Osaka Day 1

We took the Shinkansen to Osaka this morning. That was the easy part. Once we got off the train, we couldn't make any sense of the JR rail map compared to our maps that had been printed out for the hotel. It must have been obvious, because after a few minutes of looking in vain at the map, a woman who spoke quite a bit of English asked if we needed help. I'm glad she offered to help us because it was very complicated and involved taking two subways just to get to the hotel. She actually led us to the JR Rail reps (leaving the platform where she was waiting for her train) and got them to explain to her how we needed to get to the Hyatt Regency. She wrote everything down for us and even led us to our first train. I had heard about this sort of hospitable nature, but never thought I would experience it to this degree. She said that people have helped her out in other countries. I guess that means I owe someone help back in the States too. She also said that she was studying English and Bagley and I both heaped praise on her for how well she spoke. I later joked that she was our spirit guide... the rabbit. She was wearing a yellow shirt with a rabbit on the front and, ironically, "USA" on the back.

We finally made it to our last stop and I was instantly hit with the smell of the ocean. We are actually on an island in the bay.

We checked in and this may be the best hotel yet. We were even startled about 30 minutes after we settled in the room when a bowl of bananas and strawberries was sent up as a welcome. The room is a decent size as well.



After a quick nap (we were dragging luggage all over the place for hours so we were exhausted), Bagley headed out for the NIN show. I actually took a quick shower and headed out to the Asian Trade Center and the Osaka World Trade Center which are both nearby. I also checked out the port that is adjacent to the ATC. In the distance, there are those giant cranes that unload the freight ships and way off in the distance it looked as if there were freighters just lazing on the horizon. They just sat there almost like great guardians.

I grabbed some dinner at a non-Western restaurant finally. It was called Bom Dia, which sounds Spanish to me, but it had all kinds of food. I didn't get the most "Japanese" meal. It was a skillet with a thin steak, fried potatoes and asparagus. But it did have a slice of some kind of yellow, starchy gourd and one of those crazy wagon-wheel looking vegetable slices (does anyone know what that is?).

I went back to the port as the sun was setting and just sat and took it all in. It was very relaxing with the sea breeze cooling everything down and the sound of the sea against the dock. I then noticed that the fish in the bay were taking turns jumping up out of the water. I have no idea why or what kind of fish they were. Perhaps they were grabbing flies like those scenes you see with the Great Whites jumping out of the water to grab seals...