deaf. So I had my go at it and it's not as easy as you think. It's legalized gambling and some men spend all day in there as a kind of job and bring money home. There are counters where you can trade in your amassed steel balls for some prizes but they tell me that - there are always some secret windows that exchange the steel balls for money too. And many people just earn a living this way by gambling.

I lost all 2,000 Yen and my skin looked horrible under those harsh fluorescent lights. It was time to leave.

We drove over to the old Osaka castle for a nightime view. It was an extremely chilly night but we made our way onto the castle grounds around 10pm. The cold prevented us from strolling even further and I kept questioning the safety of the dark castle grounds. I did afterall see a group of young men lounging around the area near the drink machines. And aside from them - we were the only other people there. Dark. Cold. Danger. We bailed after snapping a few fuzzy nightime pics.

That night was also my first time in an izakaya, a drinking house if you will. Izakayas are popular in Japan for their relaxed atmosphere to drink and to order small plates of specialty food items. We ended up at a rather upscale one owned by a Korean businessman, who was born and raised in Japan. Although we weren't hungry, we ordered a few plates of food and some beer. Izakayas are a great place to go to because of their special snacks to be served with drinks and also because they offer small enclosed areas for privacy. It's a place, I would definitely go to with friends for a night of chatting and drinking. Izakayas have their own ambience - some are very dark and private while others are bright and cheerful. It's not a bar, so don't think there's a counter for standing and picking up folks - it's really a place to relax and enjoy each other's company.

<click> shinkansen seats back to tokyo

With the clock ticking close to 12:30am and with my suitcase still unpacked, it was time to head home. Tomorrow I plan on taking a 10 or 11ish train back to Tokyo. It is a 3 hour ride afterall and I still need to check into my hotel after arriving into the capitol.

Goodbye Osaka.

I'm out.

rew

fwd

scribble

email