On Friday we all got up pretty damned early and met at 7 am to begin our journey to Osaka. After nomming some onigiri, we took the city bus to Kanazawa station. From there, we took a double decker bus to Osaka which took 5 hours. It was kinda great, because we were sharing the bus with some other ryuugakusei, but they were on the top floor. My "group" of Sam, Jackie, Tiana, Sarah, and myself got the front basically to ourselves. At one of the rest stops, the bathroom was frikin intense. Each of the stalls has a large light telling you whether it was occupied or not. And there was a map. XD
Anyway, we go to Osaka. Now we had to figure out which subway station to go to and which line to take etc etc. When we finally found our way to the subway station, while looking lost, we were approached by a very nice Japanese lady. This was my first time experiencing super over the top friendly Japanese people. Osaka has lots of tourists, so I guess this isn't surprising? Anyway, she was awesome and helped us figure out which lines and stops we needed and also helped us buy the tickets. Not only that, but she rode on the train with us and, we're pretty sure, she went beyond her own stop to make sure we made it onto the correct second train. ^_^
We finally arrived in Sennichimae and now had to find our hotel. This wasn't too hard in the end because we had a map. Our hotel, the Business In Sennichimae Hotel, was nestled in an alley of clubs and bars. It was right off one of Sennichimae's main covered paths that is full of restaurants and vendors. Everything smelled so good. *_* Osaka is so busy and full of so many people and SO MANY TOURISTS. It was great.
We were packing 5 people into a 3 person room, so 3 of the girls went and checked us in and dropped off our bags. And now it was time to find shopping! But first, food!! We went to an awesome okinomiyaki place and had delicious delicious okinomiyaki. *_*
After okinomiyaki, we pretty much just wandered about looking at all the amazing shops and arcades. There were a metric fuck ton of pachinko places with HUUUUGE signs.
Oh, and Evangelion was just about everywhere. Let's just say that I was in fan girl heaven. We went to lots of arcades and I spent way too much money. XD And we did purikura and that was fun! We had delicious delicious crepes and looked at adorable pets in pet shops. We wandered around until late and finally found Den Den town which was mostly just closing. But we had a first glimpse at some of the anime shops we'd be in the next day.
Oh yeah, in the arcade, these two boys won all four different type of eva headphones from this one crane game. My mind was blown! @_@ And there were also some gorgeous stylish girls playing project diva. X3
Then, return to the hotel, and shenanigans.
7/3
Today we went to Nipponbashi. And we shopped at a lot of anime shops. And it was insane and I can only really describe the insanity in pictures which can be found here and here.
However, we went to K Books (where I dropped over $40 on doujins), Animate, a capsule toy store, and...a crap ton of other stores that I can't even remember. There were a number of small Touhou only shops, a wig shop, and a few maid cafes. Sadly, no maid cafes were gone to. We did go to a small restaurant and I had yummy udon.
Oh man, the amount of eva everywhere is just. @___@ It fucking blows my miiiiind! Do want! This is the best time to be in Japan!! and Touhou Drinks!!
Today it rained a crap ton. It was a little ridiculous the down pour we had to put up with. @_@; Hm what else? In one of the anime shops, there was an employee cosplaying Naruto. o-O Of all the things... Anyway. We had dinner at a small place where you cook your own meat and the meal was just meat and was pretty good, but expensive, in the end. We also got ice cream yum yum yum yum. Annnnnd went to Don Quixote which is the insanest insane that ever insaned. Basically, a lot of shopping today.
7/4
Today, I had breakfast at the hotel which consisted of bread, a croissant, a hard boiled egg, and banana slices. While I'm on the subject of the hotel, let me mention their two computers. They have two computer with internet for customer use. These computers are old, slow, and I can't even believe they are still using them. They froze on me constantly and I couldn't just reboot it once. No, I had to reboot it three times because something always went wrong again the 2 first times. e_e;;
Then we went to the aquarium!! We got there via subway which we got to via underground MALL! Wtf! Not many things surprise me about Japan. But. Underground mall?! Insane.
Anyhow, we went to Kaiyukan in Osaka which is one of the biggest aquariums in the world. It has two whale sharks and tons of amazing. Oh, and too many fucking little kids and parents. I found out that day that Japanese children are just like American children. *facepalm*
Anyway, it was awesome and photos are here.
I must also mention that the aquarium's gift shop was pretty much a Kaiyukan-themed department store. @_@
After the aquarium, we went to the mall right next door (but unfortunately we did not ride the 112 meter ferris wheel ;_;). The mall was also insane and was hosting Hawaiian Festival 2010 or some such. Bunch of hula-ers hula-ing. There were even amusement attractions in this mall. o_O TWO Sanrio stores, a ghibli store, and a million restaurants. We went to Coco's for lunch which was Western style dining and food. Omg it was so delicious. *drool*
Oh, I forgot to mention. I got to touch shark and rays at the aquarium! They had a...touching..tank... Weird and awesome =D
I got lots of nice omiyage (gifts) for people on this day. ^_^
After the aquarium and things, we got ebi yaki for dinner. It is an Osaka only thing, so say the cooks. Imagine takoyaki, but with shrimp instead. Omg to die for. So good!
7/5
Today we got up early, 6:30, and headed back to Kanazawa. We took a subway to the bus station and took the 5 hour bus to Kanazawa. There was a woman in a kimono on our bus. It was lovely and music themed and I have no idea how we was uncomfortable in that for 5 hours sitting. @_@ annnnd I got a crepe at a rest stop <3
Once at Kanazawa station, I grabbed lunch, and waited for the bus to school. Took bus to school, went back to apartment, and proceeded to pass out. Probably.
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