(The following is an excerpt of a mail I sent for reporting my Osaka adventure)

I've spent 7 days fooling around Osaka and Kyoto. Here's my report on my trip for your entertainment.

Before I begin, I just had to tell that I got cheap deals for both the plane ticket($860Cad) and the hotel($105Cad*7). As in most cases, however, cheap deals equate to less favorable products and services. For the plane ticket, the transit time for the connection flight (of my return trip) was over 8 hours. As for the hotel, it was in fact pretty okay; my only complaint was the lack of air-conditioning and that the room was kinda warm. I always opened the window so it was in fact not too much of a problem.

Comparing to the other solo trips, my Osaka adventure was a little bit too exciting. Yeah to tell the truth, certain parts of my trip were kinda stressful and tiring. Firstly, this was my first visit to Osaka and the transit procedures from international to local airport (tokyo to osaka) was new to me. Second, there was no limousine that went directly from the hotel to the airport, so I had to figure out how to get to the hotel in the cheapest way, the time tables, bus stop locations etc. Third, many of the scenic spots were far away from subway stations, and it might take 30 minutes to 1 hour to get to one place from another (usually it took more as I often got lost along the way). Lastly, I had trouble getting the right direction at those underground malls, which I had to go through in order to get back to the hotel. I really hate to admit this - I got lost everyday at the same area in the underground mall on my way home. Usually I clawed back to the hotel at the end of each day with my head spinning and my legs paralyzed.

Osaka is a good place to visit, however. There are a dozen of historical temples and castles, where you can learn a great deal of Japanese culture. Also it takes only 30 minutes to travel to Kyoto, which is an old town filled with many temples and Japanese traditional craft stores. I didn't get to visit all the spots I wanted to go because of my limited supply of energy. Perhaps I should join the local tours next time I go to Osaka.

Another thing about Osaka is gourmet and specialty food. "Kui-taore" is a common phrase in Osaka, meaning "eat until you pass out". There are lots of symbolic food stuff in Osaka, such as "takoyaki" (octopus ball), "okonomiyaki" (savory pancakes), fuku (poisonous bubble fish). Restaurants specialize in serving Fuku are everywhere in town, and the supermarkets are selling prepared and whole Fuku fish as well. Call me coward, but I don't have the gut to try fuku. I really don't want to die in a foreign country. Nonetheless, I enjoyed other famous Osaka and Kyoto specialties, such as raw crab meat, box-sushi (sushi made by pressing cooked rice and sashimi in a box), shiu-mai (minced pork and shrimp dumplings) wrapped in egg crepe, okomiyaki with toppings arranged artistically. To tell the truth, they were not very tasty, but it was fun just to try eating new things and look at how they were made.

Comparing to Tokyo girls, I found Osaka girls were not as pretty. Also they seemed to dress the same way and wear the same look - blue eye-shadow, hair dyed in gold/red, long coat, knee-length skirt, high-heel long boots etc. So it was rather easy to identify Osaka girls from foreigners. Perhaps they looked trendy, but it became boring after you saw too many of them. Maybe it's their cultural influence, that they feel more comfortable by not being different from others. Or maybe they are just trying to follow the trend and I'm being out-of-date?

Moreover, it seemed to be a very common thing for Osaka men to ask unknown women on the street for tea. During my brief visit to Osaka I've been asked 4 times by ugly strange men. In all cases I pretended not to understand a single Japanese word, and returned a "mind-your-own-business-and-f*ck-off" look, which worked 3 out of 4 times.

I spent most of my $ at Tokyu Hands for art supply. I also spent quite a bit in paying admission fees, subway tickets, and food. Strangely, MasterCard and American Express were not as popular as VISA in many restaurants and stores. I didn't get to buy a lot of comic books and goodies because I couldn't find many stores selling them. Also, they were often far away from my hotel and I hated to carry additional loads on my already hurting shoulders.

Before I conclude my report, I'd like to talk about my usually bad experience at the Canada custom. This custom officer jackass questioned how I got the money to visit Japan. Guess he thought I must be walking the street under the red light every night at Osaka. Use your brain, man. Unless I'm a cocaine dealer, it is just not gonna cover the airplane ticket cost. This asshole didn't even ask how many luggage I had or what I brought over with me. Sigh. These officers must be giving very good impressions on Canadians to foreign visitors.

To conclude, my Osaka trip was a valuable experience, and overall I had great fun.