Sleeping in odd places is easy to do in Japan!

I e-mailed a bunch of people the other night about BLUE, and after careful consideration plus a couple of replies, I decided I should go back to Osaka to finally get BLUE. I think if I went to visit Nara or Kyoto instead, I would probably tired myself out from all the shrines and temples. Besides, the visor was really stuck in my head, and since I'm travelling on vacation, I guess it would be really neat to have this as a souvenir. But then again, it is odd for a Canadian to go all the way to Japan to buy hockey equipment... :P

Today was Setsubun - it was the end of the Japanese Winter. Kids would grab a number of soy beans or peanuts equal to their age and they would toss it at a "demon spirit" (it would be a person that would wear a demon mask) - it's a way to get rid of all the bad things and bring in the good fortunes for the year. Personally, I was glad I was not at Ly's school that day, because I had the feeling I would have ended up being the demon. Also, another tradition one needs to do is buy an uncut roll of maki sushi, and you have to eat it at a certain direction for good luck (I think it was to be eaten towards the south/southwest direction this year). It's kinda like a feng shui thing... no wonder when I was walking around during the day, there were a LOT of uncut maki sushi being sold everywhere. I learned about this tradition after I returned back to Ly's place at night. Great - another chapter to add to the legend of me being The Cursed One. :P

Anyways, Ly and Kei had to work; therefore, I slept until 9 am. Since Osaka was not too far away, I decided to get some extra time to rest up my mind and feet from the adventures I've been through. Therefore, I sat back, relaxed, and wanted to wait until around noon-ish or so to go out. So I turned on the TV - the first show that was on was a show called "Kyokaraoke" or something like that - it was a bunch of Japanese performers singing old school Japanese songs.

That convinced me to get up and leave Ly's place early. :P

While approaching the train stop, I noticed this train - I say this train had seen better days.

The Doshishamae train stop. I had to wait for 35 minutes for a train that was heading towards Osaka to arrive - why? Because I was too stupid to realize that I could have boarded on another train that was sitting across from where I was for 20 minutes before it left on schedule. It's hard for me to explain by text - you need to take a look at the AVI video in the CD version for a better explanation.

Now, since it was a flexible day, I really did not do much sightseeing, The first thing I did when I arrived to Osaka was find the hockey shop that had BLUE. It took me 45 minutes to find that place, but once I found the place, I purchased BLUE. Another great, innovative product by Oakley added to my collection! After that, I went back to one of my favourite places in Osaka - Yodobashi Camera! I went to the home appliance floor and slept on another massage chair for 40 minutes. Those massage chairs feel so damn good!

	At Osaka. While going around the area and trying to find the hockey shop that sold BLUE, I found this small shrine. They're everywhere!
	The Osaka Loop Line. It operates just like Tokyo's Yamanote Line, where the trains go on a loop and it stops at many of the major districts. Here's a real good story: after my nap at Yodobashi Camera, I decided to head on over to the Loop Line. I would board on a train, pick a random spot, and get off at the location to explore. So I found a seat, sat down, and waited until I reached that spot. I figured that since it was a few stops away, I would take a little nap... HOWEVER, I ended up falling asleep BIG time - I slept for over an hour! Once I woke up, I realized that I did two COMPLETE loops on the train line because I ended up back at the Osaka stop! Luckily, I was using the JR Pass, so my hour of power sleep was covered without any problem when it comes to exiting fees. Also, during the whole time, no personal item nor BLUE was stolen. So what did I do? I went off at the same Osaka stop and went back to Yodobashi Camera - I found another massage chair and rested up again for 30 minutes!
	After spending most of my time at Yodobashi Camera and eating dinner, I went to one of the districts in Osaka called Kyobashi. In this picture, I would say that I was in a semi-red light district. There were some adult shops, but there some regular shops and restaurants as well.
	Another outdoor shopping strip in the Kyobashi area.
	There's BLUE all boxed up in the Joe Sakic Oakley package ready to be installed on my helmet! If I was back in Victoria, I would be playing hockey on this night.
	A lottery booth. I was really close to buying a scratch and win, but I managed to hold back... damn gambling addiction... :P

That's it on the stories and pictures. I just did not feel like doing too much this date other than get BLUE. It felt good to have just a simple, lazy day in the mix during my vacation. Only a few more days to travel...

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