Traveling Japan 2009: Osaka, Yokohama, Tokyo, Kyoto, etc

I traveled up and down Japan for about 2 weeks last year and shared a ton of photos. This year, i'm going to be here for about a month so I should have a lot more photos this time around.

I left LAX on the 6-4-09 and unfortunately my flight was scheduled with United Airlines. I was shocked by their poor customer service and their nonchalant nature in handling their job duties. Without going in to much detail, I plan to never, ever utilize United for airline purposes ever again. Luckily, my flight was switched over to Nippon (ANA) because their customer service was top notch. ANA even located our luggage that United could not find in their system. When I arrived they had 3 airport employees and 2 Ana workers waiting next to the luggage to make sure it got in to my hands safely.

I landed in Kansai, Osaka and began my trip in the countryside. The trip will transition in to the big cities, but for now I am enjoying the laid back feel of the smaller city. It's nice to be away from all of the traffic, bad drivers, smog, and lack of courtesy from citizens of Southern California.

Pictures from 2008 trip:Click Me 2008 pics

Anyways on to the pics with more coming soon:

On the plane with a mask to avoid the influenza lol:



Quarantine station at Kansai Airport:





McDonald's dining area:



I ended up picking up a shrimp burger combo (Don't expect a free refill. They charge! ):







Smoking lounge at the airport



Business lounge @ the airport:





Open bar in the business lounge:







Relaxing in the countryside:













First modified car I spotted



Old school Yokohama AVS wheels



First ramen place we hit up:





Some interesting items I spotted in the store:

Even buddha rocks the 420:





Perfect reason on why to stick with "domestics" in japan haha



USDM rice in Japan



Nismo Edition Z33 w/ Amuse Exhaust:







Food in Japan is just awesome:









"JDM pedobear keychain"?



Chicago Style Pizza in Japan



Telephone booth



Surf Shop



The famous japanese vending machines:



and of course...if you want your beer fix they got you covered:



Beautiful temples (my camera sucks at night):







Everyone puts in their part to keep this place clean (The pic reminds me of the grudge 4 some reason):





Evo:



The back of a small fire truck:



construction workers

 

I visited a local private school, which was awesome to see firsthand. The kids typically walk pretty long distances to and from school so their uniforms are equipped with the bright yellow backpacks for safety. They also all have these pagers on their shoulder straps just in case anything bad happens, so that they can page someone if they are in trouble or need help. However, I don't really see that happening especially in this town since everything is so peaceful.

Some things that really stood out to me is the fact that the kids all contribute by growing vegetables in the garden that are used by the cafeteria staff to make their lunches every day. They also raise animals such as rabbits with kids teams coming early in the morning to feed and take care of these chores. The kids even take turns helping in the cafeteria serving food. All of the kids seemed to be very genuine and super sweet. I guess it is not surprising since their schools instill responsibility and a sense of caring at such an early age.







I also had a chance to have lunch at a restaurant that only takes reservations. They do not have a menu of any sort since they specialize in creating making new menu items each and every day. Apparently it's always a surprise. My favorite was the "black sesame ice cream". The ice cream was very rich in flavor. It was flavorful, not sweet, yet very tasty.





The soup that slowly cooks while you eat everything else:







Poor dog has to sit on the concrete stairs all day lol:



Store specializing in aloe vera:





The post office and bank is under one roof:



Place where im getting some business cards made:



Instead of receipts, the ATM machines stamp your check book tracking deposits and withdrawals:







Z32:



Modified Pathfinder:



Skyline:



Silvia:



Ings +1 Patch:

 

Just some more random pics.

$1 sushi spot we had lunch at today. For $1, the sushi is really fresh. California rolls or just rolls/hand rolls in general are not as prominent nor popular. People stick with the typical 2 pieces of sushi and sashimi.

We ate a ton of sushi and only paid about $30 for 3 people





Japanese postal worker delivering mail:



Farmer's Market at the local supermarket on Tuesdays:



Grapes from Japan have an awesome taste:



Here is a coin that is close to the size of a penny to show how small the grapes are in comparison to US grapes:



I lol'd:



A PPW Z33:



The pastries in Japan do not allow non-carbohydrate diets lol:





The first graffiti/tagging that I witnessed:



Anybody up for riding a banana in the pool? lol:



This Udon place is awesome. All of their food down to the noodles are made fresh from scratch. We ate dinner there, but my camera ran out of batteries:



This riced out civic had "VIP" poop brown curtains. I wanted to take a pic, but couldn't catch up to him since he kept cutting in and out of traffic:



It's all about baseball here in Japan, but those in to basketball like some of our NBA stars:



Very common thing to see when a mother has two kids. One kid in the front and one in the back. I thought it was cute that the kid in the back was holding the shopping bag:



Some random business that was rundown:

 

Here are some random snapshots and a quick shopping day in Osaka.

I had to get up early since...



The dressing rooms were right in the middle of the store. My gf started laughing since while I was changing, I kept peering over the door since it is so low haha.





Stock EK Hatch Type-R I spotted:



Kids drawings for Father's day:



Glazed Waffles:



Their soft serve ice cream is 100 times better than the US:





Kid's bathroom:









Another type of grapes (These are much larger than the ones I showed previously:





Waiting for the train:



The train is pretty much empty when starting off in the countryside:

Some random people on the train:



In Japan, this girl is considered huge since the girls are pretty petite for the most part:



This reminded me of the Chris Rock skit where he was talking about fat black women rockin' pumps with the pump fat hanging out lol:





Custard filled fish (The texture of the outside is similar to mochi):





Namba Walk:









Osaka:







We decided to try out this fried skewers place (It was a ripoff):



You have to dip your fried food in the sauce, so they have instructions on no double dipping haha:











It's not that common to see homeless people in comparison to Southern Cali:





She had an interesting outfit on:



Apple store in osaka:





First boba place we saw in Osaka (Chinese owned of course and was not that good. San Gabriel spots in California are better haha):



Ice Dogs:



Interesting hat in a Hip-Hop/New Era hat store:



"Gap"?



Shopping in Osaka:









I was hungry again from all of the walking so i wanted to eat at this hamburg spot. Hamburg is a mixture of ground beef and pork to create a good taste and extremely soft texture:



Their menu:





I decided to try out the Strawberry Milk. They use real strawberries so it tastes better than the typical Nestle Quick :





Hamburg Plate:







Some surrounding restaurants/stores in Osaka:











Replica Converse haha. Reminds me of the Vork wheels haha.:



The guy pushing his food let me take a pic with his 420 yen sign:



Turkish ice cream:





This chick looked like a referee/Foot Locker worker:



Artwork on the outside of the subway:



Heading back home from Osaka:





This chick had interesting slippers and nails:





It gets tight in there sometimes:



Rare Caucasian sighting in the countryside: