I woke up in the Yeogwan, possibly because of bed bugs biting me (it was weird...), but I'm okay. Anyway, I got something to eat, had a shower, and headed to the bus terminal for my 6:40 am bus. The bus was full, mainly due to a tour group. I just slept on the bus, since I was damn tired.Got to Incheon International Airport ahead of schedule, 40 minutes ahead, to be precise. I wasn't able to check in yet, so I walked around and had a look around, and checked out the money exchange places.
After checking in, and getting through customs, I got some lunch. A nice chicken sub with heaps of salad, and a bottle of green tea. Normally, a small bottle of green tea costs 1,000 won (about $1), but in the airport, it cost 2,500 won! Anyway, my sub was delicious.
The flight was only 2 hours long, nice and quick, and getting through customs and out of the airport, was no problem. I met Daisuke at the airport, we changed some money, and then got the bus to Osaka. We got to the Namba area, and met Daisuke's girlfriend, Noriko. She could speak some Korean, we communicated in Korean. We then put our stuff in a locker (600 yen for a large one), and proceeded to walk around and and check things out.
One of the first things I noticed about this large, busy place... No smell! Korea has a bad smell problem, when it comes to busy places, but for my whole time in Japan, I did not smell anything bad whatsoever.
We had some Takoyaki. This stuff is good *^^*
We walked around a bit, and checked out Namba...
...and then had some sushi. Normally, I'm not a fan of raw fish, but I thought I'd give it a go...
Salmon Sushi is my favourite, but I tried some of the others too.
After sushi, we walked around more, and checked out more of Namba. I was still surprised by how clean and vibrant things were - totally not like Korea. Namba has atmosphere!
We found an arcade game place, and played a few games. I did pretty well at the drum game *^^*
I saw a huge CD store in Namba, so we went there to check it out. I bought 4 CD's, 2 of them were dance remixes of Ayumi Hamasaki.
On the way to get some more food, we took our photo here, a famous spot in Namba, for the Neon signs.
Okonomiyaki, another famous dish in Osaka, is so delicious!
We ate well ;)
After eating, we decided to call it a day, and made our way to a capsule hotel. It's a really cool idea, and I'm surprised that Korea hasn't stolen the idea.
The building was about 4 or 5 storeys. 1 floor had the public baths, one floor for the guys' capsules, one for the girls' capsules, and one floor for a locker room and small restaurant/snack area. Inside the capsule was big enough to sleep in, and to roll around. There was enough room to sit up as well. The bed was really comfortable. There was a small vent blowing fresh air into the capsule, also a built in alarm clock (which wasn't noisy at all, when other people's alarms went off the next morning). Also, people made the effort to be quiet in the capsule areas, which is something that surprised me (maybe I've been in Korea too long, where everyone is just noisy, and people rarely consider others). I was in capsule 178, and Daisuke was in capsule 180. Noriko didn't stay with us, because she lives in Osaka. After we checked in, she got the train back home.
By the first day, I was just so impressed by Japan. The main thing I really noticed was not being treated like a "foreigner" like I am in Korea. I was just treated like a regular person, which is something that rarely happens to me in Korea. It was quite refreshing.
From when I arrived, to the time I went to sleep in the capsule (I was out like a light), I had a smile on my face.
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