So I managed to get kicked out of Spa World today. Can't take me anywhere.
Spa World is a HUGE resort that is famous for it's many osen (hot springs). Their hot springs are fashioned after different parts of the world. One Bali room, a Korean room, Persian room, Japanese, and a Dr. Spa. Unfortunately, in Japan if you have a tattoo you are prohibited from entering any sort of public bathhouse/hot spring. Despite knowing this me and Yukie decided we were going to be sneaky and just not tell them that I have tattoos and use towels to cover up while we're in the water. Well, it was a good plan until we read that you weren't allowed to bring the towels into the water. So, hoping that no one would notice my giant tats on my side and shoulder we risked entry. We made it through 30 minutes until they came and said we had to leave. I bet some old grandma rated me out. The good thing is that we had made it through almost all of the hot springs and even did the mud bath and salt ex-foliate-tor thing. I argued with them to let us stay, saying things like "But they're not bad images!", and "i'm not a bad person!!", but they were more stubborn than I was (that's new) and eventually said that they would give us our money back if we left that instant. We obliged and they gave us our 1,000 yen (about 10 dollars) back, and we left fairly satisfied ( I mean we got to go into all the hot springs for free even though it was only for 30 minutes). Missed out on the massage though, but oh well. I'll save that for Thailand and Vietnam XD
We took the train into the main part of Osaka from there and decided to go watch Norwegian Wood (a movie based off a book by Haruki Murakami who in turn based it off the Beatles song, hence the title). Now, I'm a fan of Haruki Murakami. I've read one of his books (not Norwegian Wood) and have heard good things about Norwegian Wood so I was excited to see it.
Worse. Movie. Ever.
Okay, maybe not ever but it was definitely the worse movie I've seen this year. The best part was when they rolled the credits because they played the Beatles song. I mean, I don't like love stories in general and that's what this was but since it's Murakami the story doesn't follow your typical "boy meets girl" sort of thing. Which is fine. I was expecting that. But it was so slow and the ending was pointless. The story didn't go anywhere. I don't know what the book is like but people are telling me that they really f*cked up the movie so maybe I'll brave the book one of these days.
After that traumatizing experience we met Yukie's boyfriend and we went and had some amazing Okonomiyaki (sorta like a Japanese pancake/pizza thing. It's delicious, trust me). The shop we went to has been on TV a couple times and I guess tomorrow some famous whatever is going there to make an episode of something or other. Then headed home, stopped at Tsutaya (kinda like a Blockbuster) and rented Bio-hazard 1 to make up for the crappy other movie. I fell asleep pretty fast but I could tell that it was better than Norwegian Wood.
Tomorrow i'm departing from Osaka and heading towards Kyoto! Dn't know what i'm going to do while i'm there but it should be fun!
Stay tuned!
Jamie
Showing posts with label tattoos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tattoos. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Osaka part 3
Written for December 26th, 2010
Checked outta my hostel my 10am and met Yukie on the train to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN!! It has been also...five or so years since I've seen Yukie and damn did that girl turn into one sexy mama ;P. We had a lovely train ride to universal city but once we got there it started to rain. I must reiterate how freaking cold it has been this whole trip. I guess the day after I left Tokyo dropped down below the 10's as well. Ah winter...
Anyway, because it was such a crappy day USJ was not crowded at all (unlike my trip to Disney Sea a couple weeks ago...that sucked). We got to ride most of the awesome rides (except for sider man and one other I think), and the most we had to wait was 40 minutes. The Jurassic Park ride was probably my favorite (and also the coldest...it's kinda like a splash mountain ride hence why it had the shortest line of 10 minutes because only crazy people like us were riding it in the rain). I think I like Universal Studios better than Disney. Less annoying music and more memorable characters from my childhood (I took a picture with Popeye!). The place was still done up in Xmas decor and all the workers were yelling Merry Christmas, despite it being the 26th. It was nice though. We spent most the day there despite being freezing cold the whole time and left at around 5-ish.
Outside of USJ they had a Tako Yaki (octopus balls) Museum! They had all these different things flavored as tako yaki and different tako yaki from around Japan. Even had Tako Yaki flavored ramune (Japanese soda pop), but I didn't buy any for some reason. Regretting it now. They also had a Museum dedicated to all the different characters of Universal Studios and Japan. A lot of Smurf dolls for some reason. And Family guy dolls as well which made me very happy because Family Guy is practically nonexistent over here although you can find The Simpson's almost everywhere you go. The creepiest thing they exhibited though has got to be the many faces of the Kewpi baby. Terrifying creature.
Got to Yukie's parents house at around 6pm where we proceeded to a yaki toori (various parts of cooked chicken) restaurant. Delicious. We were joined by her little cousin and her little brother (both of which are just too cute for their own good). For some reason though I could not understand a word that her dad said to me. I don't know if it was his accent (people in this part of Japan have pretty strange accents. Think of it as like how we regard southern accents in America) or if it was just him but damn. Not a word. When I go home back to Tokyo I'm going to try and use Osaka ben (osaka accent) as mush as possible so I can hear my host mom yell at me like, "that's not the proper way to talk! Speak clearly!". Then we called it a night.
Tomorrow we are going to try and sneak me into Spa World. They don't allow tattoos but we're going to try our best and cover them so they don't find out. Fingers crossed!!
Checked outta my hostel my 10am and met Yukie on the train to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN!! It has been also...five or so years since I've seen Yukie and damn did that girl turn into one sexy mama ;P. We had a lovely train ride to universal city but once we got there it started to rain. I must reiterate how freaking cold it has been this whole trip. I guess the day after I left Tokyo dropped down below the 10's as well. Ah winter...
Anyway, because it was such a crappy day USJ was not crowded at all (unlike my trip to Disney Sea a couple weeks ago...that sucked). We got to ride most of the awesome rides (except for sider man and one other I think), and the most we had to wait was 40 minutes. The Jurassic Park ride was probably my favorite (and also the coldest...it's kinda like a splash mountain ride hence why it had the shortest line of 10 minutes because only crazy people like us were riding it in the rain). I think I like Universal Studios better than Disney. Less annoying music and more memorable characters from my childhood (I took a picture with Popeye!). The place was still done up in Xmas decor and all the workers were yelling Merry Christmas, despite it being the 26th. It was nice though. We spent most the day there despite being freezing cold the whole time and left at around 5-ish.
Outside of USJ they had a Tako Yaki (octopus balls) Museum! They had all these different things flavored as tako yaki and different tako yaki from around Japan. Even had Tako Yaki flavored ramune (Japanese soda pop), but I didn't buy any for some reason. Regretting it now. They also had a Museum dedicated to all the different characters of Universal Studios and Japan. A lot of Smurf dolls for some reason. And Family guy dolls as well which made me very happy because Family Guy is practically nonexistent over here although you can find The Simpson's almost everywhere you go. The creepiest thing they exhibited though has got to be the many faces of the Kewpi baby. Terrifying creature.
Got to Yukie's parents house at around 6pm where we proceeded to a yaki toori (various parts of cooked chicken) restaurant. Delicious. We were joined by her little cousin and her little brother (both of which are just too cute for their own good). For some reason though I could not understand a word that her dad said to me. I don't know if it was his accent (people in this part of Japan have pretty strange accents. Think of it as like how we regard southern accents in America) or if it was just him but damn. Not a word. When I go home back to Tokyo I'm going to try and use Osaka ben (osaka accent) as mush as possible so I can hear my host mom yell at me like, "that's not the proper way to talk! Speak clearly!". Then we called it a night.
Tomorrow we are going to try and sneak me into Spa World. They don't allow tattoos but we're going to try our best and cover them so they don't find out. Fingers crossed!!
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