Sunday 3.19.00

     Most anyone will tell you it is a long flight to Japan.   Luckily we were able to break it in half with a stop in Honolulu.  Our Japan Airlines (JAL) flight was in conjunction with "Reso'cha."  Not sure exactly what that means (resort?) but it included some gimicks such as a BINGO game which kept Jennifer occupied.  Now the airline stewardesses of JAL were pretty young women -- unlike here in America where the politically correct term is "flight attendant."  Yeah and those "attendants" tend to be older women or sometimes guys who tend to be generally unpleasant perhaps due to incidents of "passenger rage."   Hmmm, I wonder why. . .

Kansai International Airport.  Shown are the mascots--they look more like blimps rather than airplanes. Anyhow the building and the man-made island it (KIX) sits on are huge.  So big and so clean.  Everyone moved in orderly fashion from gate to baggage claim, shuttled thru quarantine area, customs and out to ground transportation.  The customs official tried to talk to Maddy in Japanese.  We passed through without incident.  After cashing some travellers cheques for Yen, we exchanged our orders for JR Rail Pass.
-->

      This is the first time I utilized the services of a travel agency.  Just about everything else was done using the internet!  Nippon Travel Agency did in fact manage to disappoint.   They assumed I should have an ordinary pass.  Instead of  informing me of my options they just went ahead with what they deemed best.  An ordinary pass cannot be used for reserved cars.  Contrary to the opinion of some you cannot just pay the difference.  Unreserved cars tend to be crowded and many reserved cars as a result are often sparsely occupied.

     From Kansai Airport we rode an airport bus to the Miyako Hotel Osaka.  When we arrived at the reception counter we collected the Sumo tickets that Wimal Jayawardana had secured for us.  Later he called from his home to confirm we got them.  Our room was really quite spacious.  All the hotel service people were soft spoken.   Generally speaking Japanese are not nearly as loud as Americans.  Jennifer fell asleep while Maddy and I had several courses of tofu at Noritake restraunt.  In Osaka we ate till we dropped!  We noticed the subway station was conveniently located under our hotel.

Monday 3.20.00

     All of us had breakfast buffet at the hotel and we headed out in search of the Pokemon Center.  I had printed a map from the internet but somehow it did not wind up in our luggage.  Anyhow it was time to put all that studying Japanese to good use.   I vaguely remember locationwise the center being near Umeda station.  Once we got there and walked around for a while I got the courage up to ask a few people "Pokemon Senta ga doko desu ka?" and "Pokemon Senta ni ikitai desu ga . . ."  One person pointed diagonal and the other pointed down.  It turned out that both were correct!!

     We bought a lot of stuff there.  People were staring at us with their jaws dropping.   The mark up is incredible -- items are priced four to five times higher in the US.   That evening I went to the top of Miyako (21st floor) to unwind with a cigar and an apertif. I was hoping to try an Asahi premium draft as well but the service was awful.  Back at the room the TV was playing. It was some show about a music box maker that created an instrument which has 3 or 4 violins stapped inside run on a spindle while also running a scroll to play piano keys.

Tuesday 3.21.00

     A later start with the same buffet breakfast.  After writing several postcards we decided to see Osaka castle.  Today I experienced what I would call KAMIKAZE BIKE RIDERS.  I don't know if it is because they have trouble balancing or what.  They'd race up behind pedestrians and screetch the brakes, they ride on walking paths even when there are separate paths for bikes.  Having experienced the roads in NJ, I am used to such obnoxious behavior ON THE ROAD,  BUT NOT ON THE SIDEWALKS!  Jennifer does not always hold my hand and walk close to us.  Thus the KAMIKAZE BIKE RIDERS made me extemely nervous.  Unfortunately just about every city we visited had them.
Osaka Castle was rebuilt and destroyed by lightning (too bad they didn't have lightning rods).  Part of the castle is made up of some really large stones.  Stones are marked with family crests to show their origin.  Inside the castle has eight floors.  On one floor holographic images caught Jennifer's attention.  She watched all of them depicting historic times with Japanese narration--she insisted on viewing each and every one through its entirety.  After examining all the exhibitions we walked out of the castle toward the International Peace Center.  Along the way we noticed a rather large enclave of blue tarp tents for homeless people.

Wednesday 3.22.00

      Early rise today.  Same ol' breakfast buffet.  Met Wimal (could not pronounce his last name) and got directions to Den-Den town.  There we bought a Sony digital video camera.  It turns out you could probably get a better price over the internet!  Camera in hand we took a taxi to the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium for the Spring SUMO Tournament.  We arrived in time for the main bouts.  A group of four seated immediately to our left became quite friendly. Kampai!!  They also offered Jennifer strawberries.  The price of our tickets included a meal, drinks, and souvenirs.  Akebono however lost and Taketoriki remained undefeated.

Thursday 3.23.00

      Maddy wanted to go to the Department store next to Kintetsu station.  It was closed today.  In Japan all businesses do not subscribe to "normal working hours."  Weekends off is not a universal policy.  Always have a backup plan or in our case just wait til tomorrow.  Flexibility is good.

      We went to the nearby post office.  Earlier we had gotten two boxes from the hotel and packaged a lot of the goods we had purchased to ship back home.  I constantly complained about the amount and weight of luggage.  Many strangers upon seeing Jennifer said something like kawaii.  People we did not know would spoil her.  A woman at the post office even gave her a toy bank!

     There was plenty of time left in the day and we decided to go to Temposan Harbor.   There was a large ferris wheel, Osaka Aquarium (Kaiyukan), and the Suntory Museum IMAX.

The aquarium had a whale shark, different kinds of jellyfish, eels, turtles and long legged spider crabs.  No recipes were posted next to the tanks.   At the IMAX theater we saw Fantasia 2000.   Steve Martin sounds even funnier in Japanese.

Friday 3.24.00

      Before leaving Osaka we thanked Wimal for all his help and we exchanged business cards.  Instead of dragging all our baggage through the subway we took a cab to Osaka station (about $30).  Once we got to Kyoko station we had to transfer to the subway this was not obvious because the entrance said deguchi or exit!  From our stop it was five blocks up and three over.   I asked a couple Japanese girls but they suggested a taxi.  It was a nice day out and I wanted to walk.

      When in need of directions in Japan I suggest you seek the following  1) KOBAN--a police box  2) Hotel--most have regional, local maps or fliers with the location of their hotel on it  3) Obaachan--just about every grandma I met was kind, spoke slow and proved to be helpful.

       Inside Ryokan Kohro was delightful.  Somehow the use of concrete exterior made it seem less traditional Japanese but that at least does away with some of the lightning liability.  Our hostess was Kikuko-san.  She was great help because we were pretty much clueless.  Breakfast and dinners were ordered and luckily they were flexible about that since a friend of Maddy's relatives had made other arrangements for some of our stay in Kyoto.  Our first evening Kikuko-san cooked wild duck (kamo) for us.  Dinner also included raw fish (sashimi), vegtables and tofu. Oishikatta da yo.  Jennifer had to pay to watch TV.

Saturday 3.25.00

     I think I could never grow tired of Japanese breakfasts.  I like it much more than brand cereal.  After breakfast we met Mr. and Mrs. Okuda (classmate of Fumie Goto) who run an embroidery business.  Mr Okuda makes designs for kimonos and festival palaquins.  He showed us the professionals he employs while they were working their craft.  How they did it without computer assistance demonstrated the level of their skill.  Right next door his 80 yr old mom ran a flower shop.

     On the way to their home we saw Mt Daimonji (a kanji character for big marked on the side of the mountain).  Their house was magnificent and very clean.  We walked around a nearby festival held at Kitano Tenman-Gu.  Mr Okuda was interested mainly in old tea pots.  I bought a pair of knives. Later we were joined by his daughter, Tomoko and their second son, Keisuke.  On his TV set we saw Akebono stare down and defeat Taketoriki. Kampai!  Then Okuda-san prepared a big sukiyaki dinner for us.  It was tremendously delicious
. Picutured L to R are:  Okuda's mom, Mikki, Tomoko, Okuda's wife, Jennifer, Maddy, Kiichiro Okuda, and Keisuke.