Final days in Japan... and getting ready to leave

On the whole, the people of Osaka seem to speak less English than their counterparts in Tokyo and Kyoto. This is just an observation, I'm not complaining.  Heck, if English wasn't my first language and I lived in a non-English speaking country, I probably wouldn't know much English either.

Typically the locals don't know how to read me.  I look Asian but I dress differently to the local Japanese girls (for one, I've been wearing converse shoes) and am less made-up than them.  On the other hand, I speak in non-broken English, so I'm not a chinese tourist.  Conclusion: I'm confused!

I was about to post last night that the people in Osaka seem less friendly than those in Tokyo, less formal in shops and with less attention to detail, especially after learning that I don't understand Japanese.  But that would be biased based on a couple of average experiences over the past couple of days.  Happily today has been a change full circle.  Armed with cash, I set out to buy some last-minute presents - some shirts for Dad, a japanese knife for mum, and some kitchenware for me. 

The lady at the first knife shop was lovely.  I tried to explain to her that I wanted a stainless steel knife and asked whether the shop was open the next day.  She kept apologising for her English (which wasn't that bad - after a few back and forths, I understood what she was trying to get at), and we had a great laugh.  She couldn't remember how to say when the shop was closed for holidays so she went and wrote it down for me.  Customer service in action.

Next, I went for dinner at the same okonomiyaki restaurant as I went to two days ago. Different chef this time, they gave me both English and Japanese menus.  The chef started talking to me in Japanese and I explained (in Japanese) that I don't understand Japanese.  [Off topic: I've realised that saying that you don't speak a certain language (and saying this in that language) really throws people.  I can see what they're thinking:  why can't she speak Japanese?  She said that in Japanese! She doesn't look like a non-Japanese!]. We then had a chatty chat in broken English (him) / badly mangled Japanese (me) and it was fun.  I think the lack of human interaction is driving me insane; I'm craving some proper interaction of some sort... and it's only been 2 days since Lisa left.  It was great, we talked about what nationality I was, my travel so far in Japan, how long he'd been in Osaka (20 years) and worked at the restaurant (1 year).



Okonomiyaki!




Okonomiyaki restaurant

 After dinner I went to Marui to buy some shirts for Dad.  Went to the Visaruno section (which was flooded with sales assistants - about 4 assistants to 1 customer) and was given welcomes and a lengthy blurb in Japanese.  After I gave my standard "I don't speak Japanese" line in Japanese, we had an acceptable Q&A and even some joking in broken English.  I may be naiive (yes I know, they are supposed to be nice so I can exchange some moolah for goods) but it felt genuine.

Another example, I went to Takashimaya to check out the knives.  The sales assistant reminded me of Mum.  I explained I didn't know Japanese and she went to grab the (informal) guy who knows English well. She seemed embarassed that she didn't know that much English, but it was enough to answer my questions.  And as I walked away not exchanging any moolah, she seemed genuinely happy to have been able to help me. 

Did I mention that I'm going to miss Japan?

Things I'm going to miss the most:
- sales assistants
- japanese toilets (the seat warming and embarassing-noise-distractor)
- all the food!
- japanese tv (food shows are on all the time! oishii desu ne?!?!)
- the neon
- department stores, especially the basement food sections
- department store opening hours (10pm in Tokyo, 8pm in Osaka... yes please!!)
- vending machine drinks
- punctual public transport
- clean public toilets

- free hot green tea at restaurants

- cheap karaoke

- cheap sticker photos

Yesterday was fun, I had takoyaki from one of the stalls along Dotonbori, then took a couple of subways to the Osaka aquarium.  The crowd was mainly kids with parents, some Japanese couples and a few token western tourists. I think I may have been the only one that was there solo.  The aquarium was great; instead of the usual separate tanks for different species, they had mixed tanks to try and approximate the environment in the wild I guess.  Which was cool, but I don't know how some of the creatures at the lower end of the food chain felt about that... there were a few fish skulking at the bottom of the tank which had the massive whale sharks in it.  I went all clicky with the camera which is not like me at all, but go figure!  The weirdest thing there were these massive rodents called Capybara, which looked like massive guinea pigs on steroids.  It was feeding time and the keeper fed them bok choy!  Asian rodents!



Osaka aquarium - Kaiuikan



Capybara - massive rodents



Had dinner at a sushi place on Dotonbori (just average) then went on a kit kat search at the local convenience stores.  I found one more - strawberry cream.  On the wrapper's picture, the chocolate looks bright pink, so we will see how it tastes.  Dessert was Haagen Daas ice cream.  Japan has some interesting flavours, and I have been making my way through them (so far, green tea with cookies, pumpkin, salt and caramel biscuit), and all thumbs up so far.  Actually to me, all the flavours are new because there is no Haagen Daas widely available in the Australian market yet.  Sad face.



Osaka's Glico man

Osaka neon

 After having an early dinner, I got the munchies at about midnight so wanted to try the Yoshinoya around the corner from the hotel.  I couldn't figure out how to get in the doors!  Yoshinoya has these automatic doors, but instead of the clear bar that you push to let you in, it has a small red square which you touch and it opens.  Of course I don't figure this out until a day later... the cook stared at me trying to figure out the door and no doubt thought I was either crazy or stupid.  Yoshinoya fail.  So instead, I went for some gyoza at the local ramen place.   I love gyoza!  It was pretty good (heavy bias because I was craving gyoza).  Today I went back to a specialised gyoza place around the corner from the hotel  AZ and I stayed at last time, and the gyoza was fantastic!!! Gyoza win.



Amazing Gyoza.  Love those crispy bits.

 Tomorrow I leave for home.  Really sad to leave but looking forward to some English conversation. Need to pack and buy a knife.  Since it has been declared that doing karaoke by myself would be too sad, I will see if I can fit in a couple of hours in an onsen.