Hi, again!
For my trip to Japan, I only stayed in Tokyo. So, the trip to Osaka is an one day trip only, like when I went to Fujinomiya. If you haven't read my Fujinomiya post, check it here: When I Was in Japan #1 : Fujinomiya
Fyi, if you want to travel using the Shinkansen, its better for you to reserved your seat first. Why? So, you don't have to stand for the whole trip, like I did when I went back to Tokyo from the nearest station from Fujinomiya that has Shinkansen trail. And yes, Shinkansen has two part -kind of-, there are cars that have reserved seats and the other cars are not.
--Since I only spent a few hours in Osaka, I will definitely spend more time and strolling around Osaka next time (:monologue, please don't mind me)--. Anywaaaay, even though it was just a short trip, I remember one particular thing that happened.
So, at Namba station in Osaka, my friend and I–we wanted to go to Dotonburi area. However, since Namba station has so many exits, it was confusing for us. When we are trying to figured out where to go, from behind suddenly I heard someone asked, "do you need help?". For a second, I thought it was a police officer, but I was wrong. It was actually, a boy. Then when we said that we want to go to Dotonburi area, but we don't know which exit we should take, another two boys came toward us and then they started talk to each other in Japanese. While that happened, I realise that actually it was not just the three of them. If I'm not mistaken there are five or six of them. Some of them were looking at us, 3 or 4 meters away. They all wearing name tags, but I do not understand any of it because it was in Japanese.
Moreover, one of the first three boys lead the way to the map of the station, which we didn't even see in the first place, lol. The rest of the boys who were looking at us, were also joined us. These group of boys, they really tried their best to help us and talked to us in english. When they were talking to us, there was this one woman who observed them, I think. She was there looking, smiling, but not helping at all. Because of that, at first, I assumed they are junior high school students who were doing a compulsory task for school. And the woman was their teacher/guardian. I was happy to get help from those boys. What makes me even happier was they were actually not doing it for their school's task. They volunteered. I know this because after telling us where to go, we have a little chit chat. I asked them are they doing it for some school's project and they said not.
Those boys' face were so serious and intense. As I said before, they were really trying their best to talk in english and help us. And I can tell that they were nervous. But, I salute you guys for the volunteerism, the courage, your kindness, the bravery that you actually approached me, and of course for the help. It is always warms my heart to see people do various kind things voluntarily, especially kids.
Anyway, I went there on Sunday. If you go to Osaka and you're in Namba station, hopefully you will meet those wonderful children. Please tell them I said hi!
Oh... I haven't told you about Dotonbori area. Dotonbori area is one of the tourist destinations in Osaka. You could find almost everything there. There are so many places to eat, local fashion store, Disney store, and other things too. Well, yes the street is full of people. Yes its a mainstream thing. And it is okay to go to mainstream places sometimes.
Have a nice day!
xoxo,
L
Disclaimer:
All photos are taken by me, unless stated otherwise.
