Landing in Kansai, the plane window became a triptych of sky, sea, and grass. In my mind it immediately took on the quality of a Kate T. Williamson illustration, gorgeous finely detailed abstract patterns stark against one another. Even though I spent a month practicing in my sketchbook so I could draw on this trip, I never really got around to doing it, but sometimes I still think about trying to put this lasting image to paper.
Having spent the first four years of my career freelancing, the thought of traveling to Japan always left me frustrated since it wasn't as easy for me to obtain an ITR needed to apply for a visa. For a long time it felt unattainable to me. But in 2022 I'd been employed full-time for two years—not only did I have the form, I was also making enough that I could let myself have this trip. (Even better, applying for a visa through a tour package doesn't require you to submit an ITR or bank statements, so this is a great option for anyone who's been having the same problem I did!)
I got a Fibe-Mini from a little corner of vending machines at the airport. The bottle is adorable, so tiny I can close my fist around it and have it disappear, almost. It’s pink, fizzy—the grapefruit taste made complex and sweeter by tutti-frutti undertones. The drink is produced by a pharmaceutical company, of all things, which I think explains its slightly medicinal but overall pleasant flavor.
The drive into the city from the airport was wonderful, and I especially loved getting to see the massive ferris wheel from the window.
I had the time of my life exploring Shinsekai District, a neighborhood bridging the old and the new (and the sensibilities of New York and Paris, so I'm told). Some side streets carried the smell of ramen broth and my eyes grew wide at the larger-than-life exteriors.
Dinner was at a local restaurant, Iruri, where we were served a set menu with deep-fried skewers, takoyaki and okonomiyaki, tabletop cooked chicken and rice, and a salad with fresh, crispy lettuce and blue cheese dressing.
In Nara after exploring Todaiji Temple and buying a beautiful bookmark with swimming koi on it, I walked among the deer and mostly sat around by the trees listening to "Autumn Outside the Post Office."
I walked back to the bus on my own, giving myself a chance to enjoy the surrounding neighborhood a little more. I bought a DyDo drink at a vending machine. The can was blue with a glass of ice cream on the logo, and I'd chosen it thinking it would taste like ramune. What I got instead was the most layered and complex-tasting soda I'd ever had—officially it's called "ice cream soda" or described as "vanilla ice cream-flavored," and it certainly tastes the part, but it's so much more than that. It made me think of the gum in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Violet really felt the sensation of having a three-course meal. It was the most full-bodied vanilla, with even a hint of salt to make things interesting. So good.
I saw my favorite street outfit in Gion, on a girl laughing with her friend. She wore a blue oversize dress shirt with a white knit vest over a dreamy glittery blue tulle skirt and sleek black boots.
I wanted to explore every inch of Kyoto. Tammy, the tour guide, told us about its law to keep buildings low and maintain the area's quaint, restrained, but proud old-world atmosphere. I drank it all in, from the river, to an office with a collection of the employees' shoes at the door, to bright cafes and tiny houses, to the Arts and Crafts University. (Obviously I fell in love with and remain obsessed with that name.) It was surreal to pass the headquarters of Capcom in Osaka and Nintendo in Kyoto while listening to "Safety Zone."
It started raining on our walk to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. I wanted to take so many pictures, especially at the train station in the middle of the street where we had to stop to let a train pass by, and I saw a couple of cats lounging. And I'm gonna be that person just this once, okay? It did feel remarkably like a Ghibli movie. So there.
The next day Tammy gave me a little gift: a postcard, a small picture frame, and some treats and cute erasers. I hadn't planned on revealing it had been my birthday the day before, but somehow it had come up during the sushi making class. It felt quite nice to not carry it alone, even if that had kind of been what I wanted when I booked this trip. I'd just wanted to get older someplace where nobody knew me.
Our first stop in Kobe was a sake brewery, and my favorite was an orange-flavored rice wine served cold from the tap. It was so refreshing. Way touristy, but I was excited about going to Steakland and having Kobe beef for lunch in the city it was named for, and I wasn't disappointed. In the area was a small row of shops, each with two compact floors that reminded me of the old shopping center in UPD. There were shops selling ice cream and taiyaki, there was a bike by a cafe with flowers in the window, there was street art adorning a dance studio.
I didn't love the super long cable car ride up (or down) Mt. Rokko when we went to the Nunobiki Herb Gardens. The flowers were beautiful, however, and my favorite part and something that calmed me down was getting to pass over the waterfalls.
Back in Osaka the rain made the autumn chill even colder. My P200 shoes had finally given up on me after days of long walks, and I hobbled on frozen feet along Shinsaibashi looking for a place to buy a replacement pair. The hot pack Tammy had given the tour group earlier in the day gave me a lot of warmth and comfort. They were playing Selena Gomez' 2009 album Kiss & Tell through the shopping street, and I was 14 when it came out, so of course I knew some of it by heart—especially "I Won't Apologize" and "I Promise You."
Eventually I wound up at a Skechers and (it's just much more fitting to express it in Tagalog) napagastos ako nang wala sa oras. It felt good to step out of my comfort zone and try my best to communicate with the attendant (who was also doing her best) despite the language barrier and really try stuff on to find the best pair. I settled on a futuristic-looking chunky black pair of Go Walks that I've come to swear by.
Every few stops or so there were alcohol dispensers set up to disinfect your hands, which was obviously a total marvel to me, someone who's never left the house without it even before 2020. We'd also gotten these amazing hand sprays on the first day of the trip that didn't really smell like anything but in a pleasant sterile citrus-y hospital-y way and had a different feel compared to rubbing alcohol. It dried quicker and felt cool to the skin and just felt cleaner, I can't describe it.
I got karaage clip-on earrings at a gacha store, had a hamburger doria and a maple latte at Excelsior Caffe, and walked around some more before turning in for the night.
My favorite drink on this trip was the ramune-flavored Skal I'd buy at the vending machine right in front of my hotel. (Not the one pictured.) And the breakfast I still think about was from the second day, when they had tiny beef patties available. I didn't want to feel too full, so I just took one and layered it on top of some scrambled egg and rice in a small bowl, poured a bit of curry on the side, and sprinkled some furikake over the rice, making a mini hamburg curry don. I washed it down with cold melon soda. Unfortunately, they didn't serve the tiny patties for the rest of my stay, so I never got to have it again.
The morning of my best breakfast was our Universal Studios day, where I got to fulfill my dream (literally, not even kidding) of going on Jaws: The Ride and experiencing the eternal 4th of July in Amity. Since I was alone, I got to use the single rider line and almost never had to wait for too long. I found myself seated at the very front for Jurassic Park, I got to experience the Spider-Man ride before it closed, and I had a Snoopy teriyaki burger for lunch. The playlist was appropriately spooky for Halloween ("Thriller," for example) and there were so many students walking around in costumes. It was fun to see how they expressed themselves and their interests through the charms and accessories on their bags, just before the whole act of it really blew up as this trend. But don't get me started on that.
One night I went out to buy a burger I wanted to try. It was a weekend, so everyone was out in Dotonbori to celebrate Halloween. Even though I was born on October 31, I'd never really gone out and seen how 20-somethings did it. Just that one chill house party I'd gone to when I turned 23, dressed as a slasher victim with a fake blood choker and a headband that made it look like scissors were sticking out of my head...
...like this. Yeah. I can't believe I'm ruining my blog post's aesthetic flow just to yell that Hoseok and I once wore the exact same cheap plastic prop.
I didn't get much of a chance to appreciate the costumes or the atmosphere, though. The bridge leading to the shopping street was packed, and it was a little difficult to get enough air or move along. The tragedy in Seoul had just happened, and it made me nervous. It took some time but I got to the other side, bought my burger, and took a side street back to the hotel.
Even now I tend to joke that I really only went to Osaka for two things: riding Jaws, and a "pilgrimage" to visit the exact spot Osaka's very own Yuta had stood when he took one of my favorite pictures of him. It was raining when I had a chance to do it and the photo isn't very good because I had to hold my umbrella, but it all felt quite ceremonious and like, well, finally.
I really like this photo I took at Osaka Castle before we flew out.
The canned Coke tasted great on the flight. My viewing experience of Jurassic World Dominion was not.
Hoseok went to Osaka like exactly a month after I did for MAMA, where he put on an incredible performance and looked gorgeous in Saint Laurent, and I still kind of slap my forehead about it sometimes. But I'm glad I got to leave 27 behind in the city the way I did.
No comments:
Post a Comment