osaka – Travel stories

I remember worrying about overcrowding on Japanese trains before we got here and until today there was no overcrowding. We had an early checkout time so we decided to go to the train station and get breakfast there rather than at one of our regular small cafes. But for some reason today the trains were a reduced service. There were delays, trains not going to the usual station and packed carriages. We had never experienced a delay or a train not going to the end of the route..

So when our train stopped two stations short of the station where we’d get the bullet train we had to get out and wait for another one. We had all our gear on our backs, that’s a good sized rucksack and a day bag each. We waited with everyone else who had to leave the train early. And then the next train came in and it was chock full. I had always thought if this happened I’d just wait for the next one… but in all likelihood the next one would be just as full. What to do?

Spider-Man selling stuff at Nambanaka, Osaka

Denis walked onto the train and I followed. There wasn’t room for me to hold onto the hand rails and I couldn’t reach the swinging rings so I held onto Denis. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and it was only two stops. When we got off we took the first chance to sit down and grab a coffee at Tullys Coffee. It’s a Japanese (even if the name sounds Irish and they serve a pretend Irish coffee!) chain of cafes and there’s no need to drink up and move on, so we’re here for a while reading and watching other people drink coffee. Or drink cups full of whipped cream – don’t know what else is in it but that’s a drink you see a lot of here.

Green desk lights at Tully’s Coffee, Shin-Osaka train station

There’s a very stylish older man sitting in one of the green light seats nearby reading his phone. Earlier I saw a lady on the train reading a book. Did you know in Japanese you read books from the back (I mean, what we would think of as the back) and the characters are read in columns from top to bottom, right to left? But magazines are read front to back because they are compiled (like ours) in rows (not columns) from top to bottom?

I would love to pick up a second hand book to use in collage projects. And I did see a second hand book shop near our hotel but the guy also sold magazines with scantily clad women on the cover so I was a little concerned the books could possibly be pornographic and how would I know? And there I’d be putting them into a collage as innocent as you like. Would Shiori tell me? Or would she think I was being artistic? There’s so much potential for misunderstanding, maybe I should look for a children’s book…?

Anyway the stylish man is reading as he scrolls up on his phone. I wonder does it feel different reading a book from reading a magazine?

And we’re back in Osaka. We arrived by bullet train but I slept through most of it. I’m coming down with something. (If you’re waiting for pictures of the toilets on the bulletin board train, sorry, we’ll be travelling again at the end of the week and hopefully I’ll be awake enough to go check them out!)

We arrived in Shin-Osaka station again and took the metro 9 stops to our hotel. When we got out at the station we realised we were somewhere very different. Our first hotel near the bridge to the airport was in a very modern area but here we have gone back in time. The streets are full of people, shops, food stalls, lights, casinos, and a train the crosses the footpath and runs between the buildings.

Walking along the footpath and the train comes out between two buildings… this is different but it works

There are also plenty of combinis. The combini is a convenience store. A corner shop would be similar except the combini provides so much. You want to get tickets printed? Go to the combini. You want a cold snack, a microwave snack and you don’t have a microwave, go to the combine. You want to post within Japan, get groceries or hot coffee, cold coffee, toothpaste?Combini is for you. They are literally on every street, maybe twice or three times. There’s two names we keep seeing, 7Eleven and Lawsons but there’s plenty more.

Here’s some – HOT – coffee at the combini. There is heat coming from the shelves keeping the drinks hot. There’s also a coffee machine if you want your coffee old school

We were looking for a throat gargle and realise there something the combini doesn’t do – medicines. We looked up and down the streets for the blue cross international symbol for chemist or medical centre but there was nothing. Passing a small doorway, which looked like the entrance to a storeroom I could see an old counter. Further in some basic shelves with what looked like boxes of medicine. I don’t know what made them look like medicine, are all medicines a particular colour or hue? Maybe. Anyway I was willing to walk into this tardis and find out.

We approached the counter. A woman in a white mask appeared and using a combination of phone translate and miming to gargle, she understood and brought us something and even explained how to use it. Easy. Even easier was when we got back to the hotel we saw there were instructions in English on the box too. Easy.

We have stayed at three different hotels on this trip so far and we will stay at two more before we leave and each has been different and great in their own way. The first one had a great view, a deep bath and hot water all the time, there was also loads of space for charging our phones, watches and laptop. The second one was smaller but adorable for that with so much squeezed into the space. The powerful shower in your room and an onsen on the 14th floor.

An onsen is a public bath where everyone is comfortable being naked. Yes, what a great opportunity to try something different and so handy in our hotel (which by the way was a fraction of the cost of a hotel in Dublin). But alas no, we did not take the opportunity. It sounded lovely and warm and relaxing (maybe not relaxing now that I think of it) you shower first before you go in and the main rule is you can’t wear anything in there, not even a towel. I’m not sure but I think there’s separate male and female areas? Probably.

Now this hotel, closer to the centre of Osaka, is more like an apartment with part time reception. We have a large fridge, bins, hob, microwave, bath, shower and balcony – with our very own emergency ladder… We have to work out how to heat the water though. There are instructions but I tried last night and each time a Japanese voice told me something but I don’t know what. I’ll try again. I’d love a bath, the Japanese baths are so deep. But just on my own…

Sunset by the tracks… of the train, that crosses the footpath

We had a plan this morning to go for breakfast at a traditional cafe just around the corner. It was hard to find because it didn’t stand out but inside it was like we’d gone back in time. There was a sign saying no photos, so I’m sorry to say there are no photos instead I’ll try to paint a picture.

Here’s the outside of our breakfast cafe. A secret doorway to deliciousness

Everything is in dark wood, there’s a counter to the right with seats and behind the counter an older lady is making coffee with very strange implements. On the right are a number of tables, maybe five filled with customers. The coffee making implement is like a large glass with a test tube coming out of the base. Where the glass and tube meet there’s a paper filter squished and layered in place. The older lady is putting ground coffee into the glass and adding water. She swirls the water. And the coffee drips out from the tube. She is doing this continuously making coffee for all the people here. Her assistant is younger, maybe a daughter? They have a very familiar relationship and it seems like the older lady is the boss.

Lunch was takeaway, less subtle but equally delicious

The very friendly assistant brings us a menu (with English names) and we order coffee and toast, normal for Denis and cinnamon for me. The toast is what we used to call a doorstep – really thick cut, maybe two inches thick (5cm). It’s very lightly toasted so that the bread in the middle is still soft and it’s also slightly gooey. When you pull it apart it separates in layers. It is divine. Definitely worth the calories. Our coffee comes in white china cups on saucers. As we eat and drink I notice behind the counter there are shelves with more old china cups and saucers and tea pots. And a small drawing of the coffee apparatus with some Japanese writing, I imagine someone who enjoyed this experience drew it and wrote, Thank you for the coffee.

There’s the train on the footpath again!

Leaving, the old lady and her assistant say, goodbye and we say, Arigatō (thank you) and smile, she gets back to her coffee and we get back to wandering. I suppose it goes to show you can’t be judging the inside by the outside, be it chemist or cafe… or your body in the onsen?