My plane got in around 11 and I was stuck in the immigration line for an hour. I was antsy and a bit cranky, but that soon evaporated by the kindness of the man who processed me at immigration. I forgot how kind everyone is in Japan! I took the night bus to Osaka, then ended up getting a 3,000 yen (about $30) cab ride to Hotel Shin-Imamiya. The cab driver didn't speak any English, but he got out his phone and used a voice translator to talk to me the whole way there. The first sentence he said translated to "You came to Japan to die?" and I laughed really hard at that one. I told him I was here meeting a friend, then excitedly yelled "tomogachi!!" because that's what friend is in Japanese. Or maybe it means pet?? He told me that the area my hotel was in was very dangerous. When I asked if the yakuza lived in that area, he just kept repeating "very dangerous". Welp, I was freaked out.
Hotel Shin-Imamiya from the outside.
This is what our capsules looked like.
I went into the hotel and found our private capsule room, which was actually pretty nice (aside from the pathetic excuse for a door). I woke Carolanne up, who then proceeded to speak nonsense for the next 10 minutes about her mother and a dragon and other things? It made no sense, but we were just so happy to see each other that we hugged a thousand times as we made our way to a nearby convenience store for late dinner food and a few beers. As we sat in the lobby chatting and drinking, Carolanne told me the guy she had met on the train had also told her we were in the outer edges of Japan's version of a slum. Honestly though, the area still looked pretty nice. It just smelled a bit like piss outside.
Although our capsule hotel was cheap and decent, we decided to change our reservation for our remaining days to a full apartment on Air BnB that was near Osaka castle. We also met a group of guys in the lobby that were from Korea. Two of them were in a Korean metal band called Remnants of the Fallen. Unfortunately we wouldn't be able to see their show, but they were fun to talk to! We both slept really well and checked out the next day so we could find our new apartment. It was in a really nice and quiet neighborhood and the Osaka castle was only a few blocks away. We were breathless when we got into the apartment. It was beautiful, two levels, and we got our own bedroom (plus one to spare) and it was only for $75 a night! We paid much less than we would have for one room of that quality at a decent hotel, so we were really pleased!
Part of the downstairs section of the apartment. Upstairs there was much more -what a catch!
We put our bags down, then left to find a place to eat. We ended up finding a small empty restaurant with a nice older man and some delicious ramen. We were so charmed with how kind he was (which has been a reoccurring theme this whole trip). We stopped by a local grocery store to pick up some breakfast supplies, then went back to the apartment to drop the food off and go to Osaka castle. Since it was a Saturday, everyone was lounging on the park grass outside the castle. We decided to not go in the castle because I didn't find the museum to be that great the last time I visited. Instead, we lazily strolled around the grounds and took silly videos for the music video I'm planning on making for this trip. It's going to be my first time making a music video like this, but I think it'll be really fun!
The park that held Osaka Castle had a beautiful moat that lit up with the bright blue sky. What a perfect day to visit!
We came right in time to experience the gorgeous colors of fall.
After the castle, we walked back to take a nap, then get ready for a night out. We played some jams and did our hair and makeup, just like old times! Afterwards, we walked over to the downtown area that lines the river for a restaurant. We ended up eating at the same Okonomiyaki place I had been to with Yeji. It's just that yummy! While we ate, we searched for a club that we could go to and ended up finding one called club GROSS. We cracked a bunch of jokes about the name as we made our way over to the club. In the end, we wound up at a clothing store that was also called GROSS! Luckily, we were able to find a group of foreigners who led us to Club One, which had a mix of Japanese people and foreigners.
When we got there, it was a bit dull so Carolanne and I ended up being the only ones dancing (aside from some other guy). We were the only girls in the club for the first hour and we were wondering what the hell we had gotten ourselves into. Luckily, the bartender seemed to like us so we got extra-strong drinks and a bunch more people came at some point. We went home much later than planned, and got lost along the way due to our cab driver not knowing where our apartment was.
The dance crew of the night -so much fun!
We were partied out. So partied out that we were unable to do little more than watch Japanese tv and make our way to a Dominoes the next day. So much for our grand plans to go to Nara! We repacked our bags and readied ourselves for what was to come at Universal Studios the next day.
We had a bit of a rough start the next day because we were carrying around all of our big bags while attempting to get to Universal Studios. Crankiness was in full force as we desperately searched for lockers large enough to fit our bags. We found one, but we had to have a Japanese phone number in order to use the lockers. What crap! Luckily, there were some lockers right next to the ticket stands at the entrance of the park. I shook a woman down for change since the machines only accepted five 100 coins instead of a 500 coin, then we were finally rid of our bags! We waited in line for tickets into the park and eventually we were in!
We attempted to go to Hogwarts first, but it turns out that you need to have a reservation to get into the Harry Potter themed area. Ours was for 3.30, so we had four hours to blow until we could go in. We went into the first ride that we saw on our way around (that wasn't incredibly crowded). It was a 30 minute wait in and once we were inside, we quickly learned why the line was so short for Backdraft. They just showed a few videos in Japanese about the special effects of the firefighting movie. Carolanne and I were talking crap about the crappy ride into each others ear and making inventive names for it to entertain ourselves. Finally, in the third room they displayed the special effects. Basically we watched a room explode into flames, which we had to admit was pretty cool.
While we were walking around, I saw a woman who had the most beautiful headband ever of a dinosaur eating her head. Luckily, there was a hat stand nearby that had just one of those headbands. Carolanne (my sugar momma of the day) bought it for me and I wore it around for the whole day like the doof that I am. Next up was lunch at Flannigans -the Irish pub. There was a line (like there was for literally everything in that park), so we had to wait for about 40 minutes, but it was worth it. In front of us were these two women who had really cool witch costumes that they had made. It seemed like everyone had such cool costumes in the park except for us!
The 3-D Spiderman ride was a 2 hour wait. We went through the single riders line so it would go by quickly. We ended up being in the same car, except I was paired up with a group of adolescent boys in the front while she was with adults. I swear I was more enthusiastic than the kids on that ride! At least I had enough enthusiasm for everyone in our car. It was worth the wait!
One beer later and it was finally Harry Potter time! Even though there were reservations for certain times, the streets were crowded with people. The merchandise had to be double the price of everything else in the park, but it was pretty cool. The robes were an okay quality, but they were $140, which was completely outrageous! We first went through the Hogwarts castle walking tour, which featured Lockheart's Defense Against the Dark Arts room. One of my favorite parts of the castle was the fat lady's portrait. After that, we wandered around the town again to get pictures, souvenirs, and butterbeer. Butterbeer is even more amazing than I had expected! After that, we headed into the Flight of the Hippogryph line, which boasted to take 4-1/2 hours. Luckily, it ended up only taking half that time, but it was definitely worth it. Unlike the Spiderman ride, this one was not 3-D, so you had real dementors, spiders, and all sorts of things rushing at your face. This ride was ranked the best ride in the world (for their Florida location) and I could see why. It was a lot of fun!
Honeydukes -delicious and adorable.
We called it a night after that and made our way out of the park so we could catch the JR to Kyoto. Next stop: scenic Kyoto!
