(NOTE: This will be the 1st of what looks to be around 5 parts - 1 for each tour destination - of not only my experiences in Japan, but also that of whichever of my fellow group members looks to contribute their own recaps, whether little by little, or all at once!)
part 1: Osaka
Same thing here... I know I already did so myself, but why not corroborate my experiences with somebody else who had relatively similar experiences there?
-saw a lot of beautiful men (stop trying to convert me!)
-saw a lot of beautiful women who wore a lot of make up and heels (that's more like it!)
-streets are small but amazing (sometimes, they were too small... I can't even begin to count the # of times I had cars following me along some side street far off from downtown, which I couldn't even hear most of the time, only to have to pull to 1 side of the street or the other just to avoid them!)
-the pillows have strange straw/bean type material in them which make them uncomfortable (the pillows were something I don't, & won't, miss, & am not looking forward to next time!)
part 1: Osaka
"So I thought I'd start writing about my trip to Japan."
Same thing here... I know I already did so myself, but why not corroborate my experiences with somebody else who had relatively similar experiences there?
"I took a flight from Dulles to San Fransisco and when I got there, I discovered, along with two other people on the trip, that we had missed our flight to Osaka. This was because our flight from Dulles was delayed. We all were worried we were going to miss our welcome dinner in Osaka but less than an hour later we got a different flight to Japan. The twist was that we would be flying into Narita in Tokyo and have to then fly to Osaka. We were still worried, but managed to survive our 10 hour flight to Tokyo and our 45 minute flight to Osaka. Just by entering the Tokyo airport it became apparent that Japan is amazing. Most things were in English and everyone was so nice. The flight attendants were so adorably cute and dressed up with scarves and perfect makeup and hair."
Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with the same connection -> another connection --> last landing, but I will say this: for the amount of people who were on the main flight out of SFO - I'd say @ least 1/2 the group - United Airlines sure did a darn fine job of finding out that we were all part of the same group! Despite the fact that I spent most of my approx. 2 hours in SFO watching Argentina - Switzerland 1 floor above our gate, & that I was behind everybody else in the group onboard the plane itself, I do see their logic in not wanting the seats to look almost destroyed upon landing, but they took away precious hours in which all of us could've easily started the "getting to know" process!
What I do have, however, are major disagreements with how Narita & Dulles handled my return flights... That'll come in my later "return to sender" post, however!
Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with the same connection -> another connection --> last landing, but I will say this: for the amount of people who were on the main flight out of SFO - I'd say @ least 1/2 the group - United Airlines sure did a darn fine job of finding out that we were all part of the same group! Despite the fact that I spent most of my approx. 2 hours in SFO watching Argentina - Switzerland 1 floor above our gate, & that I was behind everybody else in the group onboard the plane itself, I do see their logic in not wanting the seats to look almost destroyed upon landing, but they took away precious hours in which all of us could've easily started the "getting to know" process!
What I do have, however, are major disagreements with how Narita & Dulles handled my return flights... That'll come in my later "return to sender" post, however!
"We then managed to get a cab and find our way to the hotel in Osaka. It was fit tightly in a small alleyway, most like all of downtown Osaka. We were close to the action and it was a great first tasted of Japan. For dinner we had this grand meal with everyone and all you can eat food and alcohol. The style of food was called okonomiyaki because that's this type of pancake thing. Osaka has a famous okonomiyaki dinner and so does Hiroshima I didn't really like it but I loved having to cook my own food over a pot of boiling oil. It was nice to get to know people because they eventually became the people I hung out with."
Meanwhile, all of us who managed to find the rest of the group in Kansai Airport in Osaka were officially introduced to the bus that would take us practically everywhere throughout Japan over the next 12 days... That itself wasn't so tedious, but the length of the rides between Kansai/Osaka & Narita/Tokyo are both over an hour in length! I probably shouldn't be complaining about those lengths, considering most of N.Y.S. between the City & Montréal is nothing but Thruway-side clearings & rural areas, but that's precisely why I'm complaining - the Japanese government seemed to build those stretches more like the typical Chinese "superhighway", with tons of factories & industrial buildings!
Meanwhile, all of us who managed to find the rest of the group in Kansai Airport in Osaka were officially introduced to the bus that would take us practically everywhere throughout Japan over the next 12 days... That itself wasn't so tedious, but the length of the rides between Kansai/Osaka & Narita/Tokyo are both over an hour in length! I probably shouldn't be complaining about those lengths, considering most of N.Y.S. between the City & Montréal is nothing but Thruway-side clearings & rural areas, but that's precisely why I'm complaining - the Japanese government seemed to build those stretches more like the typical Chinese "superhighway", with tons of factories & industrial buildings!
"After dinner we decided to make up for lost time and explore the city. Here I first discovered Japan's love for indoor/outdoor malls. They go on for miles!!!"
Having seen what (most of) Montréal affectionately calls "the Underground city", I can attest to those malls being ginormous - However, unlike Montréal, those are mostly continuous, without the occasional office building sticking itself in between department stores/convenience stores/small shops... Doesn't mean they aren't all developed, however!
We eventually popped out at this magical place. There were lights everywhere, this huge walkway, and a river where stores ran parallel with it. It was like coming out of a cave into Times Square. This is where every young person in the city was. Everyone was dressed in heels and to the T. The guys dressed up just as nicely and stood silently as if waiting for someone. This is when I learned that Osaka is famous for host clubs. Basically these guys wait around for women to find them and pay for them and buy them stuff. It's like classy prostitution. There was this insane store that was 6 stories tall full of everything you could ever want and was duty free. There were wayyy too many people in that building. After exploring for a while we returned to our quaint little hotel. Not much longer I woke up at 5am from jet lag."
"coming out of a cave into Times Square"...would that go something like this, per chance?
Having seen what (most of) Montréal affectionately calls "the Underground city", I can attest to those malls being ginormous - However, unlike Montréal, those are mostly continuous, without the occasional office building sticking itself in between department stores/convenience stores/small shops... Doesn't mean they aren't all developed, however!
We eventually popped out at this magical place. There were lights everywhere, this huge walkway, and a river where stores ran parallel with it. It was like coming out of a cave into Times Square. This is where every young person in the city was. Everyone was dressed in heels and to the T. The guys dressed up just as nicely and stood silently as if waiting for someone. This is when I learned that Osaka is famous for host clubs. Basically these guys wait around for women to find them and pay for them and buy them stuff. It's like classy prostitution. There was this insane store that was 6 stories tall full of everything you could ever want and was duty free. There were wayyy too many people in that building. After exploring for a while we returned to our quaint little hotel. Not much longer I woke up at 5am from jet lag."
"coming out of a cave into Times Square"...would that go something like this, per chance?
all Times Square jokes aside, though, the rest of that is true - Japan is much more what I like to call "duty-free friendly" than Canada, the department stores are massive, but unlike Montréal, which I've found to be a massive party location - there's usually bunches of parties there each night, in both English & French, Osaka likes its nightlife "steamy"... Obviously, they still must follow laws, both in the soliciting of "partners" ;) & the actual sexual acts, but that's the thing - almost every major city on the planet prefers different "fun" & parties, but it's up to you to figure out those differences everywhere you go!
"Here were some discoveries/observations I made in Osaka:
-famous for host clubs (absolutely...)
-saw a lot of beautiful men (stop trying to convert me!)
-saw a lot of beautiful women who wore a lot of make up and heels (that's more like it!)
-streets are small but amazing (sometimes, they were too small... I can't even begin to count the # of times I had cars following me along some side street far off from downtown, which I couldn't even hear most of the time, only to have to pull to 1 side of the street or the other just to avoid them!)
-cars/bikes/scooters come out of no where (see above point)
-traffic is a free for all (uuuuuummmmmmmmm...)
-the pillows have strange straw/bean type material in them which make them uncomfortable (the pillows were something I don't, & won't, miss, & am not looking forward to next time!)
-recycling is super important and everyone and every store sorts it themselves (they sure do take their recycling seriously... Here, you might see 1 large "recycling" dumpster, which, in reality, is full of everything, not just recycling, but over there, you might see multiple distinct recycling bins, which only take recyclable goods, instead of everything people might toss!)
-stayed up for over 27 hours today." (I did the same thing... small world!)
"I work a lot this upcoming week so please be patient for updates and enjoy!!" (& that's why I'm splitting up these recaps in parts myself - You can't throw everything somebody's way & expect them to get your full experience, let alone their own full experience, & perhaps convince them, or even change their mind, as to whether or not to do something they may or may not have wanted to do themselves!)
BONUS: Since I'm not getting over this Frozen obsession of mine anytime soon...
That's the Latin American Spanish edition of the official soundtrack... For some reason, Disney's different international divisions decided to split up the French/Portuguese/Spanish everything into what basically amounted to "European" & "non-European" editions... Basically, that means Quebec got a "Quèbècois" French soundtrack, every non-Brazil down in Latin America got its own soundtrack, Brazil got its own soundtrack, & their respective European counterparts all got their own editions of the soundtrack, with differences that are more noticeable than you might think!
the Latin American official soundtrack titles:
As those of you out there who also know some Spanish can most likely tell, Disney's Latin American team took quite a few liberties with those titles... Not that I'm complaining, but I'm sure some of you prefer slightly more "literal" translations between languages than that!
(Then again, the Latino/Euro Spanish teams didn't make the same mistake - @ least what I believe is a mistake - as the Quèbècois/Euro French teams did specifically with the end credit portion of the soundtrack... That's still to come in a later post, however!)
Last but not least, STAY TUNED for part 2 sometime soon, since I'm not planning on shutting down this trip, & the memories associated with it, for the longest time now, or upon any possible future return visits!
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