Osaka for the holiday

Written on December 23rd

So Japan during the holiday time really lacks in spirit. I found this out four years ago when I was here a the 25th of December rolled by without me noticing (for reals, I looked at the calender and was like, "what do you mean it's the 27th already?!"). Secretly I love the holidays. The songs, the feeling, the food, family, crazy shopping, 24 hour Christmas Tale. All of it. Naturally without all of this I have not been in the spirit at all and I am not the only foreign person suffering from lack of holiday spirit. To fix this, I put together an event on Facebook and invited people to do a sort of caroling performance outside of one of the main buildings on campus on the last day of class before the break. My expectations were not very high however, seeing as whenever I plan a big group thing like this it has always ended up with everyone cancelling. Yet, the outcome of people who turned up to sing was surprisingly good and even though no one stopped to watch us (not that surprising, the Japanese are a kind of walk-by and enjoy it sort of people), we had loads of fun doing it. Ended up only having enough music to fill half an hour (originally planned for a whole hour) but that was fine. And it worked! I raised not only my spirits but also the others that showed up thanked me for putting this together because they too were feeling a little blue.
Mission caroling accomplished.

Tonight I am leaving on a bus to go to Osaka where I will spend xmas day wondering around the second biggest city in Japan and hopefully make some new friends while i'm at it! But before bus time (12:30 am departure), it's drinking time with mah buddies!

I'm beginning to love this place.

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okay now i'm all caught up in my posts and from now on i'll be posting about my travels in Osaka and Kyoto! I just arrived here in Osaka this morning and already made 3 new friends and went and saw one of the oldest/best preserved castles in Japan. It's been  a long day and i'm sleepy (didn't get a wink of sleep on the bus ride and then spent all day out with my new friends) so i'm turning in early tonight! Happy Christmas Eve everyone!!