Rocka Osaka P1: Osaka/Kyoto

Yes, Yes...I know I said that the posts would be up in a couple of days...not a week later. You better get comfortable and a drink or something, cuz it's gonna be a long one!

We took a trip to Osaka with our friend Nozomi 2 weeks ago. She was going there to meet up with some old College friends of hers, and invited us along. Karleen and Nozomi went left before me, because I had to work until 320. The trip took around 2 hrs (45 to Fukuyama then a 1 hr Train ride to Osaka) and I finally met up with them around 745. We walked for about 20 minutes until we found the restaurant that her friends reserved. Sadly, we were too late. They had already finished eating. This was about the time that I got a call from someone whom I invited...The Big Easy, Mr. Stephen Clarkson. We've been friends since Kindergarten, and he's living in the Osaka area teaching English, so I HAD to invite him out. I went and grabbed him, and we met up with the rest of the group (about 20 people in all) and headed to a bar called Charley Browns American Beer Restaurant. Sweet.

We stick out like a sore thumb

Now THIS is what a big city feels like, eh? There was another huge group of people right near us gettin all rowdy and stuff. We found out later that it was a Wedding party. Totally fun. Nozomi and her friend Nau, ordered non stop food (at 350 yen, $3.50, for anything on the menu...it's on) and we ordered a couple of pitchers. Japanese inventions never cease to amaze me. They have made the best thing since microwave bacon....

The Head Stopper

I mean...this...this thing is ingenious! WHY doesn't Canada adopt this masterful piece of work?

Nau, Nozomi, and Karleen

The Table

Me Ladies!

Lots of food later and with more drinks a flowin, Steve met an unusual character. Some random guy walks up to Steve and "tries" to strike up a conversation, which is hilarious because A) he knows only a little bit of English, and B) he's wasted. He was so drunk that the thought Steve was learning English in Osaka...not teaching it. Karleen and I just laughed at Steve's new friend because we didn't have to talk to him...oh...and I spoke too soon. He came over and started talking with me. His name was Jeremy or Jyunpei or something like that. He mostly just said "I'm FINNNNNNNNE" and "You are my friend?". Hilarious!

I introduced him to Karleen, because I wanted her to try and save me a bit. He wouldn't talk to her. I said that she's my wife and that a friend of mine is a friend of hers. His response was, "I can't talk to her because she's Whorey. The Hand..." Now, I had a few brews and thought I wasn't hearing quite right, so I told him again that he could talk with her. The same thing over and over again..."she's whorey, I can't talk with her, the hand." I wasn't even mad...I was kinda in disbelief that someone would say this. So I asked him once more, and still the same response. It was about that time that I realized that I was in Japan. In the Japanese language, they don't have the letter "L", so they replace it with "R". He wasn't saying she's Whorey, he was saying she’s HOLY, because of the "hand", or the rock on her finger. WOW...this night just keeps getting better and better! We were saved by his friend who grabbed him and said sorry and left. The best part of that...his friend's name was Hiro! (Heroes anyone?)

Who you callin Whorey?

When we decided to start leaving, another couple of Japanese guys came up to Steve and me and started talking with us. They were part of the wedding party, and had a few too many Sakes. One of them looked at me and said, "You like Beatles?", which I said hell yah, and he started singing Let It Be with Air Piano and all! Just...wow. The other guy started saying how much he liked Thriller and Michael Jackson, and asked me if I knew Thriller. I said yes and started doing the dance for him. I think I blew their minds because the look on their faces was priceless. Next they focused on Karleen, and started saying, "You're Beautiful!" and "I love you" and other stuff, so I stepped up and kissed her. They were thrilled! They wanted to take a picture of us kissing...so we let them. We were finally able to get away, not without hugs from both of them.

I'm huge in Japan

We headed back to Takihumi's, Nozomi's friend's place, where he let us crash for the night. We stayed up until 3am while everyone talked, in Japanese of course. It was cool, I mean, we had the Eric Clapton Unplugged DVD on and a Pearl Jam DVD on. We slept in this little room with Nozomi and Takihumi's friend from China. So we were a comfy bunch

Sitting around talking about nothin is Multicultural

At 4am, I heard a scream and Karleen saying "Cam turn on the light!" So I jumped up and grabbed the light, wondering what the hell was going on. To my surprise, there was a crazy dog in the room welcoming us with face washes. The funniest part of this was that the dog jumped on Nozomi first and she thought she was getting attacked...which I guess isn't funny, but it is if it didn't happen to you.

We all got up around 10am to get ready, because Takihumi had to go to work. While everyone was getting ready, I had a look around the room we were sleeping in and found the Geek Jackpot!

Original Super Famicon...

...and...

Final Fantasy IV!!!

We were shown off by Takihumi mom, and we all had to take a picture, of course!
Nozomi, Karleen and I said goodbye to everyone and we took the train to Kyoto. Our first stop was the Kinkaku, or Golden Pavilion. The actual name is Rokuon-ji Temple, but Kinkaku is a popular name for it, because it's painted with Gold Leaf. The building was built around 1397 and has been repainted since then, but all the gardens and foliage have been kept since that time.


After the Kinkaku, we headed to the Byōdō-in Temple.

It was enacted in 998, but the main part, The Phoenix Hall, was constructed in 1053 as a Buddhist Temple. As of 1994, it's now listed as a World Heritage Site as a part of the "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto". Japan has it's image on the 10 Yen coin to commemorate it's cultural significance.

We were only there for about 30min because it was raining like a mother, so we decided to head home. After a long day of sight seeing, everyone was a little wiped, especially the 2 girls waiting for the train.

And that was our weekend in Osaka/Kyoto! We aren't finished there, kiddies. We still have part 2 of our Osaka adventure. Hopefully we'll get to that this weekend or just after. Until then...

You've been warned...