Osaka, Japan My friends here, Fukui-san, Tsuzuki-san, and Oshimo-san, are true Osaka people. They smile and laugh when they're happy, and yell "Damei" (bad),
when they're not happy. |
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After I apologized, they would speak English again. The girls are typical of the people of the Kansai region in that they're loud, opinionated, open, and funny. They know how to have fun, and they love to show you how to have fun. You'll hear that Osaka isn't much to see. Okay, I admit that it isn't the most scenic city in the world, or even in Japan. But, Osaka is a great town for eating and meeting people. |
And the most famous street for eating is Dotombori. We
often went here for food, shopping, drinking, karaoke, or people-watching. The worlds best
Hard Rock Cafe is near here, and so is the worlds strangest Haagen-Dazs (moving toilets, a
merry go round where you ride on women's laps, and chairs where the legs look like a fat
woman's legs). Quite a bit of Black Rain, the Michael Douglass movie, was filmed here. Japan is full of strange sights, and Osaka is no exception. You know that saying about 100 monkeys with typewriters making a novel? You ever wonder what happens with the bad stuff? Sometimes I think that all the stuff that the monkeys made that's really weird ended up in Japan. It seems that no idea is too off the wall. |
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One sight that's not strange is Osaka castle. Once the greatest castle in Japan, it was destroyed, then rebuilt in ferro-concrete. It's pretty disappointing up close, but still impressive from a distance. It's a popular hang-out during cherry blossom season. |