Osaka - 大阪に着いた

Today we packed our things for Osaka! Unfortunately, my friends were really hungry and tried to squeeze in a breakfast before we got on the train. We ended up mising the shikansen and needing to schedule another for later in the day. It is not a huge deal but is definitely annoying!

On the shikansen, I got some of the hard-as-a-rock ice cream as per my friend's reccomendation and had a couple of beers. It's so cool that you can also get food and beer on the shinkansen. I'm drinking the beer as I write this so I'm sorry if that effects my spelling or grammar 😅 We will soon arrive in Osaka where I'm excited to see the differences between Kansai (Western Japan) and Kanto (Eastern Japan) culture.

We ended up traveling to a small sushi bar where I got to try out my Japanese! A couple at the bar started up a conversation and the woman was showing me some various cool sightseeing things to see such as the Giant Buddah, Sanjuusangen-do, and the Osaka aquarium. I noticed that it was difficult for them to know what I could and could not understand. Sometimes they would ask if I knew really simple words but then also say some really complex sentences without checking if I understood 😆 Sometimes when I said that I understood I don't think they believed me! I was happy though because I was able to make jokes and it's a really awesome feeling to be able to make people laugh in another language. The sushi chef asked me if I had a lover and gave me a card to go to a bunny cosplay bar accross the street that his friend works at. I didn't end up going, but I thought it was funny how forward the chef was about something like that. I can't tell if he would reccomend it to anyone or just because I'm a foreigner 😅

The sushi was amazing! I really loved the eel, fatty tuna, normal tuna, and the scallop. All of these were better than any other sushi I've had before in my life. I wish there was some way to capture how it tasted in the moment but I don't think words will do it justice. All I know is that I need some more 😇

Afterwards, me and my friends got some Takoyaki. Squid and Octopus usually make my stomach feel a little weird but I wanted to try everything even if I didn't love it when I tried it back home. The tokoyaki did upset my stomach a little but not as much as it normally does! It was much better the next morning after the dough solidified a bit. I think it's the sticky dough consistency that makes me a little nauseus.

My friends went back to the hotel and I went on a mission to find an Izakaya to talk to some natives! At least, that was my thought at the time. What actually happened was that I got really confused by all the vertical signs and small venues, so I ended up just walking and looking around. An extremely drunk man did say 「外国人？？」(Foreigner??) as I walked past but he looked a bit scary since his eyes were glazed over by the amount of alcholhol he had drank. So, I just kept walking and didn't talk to anyone. 恥ずかしい！！次回きっとできますよ

I plan on getting better at talking to people and striking up conversations. I've realized that in America I wait for other people to engage me but in Japan that simply will not happen most the time. Japanese people tend to keep to themselves and not bother anyone outside of their circle. I know I can do it but I get nervous in the moment!! Maybe this trip will make my communication skills better in English too if I can master the art of talking to random people 🤔

Tomorrow I'll be going out with some friends in Osaka so maybe they can teach me how it is done! It will be my first time seeing any of my Japanese friends in actual Japan so I'm extremely excited 😄

寿司屋: Japan, 〒530-0002 Osaka, Kita Ward, Sonezakishinchi, 1 Chome−5−7, Mori Bldg, 1FRead more