I rode the train up to Osaka with Aaron, a Manchester United fan complete with the David Beckham Mohawk. He is a remarkably chilled out guy and a solid conversationalist. The hour and fifty minutes to Osaka flew by.
The hostel in Osaka was almost space aged in architecture and had the perfect mix of traditional Japanese culture and modern amenities. For instance, state of the art European style bedding and a traditional group bath system for the entire hostel. Don’t let your mind wander, the men and women each have separate baths.
In an effort to keep fit, I walked from the hostel, which is by the train station, to downtown and back. This entailed finding foot traffic across the river and back again. This was very tricky because nothing is marked well and the areas around the river are quite dodgy.
This was an effort in faith, as I followed a few decently dressed people into dark tenements. My hope hinged on the instinct that they were actually walking to a hidden bridge staircase and not entering the area for darker reasons. Given the pace of their stride, my hunch was the first scenario would hold true. Just about the time my conscience was saying return the way you came, a spiral staircase rose about 100 meters ahead. This was a big relief with sunset a good two hours passed. The only thing left was the “homeless possessions obstacle course” over and around their belongings (no one was in sight) and up the stairs to the relative safety of a 30-inch wide non-guard railed sidewalk over the river and back to the hostel. All told, the trip was about two and a half hours. Perfect.
While in the city center, I was guilty of eating at McDonald’s. Interesting to me was the fact that there were both smoking and non-smoking sections. Even more curious was a cubicle system set up in the middle of each. That way many people could eat alone and in relative privacy without holding up tables of two or four. It was a little odd, like sneaking food into the college library.
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