Shinsaibashi Station

That night was New Year’s Eve. This was the first time I would enjoy New Year abroad, Osaka to be exact. Inevitably I had intended to enjoy how lively Osaka night was on New Year’s Eve Countdown.

But it was only 5 p.m when I finished very late lunch menu. I left a home-based restaurant whcih stood in an alley in America-mura, after enjoying its chicken ramen.

Now I have a intention which I must fulfill….Yupz, SLEEP.

I couldn’t hide my drowsines after only sleeping at Kansai International Airport for four hours all night. I myself didn’t want to attend New Year’s countdown without fresh face that night.

“See you America-mura”, I jokingly thought as I stepped out of an alley and began to step at Mido-suji Avenue towards Shinsaibashi Station. It was almost six-thirty in the afternoon when I started boarding Osaka Metro to Dobutsuen-mae Station on Midosuji Line.

From Dobutsuen-mae Station, I continued on walking along Saka-suji Avenue to reach the inn. I slowly entered Haginochaya area and soon arrived at Hotel Kaga.

“Hello, Mr. Donny. So afternoon you arrive”, male receptionist with glasses lightly greeted me then stood up from his chair and swiftly took my blue backpack.

“Yes, Sir. Osaka is very interesting, so I will regret it if I come back to hotel too early”, I caught backpack he handed me.

“I think I should sleep to prepare myself for New Year’s Eve tonight”

“Yes, that’s a great idea, Sir”.

I asked permission to immediately entering the room after he gave me a key. I already paid the hotel fare that morning when I left my backpack. I took a quick step towards lift whose doors were already open because someone was using it, then slid up to third floor. As soon as I arrived at the room, I immediately hung up my winter jacket, took off my boots, lowered my backpack, pulled the folding mattress and threw myself onto the mattress.

A single room I booked a month before departure.

Zzzzz……..Zzzzz…..Zzzzz….I quickly drifted off to sleep because of my tired body and sleepy eyes.

It was a little past nine-thirty when I automatically woke up. That’s how I am, if there is an intention to wake up at a certain hour then without even turning on the alarm then I will wake up automatically at that hour. I rarely miss, maybe this is a remnant of my childhood habit when I often got up long before dawn to study. #discipline

I still felt lazy to get out of bed and continued to be comfortable with warm room. Keep imagining how uncomfortable it would be to travel outside where the temperature was almost zero degrees Celsius. I grabbed the TV remote beside me, I just realized that before I went to sleep I had turned on the TV. Practically the TV was watching me when I sleep, not me watching it.

Want to watch Japanese TV shows….Beware with its surprise!

Of course I didn’t know what was being said on every Japanese television show. All I know was a reality show about romance, quizzes with prizes or guessing some cases and events on the evening news. I continued to explore further until channel numbered above 40. Several sporting events as well as flora and fauna began to appear. Now the channel was at 60. I kep exploring….

61….62….

I was suddenly shocked when I entered CHANNEL NO. 63. How not, it is an uncensored adult film channel. My God, what was this…..I would try to skip it, moved on to the next channel. Not long ago moved, for some reason this hand was always curious to press the shortcut to CHANNEL NO. 63, then tried to resist and switching to another channel again. Gosh….Then switch again to CHANNEL NO. 63…..The “Black-White” battle seemed fierce in my mind. Until finally didn’t feel the time was showing nine o’clock.

It was about time I went to New Year’s celebrations with Osakans and other tourists out there. I had read the announcements at many stations that afternoon that Osaka Metro’s operating hours would be extended well past the early hours of the morning. That was good news and I didn’t have to break into my pocket to find a taxi when I got back.

I put my boots back on and put my two jackets on to fight the cold. Remember when I accidentally drank alcohol at Narita International Airport?. Yups, that alcoholic drink was still there and only one drink less at that time. I put it in my winter jacket pocket and I used it as a precaution. I have to be prepared if temperature outside got too extreme in the middle of night….WHO KNOWS?….But hopefully I won’t have to drink it again until my adventure in Osaka was over.

From Namba Station I took Osaka Metro on Midosuji Line, not a single station which I passed, I got off at Shinsaibashi Station. Then started to taking steps south down Mido-suji Avenue. Mido-suji Avenue itself is a four-lane street flanked by slow lanes on either side. The slow lane and the fast lane are limited by rows of shady trees which are neatly arranged following the contours of road.

In the next three hundred meters, I would be at America-mura. Its close enough distance from Namba Parks made me interested in visiting the place at same time.

America-mura or as people call it Amemura is a nine-block American-designed village located right on the east side of Mido-suji Avenue, in Chūō-ku City District to be exact. The village is bounded in south by Dōtonbori Canal, to the north by Nagahori-dori Avenue while to the east by Osaka Metro Yotsubashi Line. America-mura occupies a land area of no less than sixteen hectares. Wide isn’t it?

Adopting American lifestyle, this area is very thick with the “Uncle Sam” brand. Entering an alley, my steps were greeted by a Starbucks outlet and a McDonald’s outlet following after. Fashion shops with Levi’s, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein logos and other well-known brands were very easy to find.

The alley in America-mura area is no more than five meters wide. Narrow path makes it be a one-way street. Street light pole is designed like a skinny and tall living character. Mural art is also easy to find on every side of America-mura. Along the edge of sidewalk installed bollards to protect pedestrians. Meanwhile, bicycle rentals are scattered at various points.

As long as you walk, America-mura is indeed designed as a place to shop. Fashion shops lined up very tightly cramming every side of road combined with bars, minimarkets, restaurants and of course lodging.

After almost an hour exploring every corner of Americamura, I was starting to feel hungry. The tantalizing aroma of East Asian food consistently scented the streets. I decided to start looking for a place to eat. Luckily, most restaurants in America-ura display their flagship menu prices at their doorstep. So each visitor can choose food according to their interests. As for me, it wasn’t about menu, I looked at each menu on display just to see what the lowest price was. It took a long time to find a restaurant to get pocket-friendly prices.

My steps finally stopped at a home-based restaurant which offering a frugal menu. This restaurant was managed by house owner and assisted by his son who seemed to be still in elementary school.

I sat on a corner seat opposite a table with a young office woman who seemed eager to eat noodle dish in front of her. I ordered chicken ramen and as usual for drinking, I relied on water provided in the teapot at every restaurant table. While sitting, I noticed the child’s agility in delivering orders after his father finished processing the menu.

Shortly after ordering, my chicken ramen came. I ate it while cracking a slurp of noodles in the bowl, of course I wanted to respect and showed that the restaurant owner’s chicken ramen was so delicious. The chicken ramen was gone in no less than fifteen minutes.

Now I presented the next silence. I purposely paid with coins. Because I have a lot of coins accumulated from my adventures in Tokyo. When the boy handed a bill on small tray, I spilled a coin worth 600 Yen on the tray. The boy looked troubled and nervous to counting it. I just smiled amused to see him when he had to repeat in counting coins. The office woman next to my seat was laughing, covering her mouth with her hand.

Feeling given up in counting, he ran the tray over to counter and handed it to his father to counting. After finishing counting, his father wrote something on bill paper and his boy came back to me. Oh, his father wrote that I paid less than 12 Yen. I made up for it and the boy broadly smiled at me. I smiled back at him and started packing to leave the restaurant.

Tag: Shinsaibashi Station

Channel No 63 Hotel Kaga

Coins in America-mura