Scratching the surface.

Travelling to the other side of the world rarely goes this smooth. Before leaving for Japan, I wondered how I was going to get from Tokyo to Osaka to meet my friend Emilio who I would be staying with for the next month. The options before me were 1o hour bus ride ($50) or 3 hour bullet train ($120). Before I hopped on my direct flight from JFK to Toykyo, I decided to look into the final option, a one hour flight which ended up the most practical choice for the money ($150). Don't get me wrong. I try to cut corners where I can. However, the way I figured is the more time you spend getting to somewhere the more money you spend eating, drinking, or picking up some random item that catches your eye (I foresee this happening often in Japan). Since it was the same airline and the price was comparable to the bullet train, I figured flying would be the most economical and practical option. Maybe I'll take the bullet train back to Tokyo just to say I did.

Anyway, fourteen hours later, with little to no sleep, I arrive to Tokyo and quickly transfer to a flight to Osaka to meet my friend. On the flight over I had a window seat and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset above pink cotton candy clouds and jade colored hazy blue skies with the mainland floating by in the panoramic backdrop. I arrived in Osaka with, what I had come to find out were, terrible instructions on how to meet up with my friend once I here. Fortunately I'm a skilled metropolis dweller and most public transport around the globe operates on similar principals. With only a train line color, subway stop, and a time to meet, I was able to navigate my route using posted maps and ticket pricing. It seems most public transportation information is posted in both Japanese kanji and in written phonetic English. They even repeat subway announcements in English. This helps...

I arrive in Shinsaibashi Station on time to meet Emilio. However, I missed where exactly we would meet. After a few mins though, I enjoyed a warm hug from an old

friend in the most surreal of settings. Soon we were walking among the neon lights of Osaka roaming the streets in search for some authentic Japanese grub. Ask and you shall receive...

Emilio ordered a few dishes in this smoke filled equivalent to the late night diners of New York (pre-Bloomberg). The first dish was this rubbery speckled block what seemed to be gelatin acoompanied a spongy phallic tube submerged in tasty broth. I don't event think my friend knew what it was. At least the broth was good! Next we had more familiar items such as fried octopus balls, circa my trip to Australia, and stir fried soba noodles which I enjoyed thoroughly. Accompanied by some robotic poured glasses of Asahi brew I was already feeling the authenticity of the city. After my second beer I was also feeling the effects of my lack of sleep rather than the alcohol. With only a few hours before the subways stop service for the night, we decide to explore a bit of the nightlife in Osaka. It was a Tuesday night so the streets were kind of quiet. Along with my friend's commentary, I wandered across hundreds of sights, sounds, and smells that I have never experienced.

The streets in Osaka are full of interesting little contrasting surprises from the narrow hallways of random artwork and honorary shrines to serene lantern lit canals with loud neon lights reflecting in the water. We ended the night stumbling what seemed like two Buddhist prayer shrines tucked away in a back street. Both were facing opposite directions. One seemed to be a cleansing area with a beautifully carved stone bowl and traditional wooden ladles. Emilio explained that when pouring the water over your hands it was important not to return the poured water back to the bowl but to allow the water to fall outside washing away the impurities. After the cleansing ritual we walked over to face 3 moss covered statues with a similar bowl and ladle set in front. The ritual, according to the people we saw doing it before we got there, is to ladle the water from the bowl and pour it on each of the statues, followed by a moment of silence or prayer.

I have only been on this side of the world for less than 12 hours and I can say that in the short time I've been here, I've already made the price of my flight here worth it. Just a glimpse of what the rest of this month will hold for me has already got me up at 5 AM typing this to share my experience with all of you. As I get settled in I'll be using an actual camera rather than my iPhone and hope to have much more pictures and video to document my experience throughout my time here. This is my attempt to finally try and take some serious note of my fortunate opportunities to trek the globe and share it with all of you. I hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment, question, or share with anyone you think would enjoy it.