First Night of Exploration

Hello to everyone! Ohio Gozaimasu! tonight i went out Exploring! I decided that I wanted to see where the young people of Osaka City hung out so I went to the area that is is known as the American Village. When I first got off the train, I realized that it looked just like 5th avenue in NYC. All of the best designer stores were there and all of the clearly fashionable people were there. As I walked 6 blocks south to where the village was I came across one more familiar establishment known as 7-11! While they do not carry slurpees, they do carry about a thousand food options and countless more snacks. In the candy section, I was able to find chocolates shaped like little pigs! How CUTE!

After my trip to 7-11 I found what I was looking for. The bright lights pointed me in the correct directions and soon I walking over a bridge with a river through it(picture above) Here there was a ferris wheel that was shaped like an oval. I will have to go back during the day to ride to the top and get a great view of the city! As I continued on, I found restaurants that served the infamous blowfish, which were designated by GIANT blowfish outside. 

I then came across a japanese bookstore that was 5 floors with all types of media from video games to movies and music as well as books. As I ventured to the music floor I was bombarded by the inevitable sounds of Brittney Spears and Mariah Carey. CDs were resonably priced and such a HUGE selection of american music is available. However, when I arrived on the DVD floor the prices jumped through the roof. A regular copy of The Dark Knight is selling for about $50- american!! 

Also, I learned today that movies come out in Japan after they come out in the US. For example the movie Hellboy II just came out today here, but is almost on video in the US. However, I was also told that any movie that is released by SONY will, in fact, be released here FIRST! :) HAH!  And we only get Watchmen  about twenty days late, so that is not unbearable. 

After this, I went deeper and deeper into this trendy village and found something that many Japanese youth like to do, play in arcades. But these arcades differ slightly from american style arcades. These are filled with bright lights and an abundance of CLAW MACHINES. They have everything in them from ice cream and food to GIANT stuffed animals! There were tons of these arcades here and they were just full of people all playing these claw machines trying to win these adorable plush animals! How FUN! I tried my luck...but I did not succeed. Maybe tonight I will have more luck. The claw is different from the US. Here they only have two prongs which makes this game much more challenging. 

I found a bowling alley as well (yes, bowling is, in fact, VERY popular here). It was an entertainment center actually that had 8 floors of things to do from pachinco machines and claw games to bowling and darts. How fantastic!!

After a while I decided it was time to head back to my hotel in Namba and grab a bento box on my way for dinner as I had a Skype date with my boyfriend and my mom :). I went through the festival at the shrine by my hotel and picked up  a small, round, pancake-like dessert filled with vanilla custard and chocolate. HOW DELICIOUS! I grabbed my bento from a local market and was on my way! What an adventurous day! Tomorrow it is on to see the WHALE SHARK at the Aquarium here!