Today the kids got to enjoy an early Xmas, and got to dig into their stockings. They actually opened up many of their gifts before we left Texas, so they got to celebrate multiple times.

I think Mariko wanted to spend the day with her Mom, and I got a “free day” where I could go out by myself. So, I loaded up the camera bag, got the iPod ready, and headed out. My plan was to head to Osaka Station and just explore around there. I took the normal walking route to the station, then it was a quick train ride to my destination. It’s so great that Mariko’s mom lives just one station away from Osaka Station. You could actually walk to downtown in about 25 minutes if you wanted to.

I was planning on doing a bunch of street photography today, but ended up keeping the camera in the bag most of the time, and just strolling around listening to Jazztronik on the iPod. I love just wandering aimlessly, walking around town and down whatever street looks interesting. The first place I went to was not on the street, though, it was in the underground “mall”, which is actually the maze of passageways that connect a couple train stations underneath the streets. It’s disorienting at first, since there are so many people walking around, and the passageways look so similar, but after a little while, I started to remember how it was laid out from my previous times there. I found a nice camera shop that my friend Matt recommended to me. Matt, Mikey and I actually went to Yaotomi Camera several years back when we visited Osaka. I found a nice Olympus XA, but decided to hold off on buying it. It was only 4500 yen, but I wasn’t sure I wanted another film camera, although I loved my old one before it broke. I was really looking for a nice used A-mount lens for my 7D, but I didn’t find anything good.

After Yaotomi, I headed up to the surface world. The weather was pretty good, not too cold, and sunny with clouds. I walked down some outside shopping arcade streets, and passed by a couple of restaurants we used to enjoy, a Yukari okonomiyaki restaurant, and a sushi restaurant that is still my favorite in the world. I found it funny and reassuring that these places haven’t changed in these past years.

I saw a Tsutaya down the street so I headed over and went inside. I checked out some CD’s for a bit and then checked out their video game selection. The Wii and DS are kings there, but the PS2 still has tons of shelf space dedicated to it. The PS3 section was small, and the Xbox360 offerings were in a tiny corner in the back. The Xbox360 machine sat there with the red ring of death… I saw a few DS games that looked really good, including a Final Fantasy game, the Professor Layton games, and Momotaro Dentetsu, which I almost bought. But, I decided to save my money and give it a pass.

After Tsutaya, I walked around a lot, and finally ended up at the Sky Building, which looks like two buildings joined at the top by a circular observation deck. There were a whole bunch of Xmas festivities going on in the plaza, but I really wanted to go up to the top, so I bought a ticket (it was either 300 or 700 yen) and headed up in the elevator. At the top, there is a gift shop level, and then you take an escalator up to the next floor. The escalator actually goes out of one bulding and floats high above the ground, eventually reaching the other tower. I found myself in the observation lounge, which gives you a 360° view of Osaka. It was pretty cool because they were having a Konica-Minolta sponsored photo exhibit entitled “Japan through a Diplomat’s Eyes”, in which all the photos were from diplomats and their families, who were working in Japan. The photos were really good, but I wanted to get to the very top, so I found the stairs to the rooftop observation deck. It was really windy and damn cold up there! But, I was happy because there were some nice clouds, and the view of Osaka was great! I ended up taking a bunch of photos up there, and freezing my butt off, but I think it was worth it. And I could actually see where Mariko’s mom’s house was.

I went back down to the ground level and outside, then followed the crowd back to downtown. We all walked through a long underground tunnel and ended up back at Yodobashi Camera. I wandered around for maybe another hour before coming back to another record store, Tower Records. I watched and listened to the DJ’s from FM Osaka for a bit, then checked the restaurants nearby to see if Mariko and my favorite Indian restaurant was still there. Sure enough, Ashoka was still in business and looked to be doing quite well. I really wanted to eat there this trip, but we didn’t have time. Maybe next trip!

It was dark by this time, so I figured I should head back home, especially since it was Xmas eve! When I arrived back, the kids were already finished with dinner, which was a special pizza from Pizza Hut. This one had shrimp all around the crust, and then half of the toppings were seafood, and the other half bbq chicken and corn. It was delicious! We also had some really awesome Christmas Cake. Then, the kids got their reindeer food ready, and they put it outside the door, in a little bowl. The next morning, almost all of the reindeer food was gone!