The flight to Osaka went well, I was hardly disturbed at all by all the intensive coloring that was going on beside me. Only it was not SB doing the coloring, we did not get seats together, but two teenage Japanese girls who were intently working in a kiddy coloring book. They didn’t even watch the movies! They were too busy coloring! They were about 17!
SB was surprised by all the police and custom officials wearing masks upon our arrival. Interesting that even before the flu scare the Japanese wear masks when they are sick. But I think these guys were just a little leery of what we might be dragging in to their little island.
JN got us to L’s apartment like a pro. L gave us wonderful directions and we traveled by train and taxi to get to her place. She is also an American and has been living in Japan for four years with her son. Since none of us had gotten any sleep on the flight, we were all worn out. SB fell asleep at 3:30 while JN and I went to a little supermarket and I bought some nice chips. We almost gagged when I opened the bag outside of the store. “Hmm, cuttlefish,” said L when she translated the package. (actually, the taste grows on you.) We went to bed at about 8:00 after having a wonderful Japanese curry dinner.
The adventure started at midnight when SB woke up. JN got up too and in an effort to wear him out, they went for a walk. From what they reported, the streets were calm and they would run into the odd woman riding a bicycle, but that was it. They walked until 4 in the morning and SB took tons of pictures of this great glittering palace with spot lights and an exotic garden……turns out that it was a love hotel. Great. This is what happens when I nod off.
SB slept in until about 6 AM when he woke me up. L made banana pancakes for all of us about 8 AM and we didn’t really get going until afternoon when we went to an all you can eat Japanese-Chinese restaurant for lunch. SB loved the fried squid and insisted on eating with chopsticks.
We took the train into the city and got helplessly lost. We finally made it to a nice district where we sat on a bench and watched lady after lady walk by in their kimonos.
We kept SB up until 10 PM and he just crashed on his little futon on the Tanami floor.
