22 Days in Japan, Day 11: McDonald’s Has Never Tasted So Good

And there goes Nagoya. I’m in Osaka, the third phase of my journey into Japan.

Today’s train ride is surprisingly uneventful, except for getting dinged to the tune of 5600 yen for the trip from Nagoya to Osaka. Awesome. The good news is that it’s a short trip on the shinkansen. And the latest hostel that I’m staying at is ridiculously close to the JR station (Momodani) – it’s practically under the tracks. Note for everyone else: if you’re planning on going from Nagoya to Osaka, and you’ve got two and a half hours to kill, you may want to invest in the “Kodama Puratto Economy Plan”, the same one that got me from Tokyo to Nagoya. The Nagoya to Osaka version only costs 4200 yen, and includes a free drink as usual. But you have to book at least a day in advance. That’s key. You also have to find the right tour office (Tokai Tours in Tokyo Station, or I think JTB travel agencies will do it too).

After settling in my new (six-person) dorm room, I head out into the great unknown known as Osaka. I’m starving. And my first stop is a McDonald’s down the street. A chicken sandwich, french fries and a Coke have never tasted so good in my life. This might have to go down as one of my best meals of the trip so far.

I laze around for a bit in the Momodani area and eventually end up back at the JR station, taking the train over to Osaka Castle. Now, I’ve only seen one castle so far (Nagoya), but that’s more than enough castle for me. And the fact that very little was actually in English played a pretty big role too. Osaka Castle does have some pretty extensive walking/biking grounds, and walking for hours is really starting to feel like second nature to me. And the weather is gorgeous.

So I walk and walk and walk. I have no idea where I’m going, and even though I have my phone GPS I don’t bother checking it. Just walk, baby. My final destination ends up being the Tenmabashi train stop, home of yet another seven-story mall. I thought New Jersey was bad with malls, but Japan has proved me wrong. Japan is the absolute king of malls. The emperor, the king, I’m Michael Jackson and you’re Tito.

After a helluva long walk down the riverfront, I finally take a subway line to Dotonbori.

First impression: this place reminds me of Akihabara, in Tokyo. But the Akihabara equivalent is actually supposed to be Den-Den town, a little ways off.

Crossing through Dotonbori is Shinsaibashi-suji, one of the absolute longest covered malls that I’ve ever seen. It’s eight blocks long, and I almost give up walking the entire length of it. There’s Pachinko and karaoke parlors galore, a so-called video game “museum” that really just has tons of arcade games, a zillion places to eat, and shops, shops, and more shops.

I love this area. It’s loud, it’s bright, and you can’t go more than 20 feet without finding a place to eat. And there’s so many people.

One random canal runs through the area. At night (as one of my friends puts it later), it looks like a cross between Vegas and Venice. Hell, there’s even a casino in the Namba HIPS building (the one that has a giant bowling pin shaped hole in the front), even though I don’t think they use real money.

Dinner consists of an excellent bowl of ramen at an unknown shop which uses the awesome meal ticket dispenser machines. There weren’t enough of these in Nagoya. They’re extremely convenient, especially for foreigners – all you do is put money into the machine, grab your ticket, and give it to the (waitress? counter-person?) when you walk in.

I’ve only got 11 days left. Half of my trip is already over. And I really have no idea what I’m going to do tomorrow, hence why I’m writing this at 12 midnight instead of actually sleeping. Although this one guy in my dorm room freaks me out. I came back at 10 pm and he was actually sleeping (or pretending to sleep, since I definitely made enough noise to wake him up). Who the hell sleeps at 10pm in Japan? Or anywhere else? What is going on here???