Trip to Osaka for L'7 Final [5th to 10th June 2008] - Part 1

[eucleia]

It's taken me a while and I apologise for that, but my 5 days in the city of Osaka honestly ranked among the best in my life and I did not want to take them lightly. In that short amount of time, Osaka managed to change my current target city from Tokyo to itself and took my heart hostage along the way. It doesn't seem inclined to release it anytime soon.

I met people. People whom until that moment I had only known on LJ. People whom I have a feeling will be intertwined with my life from now onwards and for the unforseeable future. People whom I would be honoured to call my friends, perhaps even family, and whom are as insane as me (and that's saying a lot). I finally met Nanani. Dearest Nanani, the only Chocobo capable of flight I know, and without whom this trip would not have been possible. Nanani who lent this Phoenix her nest for 5 days and whom bent backwards to show me a good time in her city. She succeeded beyond anything I could have hoped for.

But that's enough of the melodramatic twaddle. It's better to get straight to my memories of my stay in Osaka. Not much happened during the first day but it remains vivid nevertheless. It may be full of meaningless unimportant facts, but those are to me what made the trip so personal.

[2008.06.05] Day 1 - Thursday

 

Warm welcome aboard the Cathy Pacific evening flight in from HKG to KIX (Kansai International Airport) and I was seated in the Economy section of the cabin, just a few rows behind the Business section. The flight was sparse, I suspect something to do with both the date and the day (Thursday being the middle of the week), and I had been given the window-seat.

 

A short, stout, and silently severe middle-aged Japanese man with slicked back hair was seated by the aisle, dressed in a black business suit. He only gave me a cursorary glance after taking his seat and did not respond to my nod of greeting. I did notice however, as the plane embarked to the runway, that my flight was at the head of a train of 4 airplanes, all off to various destinations around East Asia (another Cathy Pacific flight I do not know the destination of, and two others one of which looked like Singapore Airlines and the other which appeared to be Dragonair). Good for us, as that meant we would not have to wait for the air turbulence generated by take-off to settle before disembarking; a normal incident-free take-off followed, after which I attempted to break the ice by attempting conversation/Japanese practice. My attempts failed rather unspectacularly as he merely answered my greetings and/or questions with mere grunts and miniscule nods of the head. I gave up quite quickly, not wanting to badger for too long - besides, I was growing uncomfortable with his seriousness.

 

After a 10 minute period in which I tried to figure out how to operate the in-flight entertainment (and watching the man fail in the same way), I finally managed to get a grasp of the controls and proceeded to immediately flick to the Asian Entertainment section. The Cantonese dramas in all honesty sucked and were overly-dramatic, and I had no special fondness for Canto-Pop on the radio channels, so I flicked to the Japanese Dorama channel. Some amusing yet heartfelt movie regarding the distantly intertwined lives of three different people was playing. I cannot remember the name to save my life but I recall it was about a homeless man whose son was now a rich CEO; a young man with a gambling problem, estranged from his father after his mother passed away; his old friend, a lawyer who tries to help while searching for her mother's first true love named only as 'Jupiter'. Heartwarming enough and the typical Japanese tearjerker, I actually watched it again on my return flight to Hong Kong. At a particularly heart-wrenching portion of the movie however, I was shocked to notice that the man beside me was sniffling. Yes, my eyes had not deceived me - he was crying. A softie under the harsh exterior maybe? But that's enough about the movie I think. More about the actual flight would be in order.

 

During the flight, I had the chance to witness an actual sunset - the exact moment when the red-orange sun vanished behind the thick horizon of cloud - from above the cloud layer. It was… amazing. The event passed quicker than I would have imagined as I'd always thought the sun moved too slowly in the sky for my easily distracted human mind to take notice of, but this was clearly not the case. The sun was almost a shade of red, and slipped beyond the horizon in a smooth but almost aching slow fashion, yet speedy enough to observe. I was glued to the window.

It was night by the time we approached Kansai Airport. Along the way we had also flown over Kyuushuu and Shikoku, and I swear I saw what could have been either Takamatsu or Tokushima on the darkened ground, the nighttime streets displaying themselves to me almost like a glowing fragile cobweb. The night meant I was also deprived of my eagerly anticipated sight of the infamous 'Airport in the middle of the ocean' - Kansai Airport having been constructed on a huge custom built man-made island, and our direction of approach meaning the plane never needed to swing around much before descending. As a result I saw only bright ripples on black water streaking past as the plane glided in to land. There was a slight tremor, a sudden forward impulse on my body, and I was back in my beloved Japan.

 

Our plane being the first during take off had saved us plenty of waiting time and that combined with good smooth weather had meant that we had arrived half-an-hour ahead of schedule. Nanani nanani whom had arranged to meet me had been marginally delayed due to having missed the Express but since the plane arrived early I called my relatives (as per our 'if you go on this trip' agreement) to let them know I had safely landed, puttered about on the internet (having some serious problems using a Japanese keyboard along the way) using some spare coins and sat around on my suitcase looking cute and innocent.

 

I was approaching Exit A from B when I first saw my dear Chocobo in person. I squinted slightly at first, not trusting my sight (or as it may be - my glasses) but lo-and-behold the Bird was wearing the same outfit that she had worn to the Theatre of Kiss lives and whose pictures I had seen, so after only a single confirmation with the utterance of "Nanani?" I finally got to hug her as I had wanted to do for so long. Emotionally spontaneous greetings aside, time for the formalities - "It's a pleasure to meet you", along with a polite handshake. Nanani, the dear she is, indulged me with her own formal greeting. In a Japanese meets English moment of politeness, we shook hands as she bowed low and returned the greetings. I don’t know why I hold this in my cherished memories. :3

 

We exited the Arrival terminal and headed for the train back to the city of Osaka, taking two seats to the right of the doors. Two Japanese girls came in after us but one wasn't strong enough to lift her suitcase through the doors, which earned us a cute reaction as she squeaked in panic, aware that the doors were going to close soon with her luggage still on the outside. I got up to haul the suitcase in for her and she thanked me before taking a seat with her friend. During the lengthy ride back to the city, Nanani told me all about the route, along which I made my first of many cultural faux-pas. I receive a phone call on the 3G mobile borrowed from my cousin in Hong Kong, and I answered it, not realising that it was rude to speak on phones whilst on trains in Japan. Thankfully the ensuing conversation was short, but it was a mistake nevertheless. So Nanani used the remaining ride time to tell me any faux-pas that jumped out at her which she could remember on the spot, admitting that she'd mostly likely not remember some until they happened. ^^;;

 

On switching trains and arriving at the station closest to her nest where she would be kindly allowing me to impose on her for the next 5 days, we discovered one of the elevators wasn't working, and so had to haul my suitcase up the stairs manually. An exhausting short walk (the suitcase wasn't that good for leverage) back to her nest later, and I was in my temporary home for my stay in Osaka. "It's a very small nest," she'd said as she gave me the grand tour, but the highlight had to be the balcony; a small balcony outside of floor-length sliding glass doors outside which as we stood on for the first time side by side, she swung her wing in a wide arc clearly meaning to encompass the whole city or the view of what could be seen, and announced with a flourish and heartfelt feeling, "Welcome to my town".

 

And dare I say it, a perfect way to end a perfect day.

Comments

[bohemianbeauty.livejournal.com]

this is going to be fun to read, i already know it ^^ MEMORIESSSS~!!

the way you write about your trip and osaka and nanani is so poetic *___*

[midgar-skyline.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the compliment. ^_^ I wasn't intending for the report to come out "poetic" as you put it, but it did. All that is written is the (perhaps not complete, as there may be bits missing from my memory) truth as I can remember it. Whatever was said by Nanani, or anyone else, occurred and was engraved into my mind. It really was an unforgettable trip.

But perhaps not as "poetic" as you'd imagine. ;)
For instance, after Nanani said that wonderful line, I neglected to mention I lapsed into a fit of laughter, having slipped into a nachueru hai from realising that I was in fact standing next to Nanani on her balconey IN OSAKA.

[smilingcrescent.livejournal.com]

Aww, I'm so happy Osaka touched you. <3 It's great to have such a connection with a place.

I'm glad you can value the experiences and people you met! It speaks volumes of the things you treasure and hold dear. I'm glad you can appreciate others. <3

Aww, your neighbor on the plane wasn't much for conversations. That's always awkward. :(

But, hey, he responded to the movie? Maybe he was having a bad day?

And I agree with bohemianbeauty, you are poetic. <3 You should write more. :)

"sat around on my suitcase looking cute and innocent." <-- you admit to being cute!! ^__________^ I so agree. <3


I like this. It reads like a memoir. Great!

[midgar-skyline.livejournal.com]

I am VERY late for this reply. x__X But better late than never, as they say.

Indeed, Osaka touched me greatly. It has a certain "air" that no other city I've been to has. I still LOVE Tokyo though, but the Kansai people themselves have imprinted on my mind aside from the city.

*nod* Yes, the old gentleman beside me on my flight back to HK was a lot warmer, although just as silent. @_@;; Not a single word, though many emphatic gestures. XDD Yeah we was weeping (and trying to be surruptitious about it) at the movie - I suspect he's a softie underneath the "manly" exterior, the way so many Japanese guys seem to be. Either that or easily moved my movies. :D
That reminds me, I still have to edit and POST the reports of the other days. God, I'm such a procrasticator. *buries head in sand*

Me? Poetic? XDD;; Pssh, naaaaaaaaaaaaaah~~ XDDDD You're making me blush. I just think I'm honest about the parts that are important to me, and honest about remembering the feelings at the time. I'm also horribly picky with words so I tend to choose certain ones for specific situations.

Haha! ^_^ That "cute and innocent" line in that entry was a play on the kids movie The Wild, where the penguins say "Now remember - cute and cuddly". XD;; I'm flattered to know you agree though. XD;;
^///^