Having researched things to do in Osaka, I felt somewhat prepared to take on this city. So far, it had exceeded my somewhat low expectations with its quirky nightlife and more relaxed feel than tokyo. It felt like melbourne to Sydney, home to a slightly offbeat atmosphere that had pockets of cool stuff without the overbearing bright lights of tokyo. Not to say tokyo isn't brilliant, it is, but osaka definitely has its own thing going on. Still can't navigate the train system to save myself though. Left at about 10am to find osaka castle and by midday, had basically done circles and gave up to meet the girls at the owl cafe we'd spotted late last night on our bar crawl. They said the castle was fairly average anyway, which made me feel a little better about my incompetency. They have women and men only carriages here which I assume is to solve those weird harassment issues that sometimes happen in crowded Japanese trains? Also, they play fake bird noises and play Old Mcadonald Had a Farm as the station alert noises here. Hehe!
The owl cafe.... I loved it! We paid for an hour to sit in there and take selfies with the beautiful creatures. Yes, they had a rope attached to their feet so they couldn't fly away but the room was tiny and I don't think letting almost 20 owls loose in there would've been smart. They were also for sale so I don't think they stay in that environment for very long, many of them were young so I assume they are sold fairly quickly. If I understood right, the Owls sell for a couple thousand each. No kidding, after one hour with them, I would totally buy one. They are amazing animals, full of personality and so freakin cute!
Afterwards, we went to lunch - the girls wanted okinomyaki but I felt a bit weird after the last time I ate that so I opted for a yakisoba which was noodle, pork and veggies wrapped in egg. Probably not that different to okinomyaki but something I hadn't had before. I was ravenous by that stage because I'd planned to eat at the castle that never was, and then the owl cafe that didn't serve food. I could've eaten rectum. It had gotten chilly overnight and now a fresh wind swept through the streets, but I had no time for extra clothing as I wanted to check out Shinsekai before getting to the sky tower for sunset.
The girls came along to see sensekai and the tower. I had heard about sensekai because some blogger had said it was the quirkiest place to visit in Osaka. I don't know about that, but we did happen upon what we assume was a brothel down a side street. There were uncensored porn pics on the billboards outside the venue and men going in but strangely only Trans people coming out and moving up and down the stairs. There was a vending machine out the front that people seemed to use before going inside, it was all very strange and we couldn't quite work it all out. Maybe they selected the service they wanted and paid with the machine for efficiency and privacy?
Next stop was tower, an impressive building shaped like a rainbow, a building with the middle missing basically, and a diagonal elevator taking you to the top observation level. For C, afraid of heights, it was pretty scary, even for me it was a fairly exposed elevator ride. The view from up top was amazing - osaka is crazy big! And it's not even tokyo! We scored a table right by the window facing the sunset and cracked open some bubbles (or "bitchfizz" as the Perth girls called it). Cheers-ed to a good day! After the sun went down, we walked around the rooftop deck to check out the city's night lights. It was FREEZING up there so it was at a brisk pace and back down to warmth.
We explored more of dotonbori for dinner and drinks, meandering into Namba as well. Gotta love those back streets! Served by an adorable 22 year old waiter at our dinner place, the girls were trying to set me up with him before I had to break the news that I would've broken him in half - spiritually, mentally and physically. Let the poor boy live. We joked around and left jovially to find a formal dress shop that I thought I could find my next cabaret show outfit in. I went to the sale rack and finally found a few that fit, alas they weren't on sale and I just couldn't justify spending the full price when I could get something similar in Australia. And carry it around all night! We found one more bar, possibly the best we'd found in Japan so far - an underground Rolling Stones themed rock bar with the coolest Japanese man I've ever met. Long, grey hair and furry leopard vest... The best. We said our goodbyes and I walked back to the hotel, encountering a couple of harajuku style girls that I had to snap a photo of!
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