We were finally able to leave the room and our adventures in Osaka could begin. We needed to buy tickets for the bullet train – real name, the Shinkansen – and we’d heard from the son that they were selling fast as this is holiday time for the Japanese. Although we had travelled very successfully the one stop from the airport to our hotel (go us!) buying the bullet train tickets meant we would have to navigate a larger area. Osaka was an hour away from our hotel.

You thought we were in Osaka? So did I. There are over 2 million people living in Osaka so it’s a little spread out. It would take time to get into the center and the ticket office where you buy the tickets for the Shinkansen. We could of course have bought the tickets online but physically going there meant we would be familiar with the route on the day.

We had breakfast at the hotel – a one off luxury for a day filled with “how do we…?” Turned out it would be the same silver train, we travelled on from the airport, that we would need to go to Osaka. No problem. We had a maps app but also the train announcements (which were very clear) were in English as well as Japanese. Plus the signage at the station was in Roman letters (so we were able to read the station names as we passed).

Our small amount of experience so far has led us to believe that everyone in Japan is very polite and this was demonstrated as another couple came to sit in the seats opposite us. They approached, smiled and bowed and when they had our attention they bowed again and took their seats. I was surprised by how quickly I got used to returning a bow. In the morning I was giving a quick nod (like, I see ya – how’s it going?) progressing to a full head nod and by afternoon I was fully engaged with palms together plus bow from the waist. That last one usually eliciting a laugh from every Japanese recipient! (I asked Shiori tonight why that might be and she suggested it might be more of a religious greeting… not entirely appropriate. I’ll probably let that go from now on then.)

We had to change train lines from our silver train but that was pretty straightforward, as I said the signage is excellent. We were soon at Shin-Osaka where we were to buy our tickets. It’s a huge station but eventually we found the ticket office and queued up. The queueing is very polite also. When we got to a ticket booth and asked the assistant if she spoke English she said, “a little” so we asking for tickets for a train on Monday. She lifted her iPad and spoke into it and then showed us what she had written. Turned out we had queued in the wrong line, this one was the Tickets for Today Only queue. Oh. But.. she spoke into her iPad again and we read, “As you have queued I will serve you.” Needless to say I took this opportunity to practice my bowing.

We were so bowled over with our success with the tickets in spite of our wrong queuing that we decided to continue our adventure with coffee and a castle, Osaka Castle. Denis worked out the route – all by train – and we were soon having coffee and tea in Tullys cafe followed by a walk to the castle.

Months ago when I was thinking about our trip to Japan one of the things I wanted to do was walk along the streets looking at ordinary things. As the castle was closed for the holidays we had time to carry on to the food market and instead of taking the train we walked the 40 minutes through the streets. I took lots of pictures of ordinary things, like signs, manhole covers, traffic lights – their traffic lights sit side by side not one above the other! And they drive on the left like us.

My feet were sore by the time we arrived but I was happy we had done it. The market is called Kuromon and runs along several streets which are covered. It was packed with people and so overwhelming it took us a couple of passes before we found a place to sample food. The food was called Takoyaki and had little bits of octopus in balls of flour batter – it was very tasty. We got a variety of flavours for about €4.

Food market checked out we headed for the station – Namba. It’s a huge place with shops, shopping centers and cafes. We revisited our old familiar coffee shop and had another experience of Japanese culture.

I was in charge of the purchasing while Denis went off to look for a place to buy a battery, my phone was depleting fast with all the photos I was taking and his with all the navigating. But he came back empty handed and instead found a table while I continued to queue. I explained (in English, granted) to the server that I wanted a one shot and a two shot americano and a small cake to share. The very nice polite young man asked if I wanted the cake heated and I said, “I don’t know I’ve never had it before what do you do?” The poor guy had to go ask a colleague what was I talking about… The colleague had better English and when he realised what I was asking smiled and said “I have it heated.” (Excellent choice, by the way!)

I paid and waited at the coffee queue. Time passed, so much so the lady queuing beside me turned to ask me what I was waiting for and called the barista over. She told him I was waiting for an americano. The americano came… on its own. So I asked the lady for help again but my receipt only mentioned one coffee and cake… as the receipt was only in Japanese symbols I hadn’t realised the mistake. “Ok, I’ll be back”, I brought the coffee and cake down to Denis. He said “it’s grand, we’ll share the coffee”, so I waved to the barista that it was ok. Next thing he was beside me saying he was so sorry and I was saying it’s ok and he was asking where are were from and we were saying Ireland (and we were exchanging addresses again – no, not really) and everyone was smiling. Off he goes but returns with two shots of espresso… he must have been trying to understand what had got lost in translation. I was really touched and practiced more bowing and more smiling but it wasn’t over yet.

On the way out the first guy was clearing tables and he stopped to apologise for his English, so I apologised for my Japanese and Denis took the opportunity to ask for directions to an electronics shop to buy the phone battery. And didn’t the lovely guy take the time to look at Denis’ map and point us in the right direction. As we were going I automatically performed my palms together bow saying thank you. (Well, I didn’t know about the inappropriateness of it yet…) He thought this was hilarious and we all left happier than we had been when we arrived.

It was dark when we reached the exit of the station, this was a big surprise as we had been underground and just assumed it was still daylight outside. The streets look very different at night, full of lights and very pretty. We found the electronics shop and headed home. It was now around 6pm, we’d had a very long day – our first full day in Japan and it was feeling like time for bed but we weren’t going to make that mistake again. We went to find dinner. The first restaurant we picked was closed but we found another thanks to a man at the train station who noticed our confusion.

The restaurant looked like a traditional Japanese restaurant with low tables and cushions on the floor. Fortunately, they could see we were definitely not supple enough for that carry on and the waitress gave us seats by the bar. She suggested the house special and we picked two other dishes and shared everything. It was really good, we are definitely enjoying Japanese flavours. Then it was 8pm and now we could probably go to bed without fear. And it wasn’t as bad as the previous night so there’s hope as each day passes it will get easier. Whatever happens it will have been worth it!

P.S. By now you may have seen the news of an earthquake on the west coast of Japan – nowhere near us. We were outdoors visiting a shrine – a very popular thing to do here on New Year’s Day, to increase your good luck for the year ahead. All our phones got alerts just moments before we felt slight movement. It reminded me of when you’re in a lift and it starts moving. We’re safe and happy and wish the same for you this new year’s evening in Japan xxx