Osaka!

This past weekend, I took a trip to Osaka. It just so happened that I had a three day weekend and that there would be a Lindy Exchange in Osaka, so it was more or less the perfect time to go. I got tickets for the Friday night bus (10:30 pm to 5:30 am, yay) and booked a hotel, and that was pretty much all the preparation that was needed.

The bus ride to Osaka was not a ton of fun, but I did get a little rest. The buses have seats that lean pretty far back, and foot rests on the seat in front of you. Also, the seats aren't connected to each other, so you don't have to worry about some weirdo leaning on you when they fall asleep. Once the bus was on the highway, they dimmed the interior lights and closed a curtain separating the driver's area from the passenger cabin. The night bus actually takes somewhat longer than the day buses because the driver has to stop for about an hour in the middle of the night. I think it was around 4 am that I noticed we weren't moving. A side note about the buses: they are equipped with a small refrigerator containing little boxes of green tea. The tea is complimentary. Somehow that seemed like a very Japanese thing to me, green tea on the bus.

I arrived at Osaka early Saturday morning and wandered Osaka JR Station until I found the entrance to the Midosuji subway line. Getting to my hotel was very simple once I figured out how to buy a ticket. There were instructions in English, but they weren't very precise. I'll give you a basic rundown of how it works. First, you look on the map to figure out what you'll need to pay. Then you put at least that amount into the machine and press the touch-screen button for "Ticket", and on some buttons below the screen, fares will appear. You press the button for the fare that you need to pay, and out comes the ticket. It's very simple provided you know that you have to put the money in before you can see the fares. It took me a few attempts to figure that out.

I stayed at the Hotel Chuo, a budget hotel right by Dobutsuen-mae station. I arrived around 6 am and had my fingers crossed that there would be a room ready. I had asked about checking in early, and was told that they would allow it provided that a room was available. And there was! I paid for my two-night stay (a grand total of $50) and got my key. When I got to my room, it became fairly apparent that I got what I paid for. It was clean but very worn, as was the rest of the hotel. Part of the deal was that the room did not have a bathroom or shower. Each floor had shared WCs, and on the first floor there was a communal bathing room as well as three individual shower cabins. The bathing room had set hours that you could use it; there were three periods set aside for men and two for women. I thought that the men got the better hours, but that may have just been my perspective. The shower cabins were open 24 hours a day.

After putting my things upstairs, I went back down to take a shower. I think I saw a cricket in the shower room, but since it wasn't a spider, cockroach or centipede, I didn't really care. After showering, it was time for a nap. I had about three hours to sleep before the swing workshops would start. I soon discovered that there were train tracks running right behind the hotel, and trains went by quite frequently. It took a little longer than usual to fall asleep, but I felt better after resting. Then I headed out to find the building where the workshops would be held.

I left the hotel very early because I didn't know how long it would take me to find the right building. It also allowed me some time to grab lunch. I ate at Subway, which was a somewhat daunting task as getting food requires a good deal of interaction. Fortunately, the options were very similar to those of an American Subway, and the ingredients were labeled in katakana. I got a turkey sandwich. Mind you, this is the first time I've eaten turkey since I came to Japan. I'm pretty sure it isn't readily available in Kochi.

Anyhow, enough about food. I found the right building without getting too soggy, despite the pouring rain. Thank God I bought a new umbrella before leaving Kochi; my old one was literally falling apart. At the OCAT building, a series of workshops were offered. There were three hours of workshops, and two options for each hour. I attended workshops on beginning Lindy, beginning Balboa, and "Balboa Plus". "Balboa Plus" turned out to be a continuation of the previous Balboa class, and I was able to keep up just fine. Balboa is a sort of shuffling dance that you use for music which is too fast for anything else. Since the website for the event had been in English, I just assumed that the workshops would be conducted in English, but this was not the case. Everything was in Japanese. I didn't understand much of the explanations, but they demonstrated everything that they said, so I got the main points. I was mostly attending the classes as a refresher, anyhow. The classes were pretty fun and I got to meet a lot of the people who would be attending the evening dances.

There was a break between the workshops and the evening dance, so I took that opportunity to explore Namba Station. It's a very large subway station, and it has an extensive underground mall attached to it. I spent a good deal of time walking around and looking at the shops. I actually showed up somewhat late to the dance because I was having a good time wandering the station. Once I decided to leave, though, it was a short trip to the next venue. The subway part of the journey was very simple, but once I got above ground, there was a bit of trial and error before I found the club, Sam and Dave's Umeda.

At Sam and Dave's, I got to dance with a variety of people. It was pretty fun, though I was sometimes embarrassed when I had trouble keeping up. Everyone I danced with was very kind, though. I also talked with some of the other people and traded emails with a foreigner who lives in Kyoto. She seemed like a cool person, so hopefully I'll see her again sometime. All in all, the Lindy community in Osaka seems like a very lively and welcoming group.

For each night, there were two events scheduled; an evening dance and a late night dance. The evening dance ended at 11, and I opted not to go to the late night dance. I was enjoying dancing, but it wasn't so incredibly awesome that I felt the need to dance all night. I have to admit, I think I'm enjoying Lindy Hop less than I enjoyed West Coast Swing. It also might be that my expectations weren't entirely realistic. I thought I would be euphoric about dancing again, but it was more or less a normal level of fun. What was missing was my friends. Part of what I liked so much about dancing in Boise was the feeling of community. The High Desert Swing Dance Club is a very social group, and I had gotten to know most of the people who came to the weekly dances. Dancing with them wasn't only dancing, it was also spending time with my friends. While there's a certain thrill to dancing with new partners, I missed dancing with the people I know.

Sunday morning, I went out to do some shopping. I stuck to the larger, easier to find places since I hadn't taken much time to research the city before coming. I had assumed that I would be spending all my time dancing, but in the end I decided that I wanted to see some of Osaka as well. I explored the area around Namba Station some more and also visited the Loop, a large mall. The malls that I saw carried mostly high-end designer clothing, so I wasn't that tempted to buy much. However, I did stumble across a few things that were too good to pass up. One of them was a store that specialized in lolita fashion. There are several lolita styles (Elegant Gothic Aristocrat, sweet lolita, guro-loli, etc.), but the basic characteristics (to my untrained eye) are bell-shaped skirts, ruffles, lace and a generally Victorian style. This store carried what I think would be called gothic lolita clothing. Most of it was black or white, and less sugary-looking than some lolita styles are. It wasn't a large store, but I spent a while looking at everything and talking with the shop lady in broken Japanese. One dress in particular caught my eye; it was a black and white corset-style dress with white buttons down the front and ribbons lacing up the back. The shop lady asked if I wanted to try it on; I had assumed that it was much too small for me (most boutique clothing is), but it turned out that it wasn't, on account of the lacing in the back being adjustable. It was adorable! Just wearing it in the store made me feel so happy and beautiful that I bought it despite the cost. I also picked out a puffy petticoat skirt to wear under the dress.

I returned to the hotel to drop off my new acquisition and to put some more money in my wallet, and ended up taking a three hour nap. Oops. After that, I went out to look at more stores, but didn't see anything I particularly wanted. Once again, I showed up late to the evening dance. As I was going down the stairs and corridor to that evening's club (Calling, also near Sam and Dave's), I was confused and rather concerned to see someone in a SWAT uniform peeking out from what looked like a storage closet outside the door to the club. However, the Japanese ladies sitting near the door waved me onward, so I went into the club. It turned out that there was a famous Japanese comedian making an appearance at the dance, and he had a fake SWAT team as part of his entourage. I'm still not sure what the connection was, but everyone in the club started cheering when the club lights were switched off and SWAT team came in, waving their gun-mounted flashlights in everyone's faces. It was surreal. Anyhow, the comedian sang a few songs in English, and he sounded pretty good to me. After he left, the dancing continued. I missed the preliminaries for the Jack & Jill contest, but I got to see the finals, and it was pretty impressive. The Japanese apparently have as much of an appreciation for swing music and dance as anyone else.

I had never been to a Lindy Exchange before, but I got the impression that this was a fairly small one. There were not very many workshops or many people at the workshops, and the evening events had maybe 40-50 people attending. I think this might've been a good thing for me because it wasn't too overwhelming. If it had been a huge event like the West Coast conventions I've been to, I would've been very intimidated. As it was, the other dancers (Japanese and foreign) were very friendly and welcoming. Most of them knew each other already, but they would still ask new people to dance.

Monday morning, I checked out of the hotel and tried to figure out what to do with the few remaining hours. I first went to Osaka Station to figure out where I would be catching my bus (kind of an important detail), but that didn't take long. So I started wandering the area around the station. It was a bit awkward walking around with my stuffed-to-bursting backpack and my big shopping bag from the lolita store, but I ended up exploring Daimaru. Daimaru is a very classy department store, possibly a bit higher end than Nordstroms. A few customers and employees gave me odd looks, but instead of being self-conscious, I actually felt bolder for it. I kind of wanted to laugh at how ridiculously out of place I seemed. I imagine it surprised the shop ladies when I ended up buying a fairly expensive sweater (which I intend to wear until it falls apart) and two Lesportsac purses. Hahaha, perhaps a bit reckless with the spending there, but I don't think I'll regret any of the things I've bought.

Loaded down with packages, I went back to the bus station to wait. Even with the shopping, I was about an hour early. I was a little concerned about recognizing my bus since so many came through the station, but the name of the bus was exactly as printed on my ticket, so it wasn't an issue. My worst fear about traveling alone was that I would end up missing the bus home and not be able to get to work the next day. But I got on the bus without any issues, and from there on, all I had to do was wait. For an express bus, it sure seemed to make a lot of stops, but we arrived at Kochi Station a little over 5 hours later.

Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to Osaka. I did less dancing and more shopping than I had imagined I would, but I'm happy with how things turned out. I'm looking forward to going back sometime and exploring more of the city. Osaka has a ton of things to see, including an amazing aquarium. Shopping excluded, the trip was not particularly expensive. The bus tickets were about $100 round-trip, and I spent $50 on the hotel (though I think I'll spring for a nicer one next time). Food wasn't that costly, and I was able to get everywhere I wanted to go using the subway, which was also inexpensive. I would recommend visiting Osaka to anyone coming to Japan.