Post #17 - October 28, 2012 - Osaka, Japan

Jeff here. Last night we spent a wonderful evening on an overnight bus to Osaka from Hiroshima. I first have to say that the bus line we are taking, called Willer, is pretty unconventional. They did not have a bus station in either Kyoto or Hiroshima, so we were basically instructed to wait at a particular spot until the bus arrived. In Kyoto there were buses coming and going prior to our departure, so at least we had the peace of mind of knowing we were in the right spot. In Hiroshima, there was no bus and no workers at the place we thought the bus would pick us up from until about 20 minutes before the scheduled departure! Anyway, a little bit nerve-racking.

So, we boarded our bus around 11pm and sat down in front of a young couple that looked and sounded like they were from North America. As soon as we got settled into our seats, like on our previous trips, we started leaning our seats back so that we could get to sleep. As Patty was moving her seat back an indignant squeal erupted out of the girl behind her. She was apparently on her laptop and the back of the seat was getting in her way, since they lean back very far. So, Patty apologized and stopped moving backward. We figured that once the bus got moving they would go to sleep themselves so leaning our seats back wouldn't disturb them. We were wrong. They were up for a couple of hours on their computers, so we were stuck not being able to lean our chairs back. At one point, after an hour or so, I asked the guy behind me whether he would mind if I leaned the chair back further. He didn't respond, but the girl said something like "Actually, pretty sure that's the maximum!"  She was pissed. But so were we. We chose the overnight bus so that we could sleep! The ride itself was only 6 hours long! It was impossible to sleep with our chairs in the positions they were, so Patty and I had a horrible night's sleep. Hopefully those morons behind us did as well. I don't think either Patty or I fell asleep until after 3am, with the bus pulling into the Osaka train station at 5am. Sigh.

We arrived in Osaka so early (on a Sunday!!) that practically nothing was open. It's a good thing we were in Japan, where it seems as though there's always people up and about. We took a quick subway ride to the station that was closer to our hostel and it wasn't too long before we found a coffee shop to sit down. We grabbed two coffees there and pulled out food for breakfast we had been carrying. We spent around 2 hours just sitting there and trying to wake up. We assumed our hostel would not open until about 8am, so we waited.

We found our hostel without too many issues and arrived around 8am. The hostel is very strange. Like, out of a horror movie strange. It's on the 9th and 10th floor of a huge office building. Patty thinks it was once a hospital or care home, because it has really wide hallways, the massive sliding doors, and a cafeteria. Everything is also oddly clean. I had visions of being abducted in my sleep and being experimented on.

Unfortunately, we couldn't actually check-in until 4pm, but were able to drop off our luggage. We stayed around the hostel until about 10:30am drifting in and out of sleep on a couch in the common room. We weren't really sure what we wanted to do, if anything at all. We were exhausted. We decided to head to a noodle restaurant recommended by our book that sounded amazing. We made it there without too much difficulty, even though it was in the basement of a large office building, but it was closed. This is the third or fourth time that stupid Lonely Planet has let us down. So, starving, we set off for another restaurant. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was pouring rain. Thankfully most hostels offer free umbrellas. My feet were still soaked by the time we made it there.

Since it was our last day in Japan, we decided to go all out. It was a sushi restaurant, so we ordered rolls, nigiri, and tempura. It was all delicious. Here's a pic:

By this time we were barely conscious. We lingered at the restaurant debating what to do, and we decided to just head back to our hostel. We got back around 2pm. We couldn't check in, so we again just hung out in the common area. I napped some more.

Once 4pm finally rolled around, we both showered and then set off to find some dinner. We decided on an Italian place recommended by our book. I think both of us have had enough Japanese food for the time being! We ordered a pizza, one side deluxe and the other jalapeno and minced meat, and it was quite good. Not as good as our pizza in Nara, but very tasty. From there we set off to find a pub where we were meeting an Italian fellow, Federico, that we had met in Hiroshima. The pub was a small and quaint. The bartender spoke English and was from Australia. He was pretty friendly. Federico arrived shortly after we did and we spent about two hours chatting with him. He has done a lot of traveling and he was telling us where he's been and the things he's learned along the way. He invited us to stay with him in Milan when we're in Italy. Very nice guy.

Our hostel has a curfew at midnight, so Federico led us to the closest subway station. He was staying at a hotel in the area, so he knew it well. He also took us down Dotombori street, which is famous for its crazy lights. Here's some pics:

We had a tricky time getting home because we took a different train line back to our hostel, but managed to walk through the front door well before 11:45pm. Tons of time!

Take care everyone! Next stop - Beijing!! :)