Meh!...It's been awhile since I made an entry...but I didn't want to talk about Japan until I had some time to think about it. Had kind of a shitty time...but after thinking about it, it really wasn't that bad.
Last week on Tuesday I got sick...just a cold but it was kind of a pain in the ass. I didn't want to be sick for my weekend in Japan so I babied myself or a few days. Drank a lot of green tea and rested and my cold disappeared just before I left thankfully.
I had to get up at 6am on Saturday in order to get to the Airport in time for my flight. No problems getting there or getting on the plane... The fun started when I arrived in Osaka and tried to exchange my Koren Won for Japanese Yen. The guy at the exchange counter told me that I couldn't exchange Won... So I asked him where I had to go...and he said "back to Korea"....nice.
Luckily I had $100 US on me or I really would have been screwed. That gave me 12,000 Yen, which was enough to last me until Monday (when banks would be open) but I couldn't really enjoy myself because I kept thinking that if I got in trouble, I didn't really have enough money to get myself out of it. Japan is incredibly expensive...
I found my way to my hotel with only minor problems and after 'checking in' I went out and wandered around. I wandered the streets of Osaka for about three hours with no specific destination in mind but then I noticed that I wasn't too far from Osaka castle so I wandered over there. It's an old castle built in the 1500s (or something like that) so I toured the grounds and took some pictures. I also saw Osaka City Hall, the Stock Exchange and some temples...but there weren't much to speak of. I guess I'm not really much of a fan of architecture cause I wasn't too excited.
I wanted to check out the night life in Osaka so I found my way back to my hotel on foot and had a nap. Got up at 8pm and wandered into one of the busier areas but I couldn't find much in the way of "night life"...I had wanted to check out Dave's ESL Cafe for some infomation on Osaka before I left but for some reason the site was down for the whole week before I left. I finally gave up on a bar and wandered into some kind of Chinese restaurant that had a neon sign of Heineken in the window. Getting a beer wasn't much of a problem because when I said "beer" and she nodded and brought over 3 different kinds. I skipped over the imorts and settled on a domestic brand. Not bad...but not as good as Korean beers. Better than that Sapporo garbage you can buy in Canada though. I had some fun trying to order food. She had brought me a menu but it was in Japanese so I wasn't getting anywhere with it. I said, "What's good?" and she looked confused stared blankly at the menu and said "Fwied Chickeen"...I shook my head and said "Anything else?" ...she paused, looked back at the menu and said, "ahhh.....Fwied Chickeen?". After more of this she sent another guy out of the kitchen to try his English. He looked at the menu and set it in front of me and paused then said, "Ummm....Fwied Chickeen?" So I gave up and got the Fried Chicken. In the mean time I had every employee in the place staring at me with a goofy grin on their face...I don't know if they don't see many foreigners or what the story was, but I thought it was hilarious cause this went on the whole time I ate. Then, I got tired of being the object of their entertaiment so I polished off a couple beers and high-tailed it out of the place.
I never really noticed how much Korean I've actually picked up over the last month and a bit until then. It was like starting all over again in Japan. I kept wanting to say, "Can you speak Korean, cause I know how to say it in Korean."
Sunday I didn't do too much...I wandered around in downtown Osaka and did some shopping but that got real boring real fast...it was unbelievably crowded, that and I hate shopping. I spent some time in my hotel room Sunday and it's amazing how much they push the porn on you all kinds of previews. The also offer insuite "massages" until 2am...I wonder...I didn't partake. I had wanted to go to Kyoto on Sunday but I was worried about the money situation so I stuck to Osaka...
Monday was one headache after another. I had about 1500 Yen left but I needed about 10,000 to get my Korean Work Visa and get out of Japan. I went to a three different banks but they all told me that they didn't exchange Won....so I was thinking "Geez, I'm really Screwed!" I tried my bank card but that wouldn't work and I'd lost my credit card in Seoul a couple weeks ago. So not knowing what else to do, I headed down to the Canadian Consulate. I guess that mine must be a common problem because within minutes they had a map to a Korean bank in Osaka where I could exchage my Won. At least it was nearby, it only took me 10 minutes to walk there.
Note to anyone going to Japan from Korea...EXCHANGE YOUR MONEY BEFORE YOU GO!!!! I sure would've loved to have that nugget of information. Never dreamed it'd be a problem...they're both Democratic countries right next to each other with stable exchange rates...I don't know what the problem is. Ah well, after getting my money exchanged I wandered over to the Korean consulate to get my Visa and had just I picked up an application and was filling it out when a security guard came over to inform me that the Consulate was closing for an hour and a half for "lunch".... Great, more good news. After getting lost for about a half hour I figured I'd just sit outside the Korean cosulate till it reopened. I manged to find a Subway (restaurant) and paid about 12 bucks for a sub and drink...a little pricey. I didn't really care cause I had money now. I wanted to get some Japanese food but the only places that had picture menus were really packed....and I didn't want to end up with "fwied chickeen" again.
I managed to get my Visa without any further problems and I met an American getting a visa so I chatted with him for awhile and together we managed to figure out how to get to the Airport from there. I did walk around that area and it was really cool...there were little shops everywhere and electronic stores galore. All in all not a terrible trip but I was really glad to get back to Korea.
