Osaka Part One

On Monday I found myself at a Vietnamese wedding in a Korean Christian church in Osaka, trying but failing to make sense of what was going on since everything was in Japanese and Korean!

So let's rewind a little. How did I end up crashing this wedding? Long story short, Amy and Nam were attending this wedding and so planned to go to Osaka on Sunday and then stay over in church accommodation before going to the wedding on Monday. They invited me to come along, but I hadn't expected that I would be going to the actual ceremony.

Since there were three of us, it was cheaper to pool our resources and drive than to each get return train tickets. We each chipped in for toll fees and that got us there almost as quickly as the train would. I was very lucky since Amy and Nam offered to drive. The drive there was pretty uneventful for me since I fell asleep! I woke up just as we were arriving, which was quite convenient 😏

We dropped the car off at the church (free parking!) and took a short train ride to a more central area of Osaka to go get Vietnamese food for lunch. It was my first time trying Vietnamese food and I deferred to Nam's judgement which got me some pretty delicious food!

The restaurant they took me too was really nice, so nice that it was packed. It is usually extremely busy, so we were lucky to get a table. We had to take a smoking room table but the atmosphere and decorations were stepped up a notch in there.

The left Bún chả, is really nice - you dip the meat and crispy spring roll looking things into the soup which is really nice - it's kind of sweet too but takes so good! Amy let me try her Chè too because I didn't want to get my own in case I didn't like it. It's a sweet drink and made with coconut milk and you put sweets/fruits in it. I was surprised I liked it.

After lunch, we all wandered around the shopping district in Umeda. That was quite an experience. For one, just entering the shopping centre was a sight to behold. Just as we walked in, Amy told me to look up and I found myself face to face with this:

Now, I'm not sure why a giant sculpture of a red whale would be suspended so that you are staring straight into it's opened mouth whilst it stares straight into your soul when you enter the shopping centre; but I can tell you that it made a strong impression and did a good job of preparing you for what might be found within. 

The shops were interesting to say the least. Some shops were a veritable menagerie of styles packed into one small shop. You could walk into a shop thinking it was modern clothing and within one row of clothes end up in a vintage section where the entire clothing rails and store decor is completely different, then you're in the 60s section with hippy paraphernalia everywhere. I wasn't complaining though, it was so fun just to walk around. The shop assistants were the shop too! And by that, I mean they lived the shop, they were the shop if it were personified - it was incredible to see.

There was only so much one can see in one sitting, so it was time to go to Namba. Those of you who are thinking, where is this place... I think these pictures might be recognisable!

{It had to be done}

So Namba is quite a well known area of Osaka, and is very busy but it was lively and fun to see so much going on. The shop fronts were all interesting in some way or another, like the ones below, they had moving pieces, projected images or 3D.

 {That TV broadcast a live picture of the street - after we got one picture, we got photo-bombed!}

  {To this day, I'm not sure why the shop chose this man to advertise their shop.}

We met with Nam's friend who lives in Osaka to meander around. It was really cool to take in the atmosphere of the thriving city and for me, being my first time visiting, everything was fresh to take in. 

We ate some street food - namely, Takoyaki and gyoza - on our wanderings and then we went on a journey to see something cool since I hadn't gone on the Ferris Wheel earlier in the day. We arrived at this rooftop walk, where you could look out over Osaka and there was a rooftop bar decorated with string lights. It was very ambient and it was nice to sit and chat but we decided to go and get a few drinks. We sat in this little jack-o'lantern lit garden whilst the boys discussed where to go.

In the end, despite the boys choosing somewhere to go, we ended up wandering into a bar that we found and just in the nick of time to get a few drinks before it closed. The bar area where we sat had a handrail above like you'd see on trains, so we had to have a photo opportunity moment!

{We took this normal photo of our normal faces too!}

We ended up rolling up to the church accommodation past midnight. It transpired that the accommodation had gotten a little lost in translation however. We arrived back at the church and waited for our host to come and get us. I hadn't realised we'd be relying on someone else, so was surprised they were okay to come out so late to get us, but apparently, they were awake anyway. He took us to an apartment and it was quite roomy, spacious and had futons set out for us. I had expected a hostel situation, but we had the apartment to ourselves.

It turned out that it was his apartment but he was staying with his mum who was in hospital. I was so shocked at this turn of events. We chatted with him for a while and found out quite a lot about him, it was so interesting that I didn't even realise that it was past 1am when he left us and we settled in for the night. To save you any suspense, we did not get murdered. The next day, I awoke well rested and ready (or so I thought) for the wedding.