Day 3: Sensory overload and culture

hello dear ones,

Of course we don't want to withhold our experiences of this day, August 24th, from you. But first, a couple of additional information about yesterday evening/night.

Because, since we both couldn't sleep for different reasons, we decided to look out for 2 more. Of course, the obligatory trip to the convenience store could not be missed at this time either. After this almost ritual treatise, armed with a small meal and two bottles of soju (beer-sized Korean rice liquor flavored) we made our way to the nearest seat to kill time and chat. After an hour we tried to sleep again, this time more or less successfully. We finally fell asleep at 4:30.

After this complicated night, we both woke up slightly wrinkled and the first thing we had to do was to do something about the tiredness and hunger. So who can imagine what we've done? DING DING DING. Right, once again we ended up at the convenience store, where I (Moritz) was able to get hold of a very tasty breakfast for a small thaler. With our senses sharpened and stomachs full, we then headed to Osaka Castle to get our daily dose of culture. But we only looked at it from the outside, as the long queue in combination with the heat rather put us off. But it was still nice, even though the weather was sometimes unbearable.

When we came down from the hill where Osaka Castle was located, it started to rain pretty quickly. We noticed that the thunder sounds very different from ours. Can anyone explain that? We could only guess. Anyway, we sat out the storm at the hotel for the time being, which was probably better as we got several severe weather warnings.

When the storm was mostly over, we made our way to the Umeda Sky Building. A very well-known landmark in Osaka. This too, however, was only observed from the outside, since the path was not revealed closer up and the thirteen-story shopping center through which we had to go anyway seemed more interesting at first. At least for me, since there should be a Nintendo store there. Little Moritz thought “Wow” and got into the elevator full of anticipation. When we got to the top it looked a little different. We could hear three different children screaming within a radius of 3 square kilometers while the whole of Japan was queuing to get to the store. We both just looked at each other and almost telepathically decided that it was probably not worth it. So we turned back again only to end up on a completely overcrowded subway. You know the videos of Japanese subway stations where conductors have to push people into the wagons and you wonder how anyone can breathe. It was almost exactly that. You can do it, but you don't have to. In any case, we were able to complete the Umeda Sky Building earlier than expected.

That was a good fit, since we had tickets to an exhibition for 7:00 p.m. and I still had to satisfy my hunger. I did that by ordering takoyaki (doughballs with pieces of octopus) at a street stand while Jule bought us drinks. What I wasn't aware of at the time, however, is that the inside of these balls of dough was roughly the temperature of the reactor at Fukushima at the time of the meltdown. In other words, I had a tear or two in my eye and my mouth will be peeling tomorrow. Nevertheless, it was totally worth it, because these things are just so delicious.

After this small unscheduled excursion, we then made our way to the exhibition already mentioned. This took place after sunset in a botanical garden. The theme was the combination of nature and the play of light, which was triggered and changed by the movements of the visitors (once also the movements of the birds). All of this was accompanied by music. Explaining each individual exhibit in detail would probably take too long here, so we're uploading our highlights as images. We both really enjoyed this exhibition and we would definitely do it again. Overall we spent a good 1 1/2 hours there.

Of course, the evening hunger could not remain unquenched afterwards either. This time we actually ended up in a real supermarket. There they bought a little supper but also researched what you can find in Japanese supermarkets. My personal highlight was 300g of grapes for around €8. Some fruits and vegetables are quite expensive here.

When it came to paying, we decided to use the self-service checkout. It was definitely an experience. Not only was there the obvious language barrier, no, the whole checkout messed us both up a bit. Now you may ask yourself "What's so bad about a checkout?" to which we can only answer with a mocking laugh. After each individual scanned product, the checkout made an animal noise. A moo here, a moh there, a kikeriki at the checkout behind us. But that's not all. After each scanned item, we had to confirm that we actually wanted to buy it and that it didn't just fall on the scanner. In between, there were inexplicable waiting times in the form of digital hourglasses, which apparently served no purpose. And if that wasn't enough at once, a spokeswoman had to name each item after it was scanned so that the whole store could hear what was on and for dinner. This experience shaped us so much that we had to talk about it all the way to the subway station.

Now we both ended up in bed quite tired and will probably go to bed soon. We wish you all the best and a good time. Greetings from your Jule and Moritz.