The rest of the photos can be found here: 2007 Japan Photo 

Oke in Osaka

I got to Osaka a day early with Mark and his roommate. Both of them were leaving out of Osaka the next day to fly back to Korea. Once off the subway and up to natural ground in I felt at ease there and knew that I was going to have a good 6 days there. I wasn’t able to get to my hostel until the next day so I booked a hotel near Mark and his roommate hotel and then went out on the town. We went to a couple of places around town and were amazed with the easiness of the subway system. Osaka is a smaller Tokyo, but had its own dank that made it unique. That day we went to a spot that was one of the Street Fighter Stage, the Floating Garden, the electronic district and Dotombori to catch some food and beat Mark one more time in Initial D racing game. When I got to my hotel I didn’t realize how small it was; I couldn’t take a proper bath in the shower, washing my face was difficult, a 2.5 feet hallway was ridiculous, and my bed was small as shit, but it worked for the night and was grateful for amount of good rest I got that night.

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A Day and Night on the Town

After sleeping in the comfortable capsule hotel the guys and myself went around Asakusa, Tokyo looking at various markets and finally ate at a small place that the lady kept on saying Hai. She said it at least 20 times before we were able to sit down, but nonetheless the food was pretty good. We then proceeded to go to Shinjuku to check out the goth kids and do some shopping.

The place was really packed with tons of people and there were people dressed with goth clothing all over the place and actually had quite a few shops that specialized in goth clothing. I bought a couple of accessories, but was really shocked with most of the clothing and apparels being westernized. At the time it was raining and was the first time I heard a Japanese thunder and damn did it scare the shit out of me, the sound was like a defiant striking sound with a slight echo. It is hard to explain but you know for sure that you were not in the states. The highlight of the day was walking in the area of Shinjuku, the time square time of place. There were lights, large tv screens, and tons of people everywhere. I loved when the lights changed green and everybody in the area from all sides of the circle crossed the street. You had to be there to get a feel of the shear excitement it was to cross “The Street” of Japan; you can get a good idea of the excitement it is by watching Tokyo Drift. My hostel buddy and myself continued to walk the streets around the area doing some window shopping and looking around finding some interesting things. We eventually stopped at this local restaurant that was serving all you can drink for 1800 yen (about 15 bucks) for 3 hours. We quickly jumped on the opportunity and drank all that we could and ate appetizers. They had the best chop sticks I have ever used and kindly asked them if I can have them. We also took various pictures of the employees and talked about randomness and about the importance of traveling. Getting back to the hostel was an adventure within itself and I quickly passed out once there.

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From having beer with my first local, being less than 300 meters from my hostel and couldn’t find it if my life depended on it, toilets everywhere, dancing with a young girl, getting looks from nearly everyone, stopping at almost every vending machine, getting overwhelmed from all the temples, walking atleast 6 miles per day, eating the best beef of my life, to arm wrestling with a clothing owner, and realizing that I the best 2 weeks of my life was ending in a couple of hours we some, but not all of the great memories of a place that I dreamed of exploring for a long time.

Why Nippon?

Well I don’t know when, where, and why my fascination for Japan came from, but it was there and now had all the power, money, and determination to get myself there for atleast 2 weeks. I went ahead in booked my flight in April, looked for podcast relating to Japan, bought a guidebook that came in handy once during the trip, applied for my passport that almost became a nightmare, and continued to dream. I also asked a couple of people that seemed like they would be interested, the responses I got were, “We should plan to go next year”, “That time of the year won’t work for me”, “That is alot of money”, or whatever else. None of the people I asked ended up going and were surprised that I actually booked everything.

Day 1-Tokyo… Getting lost and drunk

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