Konnichi wa from Osaka

NB. Photos and edits in purple added 26/05/07

OSAKA: Hurrah! I am back in Japan!

We flew over with Jetstar- comfy leatherette seats and I didn't even mind paying AU$12 for the portable entertainment unit to watch movies (I watched three). The highlight was our lunch--I elected for the obento box from three choices-- which was probably the tastiest airline meal I've ever had (even if the rice was a little hard).


Marshmallow clouds over Sydney (you can see the green fields below)


Our Jetstar Airbus A330-200 (A332)


Obento box lunch


Lunch: Rice, pickles, karaage chicken, onden vegetables of
turnip, carrot and shiitake mushroom, tofu, konnyaku jelly,
the crunchiest sweetest sugar snap pea and
a green tea beancake for dessert


Watching Notes on a Scandal on the
Jetstar portable entertainment unit

Our light dinner was less exciting. And much less filling too. We were scheduled to land at 8.20pm and were already making plans for a second dinner.


Dinner: Frittata with ham, drink (ginger ale)
and a frozen Weis raspberry bar with cream


Landing lights at Kansai

The landing lights at Kansai airport are amazing: a twinkling wonderland of green, blue, orange and yellow.


Kansai airport


First drinks vending machine at the airport

Japan isn't quite the total sensory shock I had the first time I arrived but plenty of things still strike you as being so different from home. The city is a concrete jungle -- it assaults you with neverending square blocks of dark brown, slate and grey. In the arcades however, there's brightly coloured neon signage in your face and the pachinko parlours are hideously noisy, clattering your senses with the blare of music, wailings and constant pinging. There are plenty of crowds everywhere you look, and bicycles weave past you on the roads and on the footpath, but noone crashes and everyone crowds onto the trains purposefully but politely too.


Capsule Inn Namba

Our first night in Japan was spent at the Capsule Inn Namba hotel. We arrived at the station with little idea of where to go and after crossing a few roads I ended up approaching a group of businessmen and businesswomen using the remnants of my halting high school Japanese. They looked at each other and laughed nervously when I offered our hotel reservation, then one guy noticed the phone number and immediately took out his mobile. Within seconds he was chatting to the reception desk, looking at us and laughing whislt he gave our bearings. Then he nodded, waved in our direction and bellowed "Follow me!". And so we did.

A gaggle of giggling Japanese workers trailed four tired but very relieved Australians. We walked down one street, turned down an alley and then left down another alley until ta da! Our capsule hotel. The men bowed and laughed at us again. "Good luck!" shouted one of the females as they waved us off.

We dumped our bags but first tackled the more pressing issue: dinner.


Sukiya Namba

We headed around the corner to the popular gyudon beef on rice chain Sukiya.


Welcome to Sukiya.
Sukiya is delicious!

It took us a while to realise we were supposed to press the button on the wooden circle to alert staff we were ready to order.


Sukiya menu


Small gyudon beef on rice 270 yen

A simple meal of sweet simmered beef strips and onion on rice. We piled our bowls with generous mounds of pickled ginger and slurped down glasses of complimentary iced tea.

Back at the capsule hotel, we were all giggles as we explored the facilities. I've always wanted to stay in a capsule hotel and this was definitely an adventure. Downstairs you swap shoes for slippers in lockers, then take the lift upstairs to the women-only level (marked in big red letters on the elevator doors).


Swapping shoes for slippers in personal lockers


Our capsule room

Our room had twenty four capsules, stacked two capsules high. The doors you can see inside held single beds, we presume, for those who are happy to pay for a single room. A bamboo curtain rolls down for privacy. Inside each capsule is a personal television, alarm clock, radio, mirror, pillow and quilt. A yukata bathrobe, towel and toothbrush is provided in your personal locker. After a shower in the mini enclave, we slept fairly well although I bumped into the sides of the plastic walls a couple of times. The beds are standard length, my 5'8" frame fitted perfectly.


Inside the capsule


Alarm clock, radio, light switches and dimmers
The black TV remote is resting on top


Capsule rolling shutters for privacy


Complimentary use of sterilised combs in the bathroom

Shampoo, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, face washer and yukata bathrobes are also provided.


Watching television in my capsule

Our capsule hotel was a bargain at only 2,500 yen including breakfast. Bargain indeed!

Capsule Inn Namba
1-7-16, Nambanaka, Naninwa-ku
Osaka 556-001 Japan
Tel: +81 (06) 6633 2666
Fax: +81 (06) 6633 5568

We found this to be the only capsule inn hotel in Osaka to accept female guests.