Osaka, Japan>, Jul 30, 2009
The bus is running pretty fast in the beginning but when we approach Osaka we get caught in traffic and we are no longer on time- I am a bit tense because I have agreed to meet Yasuyo at 7 and the bus is supposed to arrive just before 6 and the clock is ticking and I am getting to town still later. I am not sure where the bus is actually going in town but I hope it is at a station - and indeed it is going to Osaka station which is great considering I left my luggage at that station earlier today before the hike. I get out and then I just need to find the right coin locker.
Finding the coin locker is not quite as easy as I had assumed it would be when I left my luggage this morning. I had not taken much notice of where I had left the station and where I had put my backs - I figured Chris would know where we had left the station and I would easily be able to find my backs. But Chris didn’t go back here with me so I have to find my backs alone. My locker key got number 2157 and the first lockers I get to is number 7000 something - not really close to the coin locker with my backs. I am rushing around the station and it is big and pretty busy as well - actually there are lots of people all over the place which might be explained by the fact it is the third busiest train station in Japan - which coincidently makes it the third busiest train station in the world. I am getting slightly desperate in the search for my back. I try to ask where the locker but I haven’t got a lot of luck because the people I ask only speak limited English and don’t seem to know where the locker is located - the only thing they can tell me for sure is it somewhere else than where I am for the moment - great.
I keep semi running around the station looking for coin lockers - and suddenly I see a locker with number 2950 - I must be getting close - and there it is my coin locker. I can get my backs and now I have to figure out how to get with the subway to my hotel. Fortunately that is pretty straight forward - I just need one subway to Namba station and another for one stop to my hotel.
I get to the hotel and I manage to check into my room and it is only ten to seven or there abouts. A couple of men working at the hotel takes me to my room - unfortunately one of them speaks a bit of English and finds it interesting to speak with a foreigner - and I really have not got the time for chitchat but I don’t know how to kick him and quickly. After what seems like an eternity - in reality it was probably about a minute - they leave my room.
I really need to leave right away if I am gonna get to the bridge at 7. But after the days hike I figure I better do a little test before leaving. I check the right armpit - yieks it stinks. Then the left armpit - it smells like something died in there. I definitely need a shower and a clean shirt before I can go out in public. I get a quick shower and some clean cloths and then I rush out the door - but I am running late by now it is already past 7 and I still have a 5 minutes’ walk to the bridge. As I am walking - some might call it running - towards the bridge I realize I forgot my camera - damn no time to go back and get it now.
I get to the main bridge and fortunately Yasuyo is still waiting when I get there 10-15 minutes late. She is dressed in the traditional yukata and suddenly I feel a bit underdressed - but at least my shirt is clean. Then we are spotted by Christiaan I met in Kyoto and said he could just join up with us here in Osaka tonight. We walk around the area to go and after a couple of attempts we find a restaurant which will actually accept us as customers. It is a bit strange we are taken through some back corridors and up to the top floor instead of the ground level like we thought.
After dinner we head out for a couple of drinks and we find a bar to have some beers and cocktails. And I get a change to extent my Japanese vocabulary with the word for a not too sweet drink. Unfortunately I never got the Japanese sign for it so it will be impossible to actually put it in writing.
After a good night it is getting a bit late - and in most of Japan late is anything after 11 because all trains and metros seem to stop at midnight. And Yasuyo and Christiaan will have to catch a metro to get back to where they are staying. We say goodbye at the station and I walk back to my hotel. I figure I will make up for forgetting my camera by walking out for a bit and take a couple of pictures at the night life at Dotombori. So I walk back and wonder up and down the street for a bit snapping a few shots at the crowd passing by.