Well I’ll start this with a one paragraph synopsis. Upon arriving in Osaka at 6:30 am after taking an 8 hour bus ride that I probably got at most 2 hours of sleep, this just seemed a little different. I didn’t feel the open arms of a city taking me in. Things were a little dirtier, gritterer(<–word?), and different than anywhere else I’ve been in Japan. Maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophecy(some of my students said that Osaka isn’t as nice a place as where I’m from) but I managed to have a GREAT TIME, but I wouldn’t want to live in the city. Maybe the lack of sleep contributed to these feelings as well.So bottom line. Great Time. Seems almost American. So of the top 10 biggest cities in Japan, I now have 3 down, 7 to go.
I met up with one of the people I trained to come to Japan with. It was really great to talk with a really person that has been through everything I have, from training to come to Japan, getting adjusted to a new country, working for a new company, and all the other stuff that goes into transplanting your life to a new city for the exact same amount of time as you have. We really had fun together experiencing Japan, even though I doubt either of us had enough fun to go back. But I know we are both glad we went.
EPIC PHOTO GALLERY
First up was Osaka Castle! Visually impressive, but the inside was sort of… blah.
Then since we were so tired we followed my advice and got a karaoke room for 3 hours for a nap. Upon entering and promising to sing ONE song, we ending up drinking 2 pitchers of beer and not sleeping a wink.
So we treaded on with still almost no sleep. We next went out to eat and shop before getting ready to party it up that night. To make a long story short, we ended up walking around Osaka, hoteless, burnt out and tired untill eventually crashing at another karaoke place untill 4 am. Upon waking up, the city was still alive! After some more chilling and walking around, we crashed again and an internet cafe for the night.
The next day was more shopping and exploring and checking out a zoo. So while it seems we didn’t do much, we had a great time and got to experience a lot of the true feeling of the city. It would of been nice to have more sleep, but hey you can’t have it all.
After my first ride on the plane of the earth, the shinkansen I was halfway across the country in less than 3 hours.
2 days later I was back at work.
Yeah this recap REALLY lost steam. But I’m sleepy. Sorry.
That was officailly the worst wrap up ever.
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Music of the Day..Bruce Dickinson – “Tears of the Dragon” a song I clearly remember listening to on the way home, contemplating life. This song is about overcoming fears. What are you afraid of?
Chapter Shi 
Hi
I am a publisher of THE EAST; the only English newspaper, which is mainly focused on the East Asian information (at the beginning of every month, more than 12,000 free copies are distributed throughout the London area, particularly, where East Asian Networks are established).
I looked at your blog the other day and have been wondering if there would be any chance that we could publish some of your interesting articles on the paper.
We think some of your blog articles should be very helpful to the Westners who are interested in Asian Culture.
The East cannot afford to pay for your articles right now (as we are non-profitable organisation). However, if you wish, we can still offer you:
1. Advertising space
2. Link to THE EAST web site blog section
We look forward to hearing from you shortly.
Many thanks and kind regards,
Hyung Wook Lee
Publisher
MBA(Edin)
THE EAST, The East Asian Monthly Business Newspaper,
Elephant Consulting Limited, 37 Charter Court, Linden Grove,
New Malden, Surrey, KT3 3BN, UK
Tel : + 44 (0) 7912 608 321 / Web site: http://www.theeast.org / E mail : publisher@theeast.org
Registered in England & Wales, Company No. 6254454
thx