Current mood:	hopeful
Entry tags:	osaka

Osaka, 18th April


So this was Saturday! I have so few pictures from that day - got up and we were talking with my friend about maybe going to the zoo later in the day. I was supposed to do a little city round on my own and then get back to the hotel where we could go over our plans again and he'd come and pick me up.
Since I had this list of bookstores I wanted to go and I had reached Namba on my Thursday walk, I meant to come off the subway there and continue to work my way up north to Umeda from there (since we were joking that I had to go and see Umeda that day, that I could not delay it further). Another place to go that day was Johnny's shop - I was thinking of checking out where it was and take a picture or two from the outside - I had read (later found out it might have been misinterpretation on my part) that (even) the Osaka shop was always crowded too and it was hard to get in, so I was telling my friend "well, I don't want to die, so I won't go inside but maybe I'll just have a look". - "Are you sure?!" - "Yeah, won't go in, I'm not suicidal!" It was a conversation more or less like that.
Alrighty, so I come out of the Namba station and am under the big screen on the side of Toho Cinemas, the place where I remembered I finished my walk two days ago...I went to a sidestreet and sat down with my newly acquired map (from the Shin Osaka tourist information centre), marked my bookshops and animeshops on it and Johnny's shop...and started walking. .....................in the wrong direction! Now, don't ask me how my brain was working that day, to my head I could not have gone south, after all I was walking in the opposite direction I had come from on Thursday...so it had to be right...but it wasn't. I am still not sure how I managed this, only that probably the street I was taking and had taken two days before made a loop and impreceptibly got me turned around and I had forgotten where exactly I turned in to the subway station too.

Here I was walking, and thinking "now which way do I go????", I was doubting myself the whole time and turned inside, away from the wider street, looking at the signs that pointed to the city centre. But I was thinking then that I was walking to the west, so how could the city centre be there since it had to be in the north, so I turned again and walked and walked. No idea where I was but it got strangely quiet, there were practically no people walking around and not a lot of cars either. Stubborn as I am, I never ask for the way, so I kept going, waiting until I got to a wider street and some signs (remember that my map has no streetnames aside from the few widest, no use from that even if I saw a sign, of course). Got to the street, no signs - and then I decided I had to turn back and get to where I had started from before, all in all making a square in the line of walking.
And finally, where do I end up - at Daikokucho station that is to the south of Namba - when I had thought I was going north all the time. baffled as I was, I looked at the time and saw it was already getting later and there was no time to figure it all out and walk towards Umeda. Got on the subway there and got off two stops later at Shinsaibashi. Checking from the map later my big walk was in Naniwa-ku.

Emerged from the subway from the hotel Nikko entrance and set out to look for the Johnny shop, leaving the Mandrake (book) shop to later. And what do I do - walk the wrong way (again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:P) to Shinsaibashi-suji shopping street. Doubled back again, already angry at myself and back to Nikko to look at the map they had there. Now at least sure of on which side of the street I was and where the Johnny shop was I started to look - and did a round of the quarter around Nikko, not finding the JE shop. Hopeless of ever finding anything that day I got back to Nikko, tried to get the map I got from the NEWS comm for the JE shop and the one on the street to match...and went for another turn, thinking that if I did not find it then, I'd look for the Mandrake instead since time was ticking away and my friend waiting.
I had falled again to the trap you have when coming from here to Japan - the streets are narrower, so whenever there is a street, it is the one marked on the map. Here the small ones might not be marked and that is why I kept discounting them. Final try then...the street that hotel Nikko has it's side on...walk...and then voila, there is a pink sign on an nondescript little cubicle

Took a picture and eyed the store - alright, there were some girls outside and a guy too but it was no line and it did not look too crowded. Went a little closer and saw that it was possible to get into the shop easily - so there I went. I had read that it was not a lot but I guess I was still a little disappointed how simple the shop is - you more or less have just walls with the shop photos on them and then the counter, nothing more. A few other stuff on the walls above the pictures (some uchiwa and so on) but nothing big or shiny.
Next obstacle - how does it work there? I saw girls with papers in their hands and then remembered reading something about marking down what you wanted and then presenting it to the shop - but I had in my head it was when the shop is crowded and you can't even get in so you write. Alright, guess I had been wrong. So I take the paper from beside the door and pen...hmm, all in Japanese but I see there are the numbers that the pictures have. Started to mark down the ones I wanted with ticks but then noticed that the girls put numbers in there, so made those into 1s. Where to put the name of the band, since I figured out that it probably is that you take a form for every band you want pictures of. Looking over some shoulders confirmed my guess where it went. Then there was some box on the back where the girls were writing something but I had no idea what it was so left it empty. Dreading if I had gotten it right, after choosing the shots, went to the counter and either I had done everything right or they have seen their share of hen no gaijin, got my pictures and left happy. Oh, and I was the only gaijin there of course!:D:D

Time had really flown, so I had to decide what to do next. I was unsure of where Mandrake was, another search would have swallowed up too much time. This made me decide to take the subway to Umeda, check out the maze there so I would fulfil my promise, see the Kinokuniya bookstore and leave for the hotel.

Umeda is....Umeda, I knew under which station the bookstore was so I headed to where signs were telling the line was. And again - started to doubt myself and turned to the right on the last minute. That almost got me immersed in the maze, walked a little until I found a map in English (amongst other languages) of the underground shops and saw that the bookstore was one level up. I would have walked right into it if I had taken the stairs instead of turning and walking down a flight.
Found the store, reported to my friend that I was in Umeda, alive and would be back soon and explored the bookstore a bit. Did not find any of the idol magazines, was I blind or what was going on I have no idea. But I did find the Korean magazine and books section where there were quite a few mags with BOF stuff and some with SS501. Still trying to hurry back, I did not allow myself to think about buying anything yet, and got out of the store to dive into the maze to find the subway and get back. It was not too difficult - thank heavens for the signs! - but a little still since it is Umeda!

Once in the hotel it was too late, already after 3 or half past even and it closes at 5pm and last visitors are let in at 4. What to do then? Talked and talked until it got late and dark and then...cannot remember who mentioned it first but got to my idea that I would like to see the city in the dark with all the lights shining since I had been back to the hotel the previous days before it was dark.
Hehee, this was fun - there is a mountain that you're not allowed to go after dark but...young people still do. One reason why you're not allowed might be that the road up is winding...and there are no lights :D:D. But up we got and this was amazing and breathtaking.







This last picture I took without the nightshot programming because that one does not allow for any shaking of the hand, the pictures get messed up. The two above are made actually from the tripod my friend brought, all of mine I deleted since they were completely unfocussed.

Like that but I kept this because it looks half artistic :P.

Down from the mountain and alive we then had the double cheeseburger meal (I had ran into the station before being picked up to get those as a surprise) :D:D:D..................lol...........and that was the end of that day.