Having fun...and getting lost in Osaka, part 2

Well today was a busy day for us! We woke up at 4am (ewwwww) since our circadian rhythm is still out of whack and couldn't get back to sleep, so we got up and pretty much stayed up all day...and it was hard. The fact that we left the apartment pretty much all day made it easier and I'm glad we managed not to nap because now we'll sleep tonight. We headed out the doors around 10am and made our way to the subway station near our house (Kishinosato), which is about a 10 minute walk. Since our training for work starts this Wednesday, we decided it would be a good idea to scout out where the company headquarters was located (see picture).
We met our new friends (Laura and Colin), who also work for the company, at the headquarters and then dashed around Osaka like mad tourists, snapping pictures at every moment. Lucky for us, the headquarter office is located about three subway stops from Kishinosato at a station called Namba. Namba is a very popular area for entertainment and dining and is very bright, colourful, and busy (think Queen street in Toronto times a thousand). Dotonbori is a famous part of Namba and is is basically a huge labyrinth of busy side streets with street vendors, as well as fancy stores. They have everything from kitschy 100 yen stores, which are bascially Japanese dollar stores (see picture of what we found there! haha) to electronic stores, and fancy boutiques. It's a mish-mash of everything! We made our way through Dotonbori all day and ate at a nice restaurant shortly after we arrived in Namba. Colin ordered pig intestines and only found out after he started eating them! Scott and I really enjoyed the food and that was probably a good thing because it was our first taste of authentic Japanese cuisine!
After lunch, we explored a bit more and that's when we found the most exciting part of our day...in the distance, we saw a huge ferris wheel that overlooked the city, so we decided it would be fun to go on it. For 500 yen each (about 5 dollars), we enjoyed a fabulous ride on the wheel and also got a bird's eye view of the city. It was definitely a great way to see the neverending city and just how densely packed Osaka is (see picture).

Although there were many fabulous moments of the day with new friends...there were also some not-so-good parts. For me, today was the day that I really felt different and the people around me and they also made me aware of this. Between the many stares and being called "gaijin", which means "alien" or "foreigner" almost constantly, we definitely felt out of place. There was also a slight sense of racism as we got closer to the busier area of Osaka (Namba). Scott and I both find that people are frendlier and willing to help out in our neighbourhood. Before coming to Japan, I had heard that Tokyo in particular was racist, but had never heard anything like that about Osaka. I was appalled when we were waiting in line for the ferris wheel and one father said to his son "yana", which means "bad" and pointed at us. In the entire day, we only spotted about 5 other caucasians (it's about a 1 to 500 ratio in Osaka). Personally, it feels so comforting when a stranger smiles at you--you get a sense of familiarity and understanding even though you don't ever know the person.
As the day came to an end, we headed back to the Namba station, bought our tickets, said goodbye to Colin and Laura, and hopped on the subway. At this point, we were both exhausted and wanted to get home to rest. When we reached Kishinosato station, we took a wrong exit (there are about 5 per subway) and since our housing agent didn't give us a beighbourhood tour or show us around (still mad about that), we didn't really know how to navigate our way home. So, to make a long story short, we got lost once again. After walking around aimlessly for almost an hour, we just decided to get in a cab. But did we get home? Nope. We got lost. Yep, that's right....LOST.
You'd think a cab driver would know his way around a little better. As a sidenote, Scott and I always carry around a piece of paper with our address in Japanese on it, so that if we get lost, we can ask for directions. So, when we got in the cab, we gave the driver the sheet of paper and thought everything was fine until he started going through all these back alleys and was constantly muttering Japanese. So then, he pulled over in an alley (at this point I was pretty freaked out) and called someone on his cell phone and asked how to find where our apartment was. Well, apparently, the person on the other end didn't know either, because we got lost again. After pulling over in a second alley, he got out of the car and started asking random pedestrians for directions. He called someone again and then started driving. Luckily, after about 30 minutes, we made it to our neighbourhood. I was just thankful we arrived home safely!!! Scott and I both concluded it was his first day on the job.
So our busy day was an adventure to say the least. Although it's only our first few days here, we're slowly starting to recognize our surroundings. It's going to take awhile I think...especially at night.
Well, hopefully we don't get lost again tomorrow. Third time's a charm, so I guess we'll just see what happens!

We'll post again soon! Write us--we'd love to hear from you!

Jo & Scott