For the Sake Bombs, We Say Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

4/19

Woke up late and decided (I say decided as if it's something I ever seriously consider- ha!) not to rush too much, even though I had to move hostels since J-Hoppers was fully booked for that night.  I was in the reception area screwing around online when Renee and Darian came down.  My netbook, though I love it, has been working really, incredibly slowly lately, to the point that my Skype had stopped working.  I asked Renee if she knew anything about computers and she said that she didn't but that Darian did, so he screwed around on it for a while and miraculously fixed it!  After that, I Skyped my Mom to say hi and talked to her for quite a while before going out to lunch nearby with Renee, Darian and a guy they'd met, Matt.

Since he'd fixed my computer for free, in a way that I never would've been able to do, I bought Darian lunch, and then we all headed in our separate directions.  I went to the train station to go to Himeji, the most celebrated and beautiful castle in Japan...that, as of April 12, was closed for about a year for renovations. I was disappointed, but fortunately I knew this ahead of time, so it wasn't a shock.  I'd still decided to go out, just to see the grounds and the view of the castle from the outside.

I missed the train I wanted by about ten seconds.  I totally would've made it except that the signs didn't make any sense so I had a hard time getting to the right platform.  The next one wasn't for another 17 minutes so I had to go on that one.

Laura: 1, Train: 1.

Once I got to Himeji, I was really happy I'd made the effort; it was beautiful, though I do wish it had been open, but hey, that's life.  It was particularly nice because, though certainly on their way out, some of the cherry blossom trees were still in almost full bloom, which made me happy.

Back in Osaka, I changed hostels then went to meet Renee, Darian, Matt, and a guy he'd met, Andrew at an Italian restaurant.  I know.  I KNOW.  But, Renee and Darian had already been there and had described the cheesy garlic bread in such detail that I couldn't resist.

Darian and Renee with the plastic food outside the restaurant

I got superlost on my way there and was really late, even by my standards.  Fortunately, everyone else was superlate as well, so we all had dinner (the cheesy garlic bread that wasn't as good as promised, and shrimp scampi-like spaghetti that was quite good) together.  Afterwards, we headed upstairs- the restaurant was in Hep 5, a large shopping/entertainment complex- to the two stories of video and arcade games.  I played some air hockey, appallingly, given that it's the one game I'm normally good at, and giant tetris with beach ball sized joysticks.  We might have stayed there all night save one thing: this arcade had no alcohol, which we all agreed was needed. 

Hep 5 Building, complete with a red Ferris Wheel on top of it

We bought some beers for the train ride there and went back to the Dotonbori area.  Renee said she wanted to go to some bar with belly dancers, and since no one else really had a preference, we tried going there.  Somehow we ended up trying to find another bar: Wax 69, and after quite a long time, we walked into a building next door to a love hotel (popular pay by the hour hotels, supposedly very cheesy inside) and got off on the third floor.  The empty corridor looked like the inside of a depressing office building, but after turning right, we walked into a very small room, coated halfway up the wall with red velvet.  It was actually a very cool little bar, and the bartender, Jonah, was extremely happy to have us there, as we were the only patrons.  We played a few drinking games, including Drinks, which is like a Connect Four board with shots at the bottom that you either try to, or try not to, land your coin in.  Jonah was giving us great deals, including several free drinks and we all did sake bombs together.  I'm sure you know that a sake bomb is when you have a glass of red bull with parallel chopsticks on top, and a shot of sake balancing on top of them, that you topple into the glass by pounding on the table, but I just thought I'd explain it, in case you didn't.

Next, we decided to go over to the bar, Kama Sutra, that was on the same floor a few doors down the still empty corridor.  Jonah told us that it was owned by the same guy, but that they had karaoke.  The decorating was similar too, though with more black than red, but the bartender wasn't nearly as nice.  Regardless, we got drinks and started singing, including a very special version of "Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto."  I think it was around 4 a.m. when Renee started to fall asleep and Darian and Matt took her back to the hostel.  Andrew and I kept drinking, along with Jonah, who'd joined us at the other bar.  We went downstairs to a nearby bar called 500, because every drink is 500 yen (about $5.50).  It was great fun and we stayed there for the rest of the night/morning.