Reflection of Osaka

On day seven we travelled from Kyoto to Osaka by train. From the station to the hotel we took a taxi as our luggage was a bit to heavy. I was really stunned as this cabdriver, an older man, started to talk English with us and asking questions. He was the first stranger who made an effort in talking with us. A very good start in Osaka.

The next great experience in Osaka was having lunch in a sushi bar with a conveyer band. This was really an experience I will remember. Together with our translator I tried a lot of various sushi's and I enjoyed them all. The system is really a perfect example of a flawless operation. The various types of sushi's are prepared in the kitchen and you can choose whatever you want and if you would like something else you can just order it through your personal computer and within some minutes your request is prepared and ready to eat.
On the first day we visited the Liberty Osaka museum. This was again a museum about peace. They highlighted various minority groups within Japan with their history. There was not so much English but for all topics there were 2-3 movies with English subscript so we could learn about the minority groups and how they are treated in Japan. The movies/documentaries were very impressive to watch and learn from.

After this visit we went to the next museum, Peace Osaka. Unfortunately this museum just closed its doors as we arrived. However, we made a picture from our group in front of this museum. In my opinion this picture symbolizes our study trip. We are all standing around a sculpture of the world and making the peace symbol with our hands. We like to call our trip "We are the world", not only the song is suitable but also the picture.

The next stop was the Osaka Castle. This castle lays a bit higher and the walk to it was through a nice park. The castle itself was very impressive from the outside, see also the picture. It really looks new.

During the evening I walked around the streets in Osaka with one of my classmates. Osaka has a very busy nightlife. There are a lot of restaurants and bars all located in the same area. It looked a bit like a 'red light district' but it felt really safe and not strange to walk around. This is mainly due to the fact that regular people were walking on the streets, couples, business people but also children. It was really nice to walk around on a warm evening and enjoying the atmosphere (and the company I was with).

The next day we met Koko in our hotel, an A-bomb survivor. Her experience and goal in life is really making you think how little our own problems are. She was nine months old when the bomb was dropped and had to learn the history through her parents. She has had a hard life but she is still very positive.

In the afternoon we visited the Kansai University. Here we again went to visit a class. In the classroom the chairs were placed in two rows. Surprisingly all the Japanese women were sitting on the second row and all the men were sitting on the first row together with all the foreigners. Was this a coincidence or is this a cultural aspect? This question was asked by our translater but we did not really get a clear answer, allthough a girl really told us a horrible story about her job application. Gender issues is still alive in Japan, see also my chapter about gender issues in Japan in our wikibook.

I really enjoyed staying in Osaka.