Osaka

While in Osaka, Mary, Matt and I went on a River Boat Cruise and to the top of the Osaka Castle.


The Osaka Castle was my least favorite of all the Japanese castles I've seen so far. It has an elevator and looks nothing like a castle on the inside. The boat cruise was pleasant and relaxing though. We also did a lot of shopping in Osaka. I bought a bright orange piece of luggage and an expensive knife that has already started to rust (!?). Mary and Matt got a lot of awesome cloths.

We took a little detour to visit the Nissin Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda, Osaka and it was so much fun! We had to make reservations three months in advance because it is so popular. There was a tiny museum about the history of instant ramen and a station where you could put your own toppings in a “Cup Noodle” cup and have it sealed just like the stuff in the store. There was also an instant ramen-making workshop where we, and many elderly Japanese women, made instant chicken flavored ramen from scratch. We made the dough, flattened it, and cut it. Then the attendants steamed the noodles. Afterwards, we added oil and shook the noodles until they were wavy. Then the attendants fried and dried the noodles in a special oil with the chicken flavoring. Meanwhile we decorated our ramen packaging and watched a video about how the ramen is made in a factory. Definitely a highlight of our entire trip! Our ramen tasted delicious.




I fixed the pictures that didn't show up yesterday, so scroll down to view the silly arcade prizes and whatnot.

Update

While Matt and Mary were visiting me, I thought of many topics I haven’t discussed on my blog yet. So I will share their visit with you through multiple posts that touch upon all these topics. I apologize for the lack of writing lately. I have about a week and a half until my next visitor (Maria!) comes, so I’ll try to write a bunch in the meantime.

My parents had the historical tour of Japan, while Matt and Mary had more of a modern tour. They went to four cities, two onsen, several arcades, two museums, two castles, one boat cruise, a Hiroshima Carps vs. Tokyo Yakuruto baseball game, one of my junior high schools, nearby beaches, many shopping arcades, all sorts of restaurants and bars, made our very own instant ramen from scratch, stayed in a Japanese style hotel, sang karaoke, and got together with a few of my Japanese and American friends. I’ve asked them to send me a little blogable write up about their impressions when they get the chance, so I’ll post that as soon as they get that to me. They left yesterday, but I believe they are currently still finding their way back to Boston.

Arcades

Arcades are everywhere. Sometimes they are just pachinko gambling parlors with loud, unbearable game noises.

Sometimes they are just game rooms with games where you try to grab prizes. This one in particular had a tv inside, replaying clues about how to properly tip one of the cartons over.

Sometimes they are just game rooms with video games that usually include fake guns, dancing, drumming, or hitting buttons.

Sometimes they are just rooms full of booths for sticker picture (purikura) making.

Sometimes they are a combination of all of these in a multi floor arcade building. In any case they are fun to explore. We found that they were usually more packed than the bars late at night.

My favorite part of arcades is the purikura making machines. Matt, Mary, and I made several sheets of purikura. First we had to choose a few picture options, then we posed for a bunch of pictures (sometimes there are monkey bars in the booth), and finally we would decorate the pictures with words, drawings, crazy borders, etc. Many of my students have booklets filled with purikura that they look at during class instead of paying attention to me, so I know it’s all the rage. Here's a picture of the screen while we were decorating some of the pictures we took.


Some of the prize games have odd prizes. Of course there are always cute stuffed cartoon animals and such, but we saw lots of food items you could buy for cheaper at the store next door. Also briefcases, hello kitty make-up cases, giant chocolate bars...

Vacation in Boston

I just got back from my 9-day vacation to Boston. I had a wonderful time visiting my family and friends. Here are a few highlights and pictures.

I flew from Osaka to Boston with a brief stop in San Francisco. I was lucky enough to be able to sit with a friend of mine who I rarely get to see. We had no idea we were on the same flights until we saw each other at the airport! Unfortunately the air on the plane dried out my sinuses so badly that I had a sinus infection for four days afterward.

While in Boston I went on several dates with Eddie, went to a birthday party at Jillian’s for one of my college friends, spent time with my parents, dined with several friends all over Boston, visited friends and Professors at Wellesley, went shopping, watched many movies and tv shows, and celebrated Cinco De Mayo with Mary, Matt, and friends. I enjoyed several bagel sandwiches, subs, cheeseburgers, tubs of movie theater popcorn, and Mexican dishes, all of which just aren’t the same or non-existent in Japan. Here we are in the Boston Common:



Only once did I accidentally bow to sometime as a thank you. I didn’t really experience culture shock, but I did notice two things that I wasn’t expecting to stand out so much. First, there were SO many people talking on their cell phones in Boston. That may sound like I’m stating the obvious, but cell phones are rarely spoken on in Japan and I guess I hadn’t realized it was that big of a difference. My mom noticed no one was actually talking on there phones when she visited. Cell phones are mainly used for email, internet, games, and music in Japan. The phone plans kind of induce this though. I pay about $45 a month and that gives me 24 free minutes PER MONTH to use, but nearly unlimited email and internet use.

Anyways, I also saw a lot of kanji (Chinese character) tattoos in Boston. I always thought those were silly for Caucasians to have, but now that I could read some of them I found them pretty entertaining. I’m not sure if any of the people I saw studied Chinese or Japanese, but I guess it’s similar to Japanese people wearing shirts with English sayings (some very controversial) that they don’t understand. It just looks cool.

My trip back was pretty horrendous. I spent a total of 24 hours sitting on a plane. There were five hours worth of delays between a “security problem” in San Francisco, a broken plane blocking the runway in Osaka, and spur-of-the-moment refueling in Kobe. I had to flat out sprint through the San Francisco airport to make my connection too. Once I was finally able to get off the plane in Osaka, I had already missed the last bus to Naruto, so I stayed in a hotel and had to go to work late the next day. Somehow I got through this with very little cash and no battery left in my phone!

The vacation was totally worth it though!

I was able to take this vacation because of “Golden Week” in Japan. You can look that up on Wikipedia if you’d like. I’m copping out of explaining that one because I wasn’t here to experience it and because I have to get going in an hour to go pick up Mary and Matt at the airport in Osaka! They’ll be here for two weeks.