Time for some REAL sumo!
The Osaka prefectural Gym is a huge modern sports stadium, what a nice contrast with the audience and staff in kimono and yukata.
and WEIRD passionate souvenirs!
I regret not taking more closeups when I got the chance, theire faces were so intense and fun to watch.
So these were not our seats.. this close the cussions on the floor come at a very high price. Our tickets gave access only to the top row red chairs in the back, but we sneaked in downstairs to see the juniors up close.
As you can tell from the many empty seats, most people only show up for the final matches at the end of theday, to see the champions battle eachother.
Nice opportunity for us to get a 200 dollar view for free!
It was so much better up close! You can see all the details of their technique, and hear their breathing and clashing. You get a much better idea of the gigantic effort in this sport up close, completely different from TV for example.
Introduction of the 2nd class senior wrestlers.
Look at the truck!
This is a screencap from one of the movies I recorded during the end of the match, these are the number 1 and 3 of the tournament I believe. Very nice to see the juniors first and feel the climax of the tournaments, makes you appreciate the superior technique of the champions more.
Ending ceremony called the Bow ceremony (you can see impatient people leaving in the background)
This was earlier, the introduction of the 1st class seniors. Our guide told us that when the tournament is over, the roof and stage are removed and the stadium can be used for other sports.
Julian, ??, Sam, Audrey, and Julians landlord who helped us enormously to get the tickets. He is a huge Sumo fan and was a great source of inside Sumo information.
The crowd exiting the stadium (and blocking traffic) On top you see a small Taiko drum stage, preforming to anounce the end of the tournament day.
Dinner the day before, with more Dutchies :)
Japanese .. schnitzel? Anyway, it's fried and delicious.
After dinner, Xandra and friend introduced me to the GREATEST floor in the departmentstore. (no it is not a real museum...)
An entire floor dedicated to cakes, crepes, sweets, chocolate and these delicious Mochi Cremes.
Ok it looks like a dead fetus in this picture, but trust me when I say it was one of the most delicious delicate things I've ever eaten. The outside is super soft mochi (rice paste) with a tiny layer of powder sugar, making it non sticky and almost a skin-texture. The inside is creme and in this case raspberry, but they had a dozen different flavours. Higly recommended.
The Osaka nightlife district is definitely the most impressive, crazy, widespread I've seen so far in Japan.
I love the giant moving crab.
One of my favourite shopping streets is definitely Doguyasuji. It is filled with shops providing you with every possible item you could need to start your own restaurant.
Like chairs. Or counters. Or entire interiors.
Notepads, signs, cash registers.
Hundreds of trays, tableware, an entire shop for chopsticks to find that one special design that complements your style.
You can start your own Tako yaki shop!!
Or amusement park!
It really makes you consider a career switch.
I'm gonna miss this country so much.
Since Osaka is the birthplace of Takoyaki, you can get the craziest merchendise everywhere. These are SWEET takoyaki, with creme inside and chocolate on top.
Food is VERY important here.
Namba in the morning.
It was 7 am and you saw party people everywhere, not puking or drunk, but just getting a coffee and going home.
Donate blood on your way to work in the special Red Cross van! Including cute little drawings and nurses in pink uniform.
A cool stone bench on the Nakano shima banks.
Is it an office? Shopping centre? No, an amusement hall! The vertical thing in the middle is some sort of adrenaline ride.
My last Japanese Couchsurfing host, Yutaka. Here he's playing some drum to accompany his music collection.
He has a table where all his guests have written and drawn on, sadly I forgot to leave a note before I left..
The most excellent Osaka Aquarium, one of the best Ive ever been to! You start at the top, with 4 giant glasshouses containing mammals and birds (like dolphins, pinguins, seals but also monkeys!) and then in the middle is the largest tank in the world, going down all floors.
Look at them grumpy faces. (dont know why its so green btw...)
"Aaahh yeaah just took a shiiiittt niiicceee.."
I fell in love with the 3 meter wide giant ray that kept circling around, took many picturus but sadly all are blurry like this one.
Giant Japanese Spider Crabs!
Their star attraction is this giant dotted whaleshark. He swims around in the biggest tank in the world, and you can view him from 4 floors of windows, all around.
The tank is so big that even this giantic shark can swim big circles around, together with all his little friends.
And guess what, they have the cutest merchandise of him!
I would buy that in an instant if I had kids! (or for myself if I werent backpacking...) Notice that they also sell fluffy Jellyfish.
I got a chance to see Noh theater in a very friendly small theater.
They called it 'beginners Noh' with a lecture before the show and Q&A afterwards. It was quite slow and formal but very enjoyable.
Namba Parks, an amazing shoppingcentre inspired by a canyon.
A brilliant building! The shops are on both sides of the canyon, with these walking bridges inbetween. Each floor is unique and because of the shapes it is very easy to orientate yourself anywhere in the complex.
The neighbouring residential tower has a matching curve.
Also escalators have a very prominent place, and again help with the orientation.
View from one of the walking bridges. Every floor and window had a unique view of the scenery, and all with a very natural feeling.
Inside one of the escalator towers.
At nightfall. The canyon also had a high and a low end, making you instinctively feel which direction you were heading.
The curves prevent you seeing all the way through, you really discover it along the way.
As cool as they get.
Last of the three classic Japanese theater forms: Bunraku.
Also known as Japanese Puppet theater.
Like all classic arts here, it was very highly developed, precise and contained many religious elements. The master puppeteer only acts the head, face, upper body and right arm. He needs 2 extra puppeteers (dressed in black) to do the left arm, weapons and legs. 3 people acting in perfect unison!
The body acting was amazing and so detailed, even little hand and head gestures, the shaking of the body while crying, deathscenes, everything an almost exact imitation of real Noh and Kabuki acting styles.
Shopppppinggggg
The famous crazy crepes, the ones on the bottom row contain stuff like grilled chicken and potato salad, or tunasteak.
This is not the SM department, it's a device to keep your face from sagging at night. A weapon in the eternal struggle between woman and age/gravity.
Look at him being sexy and all!
Nana is still going very strong here!
I found this very amusing, both Blacksad AND Skydoll are apparently discovered by the Japanese!
How can something that looks so cheap be so expensive? Probably collectors stuff. There was also a real make up set!
The owner and her daughter.
Next I had a bite in this very cool little diner. You got your tv, your scarface, a rubber duck and celebrity pictures all cozy near by while eating dinner.
All these autographs of celebities, plus pictures of regular customers they took with their cellphones and printed out on huge sheets.
I finally tried one of these omlettes you see everywhere, turned out to be just a normal simple omlette with mayo and sauce. (but tasty!)
Lunchtime + Spring + Big City + Japan =
This was early, later it got really packed. People were reserving space as early as 9 am.
It was fascinating to sit there and then see the ENTIRE WORKING POPULATION of Osaka enter to eat lunch in the park. I never saw so many different types of bento (lunchbox) in one hour.
This was on a saturday near the Castle.
When the wind picked up, it was like a snowstorm of sakura. Everybody had sakura in their hair, in their drinks, in their bags, in their barbeque...
I'm so happy I could recover most of this picture! Crazy high school reunion + dog who shared sake, beer and snacks with me. A beautiful experience to get tipsy under the sakura. They kept singing James Blunt for some reason.
Advertisement in the subway station.
Cold green tea from vending machines is one of the many many things I'm going to miss about this place.
Here an intersection near Namba station which is just one giant pedestrian crossing space! Its not a striped zebra path, its a zebra square!
Xandra & Friends very kindly invited me to a birthdayparty (a double one!) with their friends. Then we went out to a club called 'Studio Candy' which was pretty much what it sounds like (in a good way). At 3 I gave in to dancing fatique and went home to my hostel, but these poor souls had to dance till dawn to get the first train home... I have great respect for their party endurance.
My hostel was in this fancy cool shopping area called America Mura, and yes there was a shop called Mingy. (also notice the lamp posts designed as robots.)
Angelic pretty, Baby the star shine bright, they had it all.
Cool gadget shop with italian redesign of the Daruma dolls. (one side says Succes x____8, the other Failure x____7)
Singing robot bird alarm clock.
A really addictive shop selling traditional Japanese craft products with a modern twist .
The BEST shopping fun I had though was in one of these Idol shops. Look at them pretty boys.. with puppies!!
Last Japan picture! x
