As the title says, I went to Osaka-jo (castle) the other day. It was a fellow exchange student's 21st birthday, so we decided to celebrate. It was a fairly simple, but fun night. Everyone took the train out to Kyobashi station and met there. The turnout was about 25 to 30 people, which I think surprised everybody. Included was Kumai-san, the woman working at the International Center at OGU that has the best English. She sent all the emails over the summer with every bit of information we needed. Or didn't need. Regardless, she showed up with a large group of people, stayed with us for about ten minutes to make sure that none of the underage kids would drink, and then... left? It was very strange, and nobody seemed to know why she'd shown up just to leave so quickly.
Everyone went over to the closest supermarket, got a bunch of Japanese beer, and walked over to Osaka castle, where we did something you can't do back home. Got drunk in public. Essentially we hung out near the final steps leading up to the castle and drank for about 6 hours. And I forgot my camera. We hung out, sang songs, learned how to say "cheers" in about six languages, and then I went home.
Which I should not have! Apparently the plan, which I was not aware of, was to just camp out on the ground near the castle. "I'll just take the last train," I thought. And what a good idea that turned out to be. I took off for the train station at about 11:00, figuring I'd be fine to get home by last train. As I walked up to the tunnel I'd walked through from the train station, a security guard was just beginning to lock up. NOT GOOD. With my weak Japanese (which I am tempted to believe actually improves with inebriation) I managed to get a string of words out of him, out of which I understood "stairs," "train," and "that way." I went "that way," found the "stairs," and eventually managed to make it to the "train." I have not yet mentioned that there are multiple train lines that travel around the Kansai area. I usually take the Hankyu line, which is more local and makes a lot more stops. The JR line is faster, nicer, more expensive, and generally closer to the places we want to go, so that's how we got there. Now I knew there was a JR station in Amagasaki, the city in which I live, but I didn't know where it was. Near OGU they're only about 400 meters apart, so I figured it would be within walking distance. WRONG. It's about 4 or 5 miles from my house, which I discovered when I got there. It took me about 15 minutes talking to one of the train attendants with a map, with him saying "Sorry, there are no taxis right now, you will have to walk. Take these roads," before a different person showed up and just said "...take a taxi. They're down those stairs." This was all in Japanese, and I was drunk. Meanwhile, I found out later that rather than camping out, everyone continued to drink for another few hours and then went and did karaoke until first train. I should have just stayed.
And let me just say that throughout the whole experience, despite not knowing where I was or how to get home, I have never felt safer in the middle of a city. Japan is great like that. And oh yeah, again I forgot my camera. So no pictures of Osaka castle for any of you. Then again, judging from my previous track record with pictures it will probably be sometime after I come back and graduate before I manage to get them visible.
"Got drunk in public"
ReplyDeleteHaha. <3