heading home to Korea

So yesterday we went to the Osaka Castle then wandered around for a while then we headed for the aquarium where we ate some cold seaweed infested ramen noodles that we couldn't quite get down so we ordered some KFC! Woo! Then we headed for the aquarium tour and saw lots of penguins and fishes and even a whale shark!! It was a HUGE aquarium and I was impressed with how much room all the fish had... In Korea they are fighting for air... not really but their cages are way too small.... Eddie of course was in heaven telling me about all the creatures then we decided to go on the ferris wheel... It claims to be the biggest in the world then I looked in up online and apparently its second biggest but the first one is more of an observatory... Anyways it was amazing being so high Eddie tried to rock it back and forth but he quickly found out the consequences of that.... I started screaming! IT WAS REALLY HIGH!! One time around took just over 15 minutes but it was fun to see the city lights at night! Osaka buildings go for miles and miles its crazy! I have seen big cities but then there are mountains in the distance... Osaka just keeps going! After the ferris wheel we found a little shop with yarn and Eddie bought me some green yarn since the boat is extremely boring I thought I would try to knit my way through it....plus I am low in money so i think Eddie will be getting a scarf for Christmas! I also started reading Confucius Lives Next Door (only 60 pages in but the other book was to big to bring) so the boat ride home will be relaxing... Its a really great book so far it compares the East with the West. It was actually helpful to read here because I could see what he was talking about in Japan because we were experiencing these things too. One thing I really noticed is that English words are used as decorations more than anything and rarely for communicating unless there is a tour going on or a subway sign.... Another thing we learned was that most ATM's in Japan don't accept foreign cards.... It was a frustrating process because we couldn't get any money out in Nara to see the biggest wooded building in the world... I really wanted to see it but I got a glace through the doors. Luckily we found a place to get some yen yesterday so we could go to the castle and aquarium and the ferris wheel. By the end of the day our 10000 yen ($85) was gone but we had had a wonderful day and I got a lot of pictures on the disposable camera....

When I emailed Danny to ask what I should do about the camera he said... "You should have charged it before you left or brought a international adapter as I do" ARG! Anyways that just explains his personality a little more.

So Japan is amazing and entertaining and beautiful but I miss Korea and I am happy to be heading back today. Korean people see a foreigner and walk up and ask if they need help... in Japan people did not like being asked directions. When we gave them our best "Help we're confused!" face they just walked on. One thing they did do was when Nick dropped his ticket and Eddie dropped a glove later people came running after us to return it which was very kind but they really didn't want to give us directions. The subways here are very high tech but Korea's are newer and easier to understand. They color code the trains in Korea but in Japan they just have ads and funny pictures everywhere. They do have one thing Korea does not though... They have a car of the subway just for women and it is all pink! I think that is a very smart idea seeing as women traveling late at night may want a safe area to sit. We watched about 40 women pile into one of those cars with an elderly man... we thought it was strange he was going in there but he soon came rushing over to our car looking a little embarrassed.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Japan

Japan is big and amusing but I think I like the calmness of Korea. I like feeling really safe even if I was pretty safe in Japan I felt safer in Korea. I was getting used to the Korean language and even their facial structure. It was very shocking to see Japanese people and when they say things its hard not to reply in Korean! I found myself wanting to say "compsomnedah" instead of "aidigoto" but I never did thankfully. Japan is Korea's rebellious older brother and I think I like the living in the conservative Korea better. This may only be because I was in Korea first and I am living as a Korean but I really enjoyed visiting Japan it was a lot of fun and there is always something to look at.

In Japan there are sex shops lining the streets with graphic toys displayed in the windows and lots of gentlemen clubs and the younger generation seems to spend 3 hour a day on their appearences. Both men and when have bleached hair, orange skin, sunglasses (worn at all hours) and the women seem to have used multiple containers of makeup just for that day. Their hair is big, spiky or big and curled and their outfits are amazing and carefully planned. It was funny to see foreigners in contrast because we look so lazy compared to these doll like faces. This is not to say that all Japanese look like this but these are the people that really caught my eye. There are the natural beauties walking the streets as well but I can't get over how much energy it must take to get everyone out of the house each day. I also miss my Korean ice cream... The soft serve ice cream seems to have a oil added to it in Japan or something because it tastes almost greasy... I did enjoy the ice cream and fruit crepes though. BUT on a sad note we were here for 7 days and we never once found Teriyaki chicken! This was something truly appalling to both Eddie and myself... and truly disappointing... We were just hoping for a little Happy Teriyaki somewhere but it was no where to be found... We did find lots of amazing shops though with vintage clothing and old star wars figurines that would be worth hundred. This place really is a goldmine. If I had more money I could shop for days but really all we bought here was food for the most part... Eddie got a shirt and I got a couple little souvenirs but I wish I was rich!

Ohhh one other thing I am going to miss is the bathtub in the hotel. My back has gotten really bad I don't really wanna move at times but luckily they had a really tiny bathtub that you have to bend your knees in, for me to soak in and I am really gonna miss that.