I can’t exactly put a theme to Osaka, it’s not like traditional Kyoto, nor like modern Tokyo nor even has the picturesque settings of Otaru nor the usual city life of Sapporo. Osaka is a mixture of retro and modern, the good and ugly, posters of murderers at train stations, excellent roadside food, bright neon lights, pachinko centres and business lounges, loud blaring music, rowdy colours, tall modern skyscrapers and weird architectures, stiletto boots and bikini tops, rastafarian braids and dreadlocks, old men and women, jazz music and hip hop, techno art, baroque art..aaaaagghhhh very confusing.
My Japanese language sensei used to advise us not to patronise Osaka streets on our own late at night, as there are bad people who dupe tourists into doing things (that he never really mentioned.) I love Osaka and am afraid of it at the same time. People in all kinds of clothings/makeup/hairdo rushing to their own thing around us. In fact, it was in Osaka that I started to have some culture-shock because Osaka is shocking!
Dotombori, Ebisu, Den-den Town and Universal Studios were among the nicest places I had been to! And the famous Umeda skybuilding is awesome to gawk at night. It made me feel as if I am looking into Stargate’s revolving gate. And the red Ferris Wheel that changes colours in the evening, oh! Gotta love that. Bathing with everyone else in the communal bath in our hotel suite is another thing. Ha ha ha. And nothing beats eating okonomiyaki (japanese pizza) in Osaka.
If I go back to Osaka, it would be for the food…. and Universal Studios.
No comments:
Post a Comment