6/6-8 Osaka and World Expo

6/6

This is it, the longest post I will probably make on this blog series.

When I realized that the World Expo was in Osaka and it was still possible to get tickets, I coordinated with one of my classmates and we bought tickets immediately, a few months ahead.

I had pre-purchased a highway bus ticket for Osaka previously. I arrived at Okaido at around 6:20 am and went to Sukiya to get a beef bowl for breakfast. It was great. At 6:55 I was in line to buy some snacks for the road, and by 7:20 I was in the bus on my way to Osaka.

At 9:00 we made a stop at some rest area along the highway and I pretty much just looked around and then stretched my legs. 

A little before 1:00 PM we had arrived in Osaka at Osaka-Umeda station. From there I needed to take the subway to Namba. When I arrived, I took my luggage and I had to find my own lunch. I kept walking closer to my hotel, but I eventually decided to look for a Yoshinoya, and that's what I had. It was good.

From there I kept walking to find a really nice looking Toyoko Inn, which is where I would be staying. I checked in and put everything in my room. Then I waited for my classmate from Waseda in Tokyo to arrive. After a while he did, it was Nathan! The same one who let me stay at his apartment.

One of the pros about our hotel was that it was really close to the station. So, we just walked down and boarded the subway bound for Yumeshima (Dream Island). It took about half an hour of standing, and was packed denser than a tin of sardines. But we made it, and had to wait in a very LONG line. We were going in the evening, because we decided that we would have enough time not only for a full day but for the evening before as well. We were in line at 4:30, and our tickets let us in at 5:00, but it seemed that they didn't care and let us in anyways.

I looked up a lot of advice before arriving, and so we had a list of where we wanted to go. We walked into the wonderland of a park, took a picture of the map (there were no paper ones), and got some water in a Lawson convenience store ran by an AI anime girl. The ring in the park was absolutely massive, it was really impressive. All of the wood came from the island I was staying on. We walked around and took pictures of some of the cool looking pavilions before walking over to the one that people said was the most educational pavilion and fully encapsulated what the World Expo is about. AKA Germany.

Their pavilion was very nice, with lots of little tidbits of information spread throughout. Especially along the path into the building. The pavilions was very interesting, and the information was conveyed spectacularly. We all received a little squishy mascot that you would hold up to an item, then to your ear, and it would start talking and telling you about it. There was also this round room where you could look up and there was a mirror. On the roof was a decent view, and information about each of the German states.

We still had time, so we went to the Philippines pavilion. We were lucky to witness a performance at it, which was really weird. The theme of the expo was something along the lines of sustainability and technology. The Philippines showed off their traditional method of weaving, which they said was sustainable, including some display pieces, and then advertised tourism.

We got dinner from the Philippines pavilion as well. I got some kind of bento with seared pork and it was to die for. It was so good. From there we took the super long escalator to the top of the ring, and took pictures. There was an unending onslaught of bugs up there. It was pretty crazy. From there we headed out, and on our way out we saw a massive drone light show. Guess we gotta add that to tomorrow's plans!

It was an absolute pain to get back on a subway to Namba. Talk about an ocean of people. It was so bad that Nathan said not even the station next to Tokyo Disneyland is this bad. Because Yumeshima Station is the terminal, both sides of the platform were headed back the same way, and everyone was trying to go home. I couldn't imagine what it would've been like if we waited until the end of the performance.

We were back around 10:00 PM, and rested in our rooms. I found a pretty popular ramen shop really close to our hotel adjacent to Dotonbori, the omega-touristy street. We had to wait in line for a while, around 20 minutes because there was a line around the store. Finally we did get inside, and it was cramped. We were led to a table in the back, and man that ramen was actually really good. At around 11:15 when we got back to the hotel, I noticed that in the vending machine on the first floor they had GUARANA of all the things!! Brazil's national soda!

Then I was off to bed.

6/7

My day started around 8:00 am, because the breakfast buffet closes at 9:00 am. Nathan and I took the elevator underground and were greeted with a somewhat packed dining area. There were all kinds of people speaking all kinds of languages. But one thing in common was that none of them had space for the two of us. We decided to just go claim one seat each, and eat by ourselves. In line, I picked out all kinds of scrum-didly-dumptious food, but just before I went to return to my seat a staff member who didn't quite look Japanese came and told me to get some fresher rice at a certain table. He told me in English and I was surprised. We started talking, apparently he was originally from Los Angeles and he came to Japan to get married. He had lived quite the life and was now working at this hotel. 

We successfully ate breakfast, and had to leave soon to be able to make it to Yumeshima and enjoy our full day of the expo. I don't think we were able to get there as early as it opened, as all of the online tickets were time reservations. I think ours was for 10:00 am. We got in and immediately went to the souvenir store, where I went ham. I bought some pins and snacks to take home.

After shopping we went up on top of the ring to take photos. 

From there we went and looked around a little bit before heading to one of the most popular pavilions, the United States of American pavilion. It was really cool! They had footage of many cities and locations around the country playing on two large screens along with a large American flag. It was a little confusing on how to get in. They had three different trips throughout the day, every hour one was in English, one was in Chinese, and the rest were in Japanese. Because of how long the Japanese line was, we thought that was the only one, and waited in it for almost an hour. I asked a staff member if we should change lines, but she said it's kind of like a "musical" and so we should be fine.

Right before we went inside, a staffmember gave a little kid a USA pavilion pin, who was ecstatic about it. I was wearing my straw fedora, and was attaching pins to it as we went. So, I was excited for the USA one!

Upon entry, you walk up this ramp with tons of info plasters on the walls about Japanese people's experience of working in the United States and interning for the US government. There were videos playing as you walked up it and there was one Japanese girls talking about how grateful she was to have the opportunity to intern under an American congresswoman.

After that we were put into rooms that showed the following videos:

After those videos you were put into a room that talked about American space mission from the past and even the future. The room after that had the main event:

When that was over you were ushered out, but had the chance to see some really cool posters advertising travel to the US. At the end of that ramp was something spectacular...

That's right! A moon rock from one of the Apollo missions!

At the end was the shop, and to my dismay there were no more pins available. So, I bought a sticker instead. I was a little disappointed, but it's okay. Outside we were greeted to the sounds of guitar music from a North Carolina native named Andrew Kasab. There were MANY performers over the course of the expo. We had to get some lunch, so we went into the space themed diner, craving American food (probably homesickness), and got some grub. All of the items on the menu were space themed in one way or another. I got a "space" or star something burger, and Florida key lime pie (because of the space center). I was soooooooo happy to have key lime pie.

After 3:00 we were still in the expo grounds! So, that meant we had to do something. We decided on going to visit the pavilion of a country that has a reputation similar to North Korea, and people are not allowed to visit. That meant we were off to visit Turkmenistan.

The line wasn't very long, and pretty soon we saw the painting of the glorious president himself. We watched a short introduction to the country, and on the second floor was a really neat exhibit on traditional fabric, the country's science, and even a little cafe. What intrigued us the most were the Japanese to Turkmen language books. Also, the dogs that were everywhere.

After we left we walked around to see the rest of the park. It was seriously huge! It probably would've taken a whole business week to go into every pavilion and see everything. We walked through some of the nature "parks" and past one I really wanted to see, Italy and the Holy See. I grabbed a bottle of my favorite Mt. Shasta Crystal Geyser, because somehow imported water from Northern California is really popular, and we waited in line for Singapore.

The Singapore one was done very well and very creative. I didn't learn much about sustainability or technology in there, but it gave everyone a good time. You got to write a message of your "wish" and it would be displayed on the ceiling in a cool animation. The decorations were really good, too.

From there it was a dash so we could "visit" every continent. We went into a large pavilion commons, where there were smaller countries showcasing  just a room. I took a gander through Cuba, Marshall Islands, Honduras, and probably a few others. Next I wanted to see Chili, I mean Chile! We walked over, and it was very disappointing. It was all about wine, and it was jut a large room with screens showing vineyards, and a wine tasting event in the middle which you couldn't go into.

We walked through the Co-Being "forest," past the Chinese pavilion, the Canadian pavilion, and stopped at Portugal. They had some musicians playing on top of the building for us to hear. It was some kind of guitar music. The first room inside was on the impact Portuguese has had on the Japanese language. The next room was "the ocean's view" on human's polluting it. It was kind of boring. At the end I bought my pins, and we were almost done. We went next door to the Colombian pavilion and tried "nevado" coffee. They were really good! It's hard to find information online, but it was like a chocolate drink kind of.

From there we went up to the ring for the drone show! IT WAS TOTALLY AMAZING! But unfortunately my phone died, so you will have to look it up. Maybe I'll include a youtube link below, if I'm feeling nice. There was another onslaught of bugs. One thing though, is that there were no benches on top of the ring. So if your legs were tired from a full 12 hours of standing and walking, you had to sit. But the caveat was, if you sat, security would come by and tell you that sitting on the ground is not allowed. I actually got in trouble a few times in Japan for squatting.

But like last time, we went to the subway and went home. I don't think it was as crowded as the previous day. Most of the expo attendees are Japanese, and they have a work-life balance to maintain, so they can't stay out late at night. We got back to the hotel, rested a little, and I charged my phone. We both needed dinner at 11:45, and Nathan wanted some Italian food. Luckily, we found a place nearby that was open super late called Rakurakuza, or "Happy Happy Seat." They have a sign saying that they welcome foreign visitors.

There were two chefs in there, and two patrons. Both of the customers were English speakers, they were almost done eating a pizza, and then they promptly left. Both of the chef's were dressed in fine-dining white. One of them was wearing a hat, doing most of the cooking, and did not speak. The other was a guy who was kind of funny, and older. I tried joking with them, and I got a weird glare, but then he realized I wasn't messing with him and being genuine. I told him that he looked very fashionable. We were talking to him about the expo and where we were studying abroad. A little before they finished cooking, an older man came in who starting joking with the talker chef. He went and turned the OPEN sign to CLOSE and opened some bottles of wine. They were talking and joking with each other and the chef told us that the visitor is a famous actor. Like traditional Japanese stage plays. He showed us a picture on his phone. That was cool! 

They delivered our food, I got "pasta with shrimp and clams and tomato cream sauce." I don't remember what Nathan got, but the food was actually really good. Some of the best food we had in Japan.

6/8

In the morning I had my last breakfast buffet items. We didn't have much of a plan for the rest of the day. But I knew that I wanted to take Nathan to a very good Osaka staple, Jiyuuken. I had been recommended there and went there during my previous visit to Osaka in January. I made sure that we got there early to get good seating. We were about half an hour early, and just waited outside in a small roped line area. They let us in a little bit before opening and we made sure to order. I told him to order the same dry curry as me, and get their kushikatsu beef skewers. It was as good as ever.

We still had time before my bus, so we went around a little bit. I saw a Burger King, Shake Shack, and Taco Bell. I really wanted to go into the Taco Bell. We went to a Tully's Cafe and I got a "matchalista," which is like a chocolate slushy I guess.

I said bye to Nathan, and got on my bus around 5:00, returning back to Matsuyama around 9:00 or 10:00.