First morning waking up in Kansai in PC’s pimpin’ pad was a bit rough. I had 5 hours of sleep only and I was going to check out his international school that he started. It was pretty amazing that he’s come so far since 2006 when he was just another English teacher in Japan. He had to get some work done so I walked around the neighborhood to get oriented. I was looking for a Japanese-style western breakfast but only bakeries were open. I finally decided on a McDonalds. I got a sausage mcmuffin and it was great. The hashbrown was piping hot and fresh – no refrying there. I then headed back to the school to help PC hang a 9m wide banner between 2 cell towers on the roof of his 4-story building – “is this your idea of fun mav?” – that was such a mission and I only did 25% of the work. PC’s ingenuity and insanity just went up a few notches. We were pretty exhausted after that and I took a break at the tiny kiddy table while PC had to teach some classes. He then felt bad and took me out to a traditional Japanese lunch – it was lots of small portions of many different things.
After lunch he went back to work and I went to check out the Daiso to get some gifts and trinkets. It’s a discount shop with all sorts of strange. I then proceeded to Osaka and Koshien – where dreams are made, and lost. It’s the epicenter of all high school baseball dramas (and reality me thinks) and home stadium of the famous Hanshin Tigers. I forgot how hard it was traveling in the Kansai region without a Surutto pass/card. I had to buy a ticket for the Keihan line from Kazuha to Yodoyabashi, then another ticket for the Midosuji subway line from Yodoyabashi to Umeda, and then another ticket for the Hanshin train from Umeda to Koshien. In the Kansai region there are so many different railway companies while in Tokyo it’s just JR or subway but both take the Suica card. I have to say the girls here are really pretty here too but they don’t look like the girls in Tokyo – they dress a bit more humbly.
I got to Koshien and checked out the souvenir shop by the station but there wasn’t anything that stood out. A pair of boxers or the the yukata would have been cool but I don’t think I would ever wear them and I would feel like such a poser if someone asked me anything about the Hanshin Tigers. I started walking to the stadium and it didn’t really look familiar then I recalled that in dramas and anime they talked about Koshien a lot but no one ever really went there. As I walked around the stadium I didn’t really feel anything. I even tried some H2 on my iPod but that didn’t work either. I saw that there was a museum attached to the stadium so I went in. It had a pretty comprehensive history of the stadium and the teams that played there. It even had a manga section – which had Touch and H2. Throughout the museum, famous games and highlight reels played and I watched the fans on the TVs and the ones in the museum. Most were captivated by the TVs – most were really old and a surprising number were old grandmothers! They took photos of memorabilia and I couldn’t stop but wonder what games they’ve seen in all the years they’ve been fans. The highlight reels showed the emotions of the fans and players. It was what I was looking for. I sat and watched a few videos and couldn’t help but feel emotional seeing how important that moment was for those people. I wish I could feel that way about something some day.
I got a Surutto card at the station so I wouldn’t have to deal with the tickets every time I switched to a different line. I ended up trying walking around the Yodoyabashi in Umeda but didn’t find anything. I found the Jump store with loads of Gintama and Naruto stuff. I didn’t get anything and took the JR train back to Matsuiyamate. I basically just vegged out until PC got home from work. We then went to the best yakitori I’ve ever had. Everything was tender, perfectly cooked, seasoned just right. Of note was the tsukune yakitori (minced meat) that had a raw egg dipping sauce. The rice ball yaki (fried) was great too. Best of all, the bill was less than $20 per person with a beer. I may need to stop eating Japanese food in NYC after this trip…
Finished up the evening with more GOW…
