If you’ve been keeping up to date, you’ll know I’ve been away on holiday. I’ve been to Osaka, Japan for a week. Well technically I’m still on holiday as the start of this post is being written whilst I’m eating pizza in Kansai Airport, Osaka. I’m watching a China Airlines plane be loaded and get pushed out to get in line to lift off. Annnnnd off it goes on its merry way. I will soon be on a plane myself somewhere over China on my way to Hong Kong for my connecting flight to Heathrow.
This is the first proper holiday I’ve had in just over 5 years. Well the first time I’ve been on a plane in that time. I’ve had small jaunts away for breaks in the UK, but nothing as substantial as this. Essentially I’m visiting my friend who is working at Universal Studios Japan and do a little sightseeing whilst I am here. Having not had a holiday in some time, I was concerned I didn’t know how to travel internationally but it’s like riding a bike. Light work.
Osaka is a fabulous city. Clean, well run and the people are respectful. When flying in, there was a British couple in the queue in front of me for immigration checks. Despite the signs, the multiple chances online and the big booths full of people filling out paperwork, they hadn’t filled in a simple immigration form. They swore aggressively at the immigration clerk and I was ashamed to be in any way associated with them. They’re foreigners in a foreign country and they represent all us Brits when out in the world. They failed. Especially as the young lady manning the booth was polite and professional at all times.
To the holiday. Me and my friend did tonnes of touristy stuff. The aquarium (fuck off whale sharks), the zoo (a polar bear), the shopping district of Shinsaibashi-Suji (approximately one and a half miles of shops), river cruises, the Osaka castle with a little detour to watch some baseball and lots of theme park based fun at Universal Studios Japan. My favourite roller coaster was The Flying Dinosaur. You sit vertically with feet hanging down and then the coaster shifts you horizontally so you fly round the course like Superman. At two points, the g-forces make it feel like your face is going to slide off. It’s brilliant. The Hollywood Dream: Backdrop is a close second. You go round a coaster course backwards and it feels like you’re going to fly out of your seat.
There’s also the brand new Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan. We were lucky enough to get a timed entry ticket for this land and get express passes to ride the two adult rides. Mario Kart was brilliant and makes you feel like you’re actually in a race and Donkey Kong’s Minecraft roller coaster was a little tame but a lot of fun. There’s lots of shows to see as well which are great. Special mention to Sing on Tour which is a great fun show! That Ash (the porcupine) in particular is a talent.
At the end of my holiday my friend asked me what the highlight was. And apart from seeing them and getting away for a break I think it was the day we spent in the city of Kyoto. Now Kyoto is about 35 miles away from Osaka. Leicester to Birmingham is about 8 miles further away. They’re close, but they’re both huge sprawling cities. So we got the train to Kyoto. Now huge congrats to whoever sorts out the trains in Japan. They were clean, cheap, on time and not a cancellation in sight. It cost us less than £10 return to Kyoto. When we got to the city, we changed trains and went to the outskirts, to the Arashiyama Bamboo forest. Whilst there we wandered around the forest, the local park and went to an old Buddhist temple. A peaceful, sunny day with some quiet time away from the throngs of people and flashing lights of the cities. It was completely different to everything else we had done and as a bonus, I got to visit somewhere other than Osaka which I didn’t think I’d get to do. I felt lucky to be there. We also had time in the evening to find a cute little restaurant in the centre of Kyoto and go up the tower to see the city at night.
Culturally the Japanese people acted in ways in which I suppose I had preconceived notions of. They were polite, respectful and a little quiet. To some this may come across as fake because they’re not displaying what they really feel, however I liked it and in return I tried to be as respectful as possible. Whenever I’ve been to foreign climes in the past, I’ve always been arrogant in the knowledge that I don’t have to learn the language or really feel worried about being in a foreign place. I felt completely safe in Japan and everyone politely spoke to me in English. I now know how to say, yes, hello and thank you very much in Japanese. My arrogance continues.
In conclusion, my holiday was a worthwhile jaunt, a fun break, I was well hosted by the Japanese people and my lovely friend who I’m greatly appreciative of for looking after me and just well worth the two plane rides.
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PS – Just finishing this off in Hong Kong airport as I await my flight back to Blightly.