{"id":3434,"date":"2018-10-09T09:51:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T17:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=3434"},"modified":"2019-07-13T10:20:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-13T18:20:12","slug":"osaka-aquabus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=3434","title":{"rendered":"Osaka Aquabus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Osaka\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Gv0y4kdmE5A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, I did see the actual <g class=\"gr_ gr_11 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace gr-progress sel\" id=\"11\" data-gr-id=\"11\">aquabus<\/g>. <a href=\"https:\/\/japan-highlightstravel.com\/en\/travel\/shin-osaka\/160006\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">It is a real thing<\/a>. 16-year-old me would be so proud. Now <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/afxWRJxBkw0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the lyrics<\/a> make a little more sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before I could see the bus, we had to get to Japan. Our flight on JAL was nice. (international flights always tend to be &#8220;easier&#8221; than long-haul&nbsp;domestic) the large seats with ten-inch screens and new movies made the nearly twelve hours on board somewhat comfortable. The food was decent for an airline and stewardesses kept checking back to see if I was okay after I asked about nuts (and they couldn&#8217;t check ingredients, so they just kept checking to see if I survived). The best thing about the flight was the 2+4+2 design which let Sam and myself have our own two seater&nbsp;section by a window.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the time we got through security in Japan and collected our <g class=\"gr_ gr_24 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep\" id=\"24\" data-gr-id=\"24\">bags<\/g> it was already evening in&nbsp;Osaka. After a train into town, the only thing we had time for on the first night was checking out the 7\/11 next to our hotel. Yes, what you&#8217;ve heard is true: the food is worlds away from 7\/11&#8217;s in America; hot <g class=\"gr_ gr_12 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace\" id=\"12\" data-gr-id=\"12\">yakatori<\/g>, cold sushi <g class=\"gr_ gr_25 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep\" id=\"25\" data-gr-id=\"25\">and<\/g> sandwiches, entire refrigeration cases filled with beers not made by Anheuser Busch or Coors. Side note: while Americans like to say we&#8217;re super serious about coffee, we really aren&#8217;t. The Japanese have hot and cold coffee vending machines on every block instead of <g class=\"gr_ gr_10 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace\" id=\"10\" data-gr-id=\"10\">starbucks<\/g>&nbsp;and market it like we market coca-cola (Suntory hired Tommy Lee Jones to fill the real-life role Bill Murray had on screen).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Boss Coffee - Rainbow Mountain Blend feat. Tommy Lee Jones(www.oyatsucafe.com)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8-CKxRWiMoY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption><em>Did you miss the sequel to No Country for Old Men where the sheriff retires to Japan to become a disciplined-but-fair schoolteacher?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As someone who got into the coffee drinking game much later in life, I prefer cold coffee with no extras (if only because&nbsp;all the sugar and milk in the sweeter drinks make me very uncomfortable after the coffee is long gone). Simple, inexpensive, not sour, cold black coffee is hard to come by in America but is available on every street corner in a variety of brands in Japan (even in the small towns). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suntory &#8220;Boss Black&#8221; seems to be the best<em> widely availabl<\/em>e iced black coffee. I found something better at Hokkaido University, but that&#8217;s for a later post.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Monday morning, while Sam waited for me to wake up,&nbsp;she went next-door and went up and down the escalators at<a href=\"http:\/\/www.donki.com\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Don Quijote<\/a>. It&#8217;s a sort of department store,&nbsp;Japan-style with things crammed into every corner of the compact multi-story building.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After breakfast at the <g class=\"gr_ gr_123 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep\" id=\"123\" data-gr-id=\"123\">hotel<\/g> we walked to the famous Namba Yasaka Shrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/andrewlong\/45523194052\/in\/album-72157701466743541\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1929\/45523194052_20504d375f_c.jpg\" alt=\"DSC03139\"\/><\/a><figcaption><em>The pupils are cameras&#8230;.right? Is it just me?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We walked north&nbsp;to check out Dotonburi on our way to the Owl Cafe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/andrewlong\/44659744055\/in\/album-72157701466743541\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1929\/44659744055_055065cf73_c.jpg\" alt=\"DSC03166\"\/><\/a><figcaption><em>If you&#8217;ve seen one giant moving crab you&#8217;ve seen them all.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At the Owl <g class=\"gr_ gr_4 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep\" id=\"4\" data-gr-id=\"4\">Cafe<\/g> we had an hour to interact with all the owls. Sam&#8217;s favorite were the two little barn owls, which definitely had the softest feathers and bobbled around when touched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/andrewlong\/44659740395\/in\/album-72157701466743541\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1969\/44659740395_fdb40fa2e2_c.jpg\" alt=\"DSC03194\"\/><\/a><figcaption><em>Squee times three.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Back at&nbsp;<g class=\"gr_ gr_24 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling\" id=\"24\" data-gr-id=\"24\">dotonburi<\/g> for lunch, we found the tepanyaki wasn&#8217;t as good as we had heard. Bellies sorta full we took a cab up to the castle and walked around the grounds, catching the processional of a wedding at one of the surrounding temples, which was &#8211; to be honest &#8211; more interesting than the actual castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/andrewlong\/43756294630\/in\/album-72157701466743541\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1951\/43756294630_fe2c013e82_c.jpg\" alt=\"DSC03383\"\/><\/a><figcaption><em>It&#8217;s blurry for the effect, not because I forgot to put my camera in auto mode. Totally for effect!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Another cab right took us to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ts%C5%ABtenkaku\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><g class=\"gr_ gr_6 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling\" id=\"6\" data-gr-id=\"6\">tsentenkaku<\/g> <\/a>(Hitachi tower) for a late afternoon view of the city. There were many exhibits about the famous &#8220;muscle man&#8221; Kinnikuman, apparently as popular (in Osaka, anyway) as Superman in America, including a <g class=\"gr_ gr_559 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del\" id=\"559\" data-gr-id=\"559\">large-than-life<\/g> size (at least I hope so) sculpture. Unlike Superman, muscle-man looks . . . well . . . weird. He had trendy botox lips way before the Kardashians&nbsp;made it popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/8\/8c\/Kinnikuman-BoxCover.jpg\/220px-Kinnikuman-BoxCover.jpg\" alt=\"Image result for Kinnikuman\"\/><figcaption><em>Maybe his lips are like that because of all the kissing he does with the ladies? Japanese ladies love fleshy bumps shaped like goldfish fins on bald guys, right? Goldfish are super hot.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/andrewlong\/31701094488\/in\/album-72157701466743541\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1951\/31701094488_ef4374da67_c.jpg\" alt=\"DSC03450\"\/><\/a><figcaption><em>If you enlarge this you can see the <\/em><g class=\"gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace\" id=\"3\" data-gr-id=\"3\"><em>ferris<\/em><\/g><em> wheel, which every city in the world is required to have now by law.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By the time we left, dusk was arriving, so we walked to D<g class=\"gr_ gr_6 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace\" id=\"6\" data-gr-id=\"6\">otonburi<\/g> again to take a few photos of the famous food\/shopping Mecca with the Glico Man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/andrewlong\/43756245550\/in\/album-72157701466743541\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1964\/43756245550_a50c6c4290_c.jpg\" alt=\"DSC03577\"\/><\/a><figcaption><em>That empty space between Sam and the couple was the equivalent of a winning lottery number for a photographer (so many people!), so don&#8217;t give me any crap for having strangers in this difficult hand-held spur-of-the-moment low-light shot!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We took the subway to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abenoharukas-300.jp\/en\/observatory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Abeno Harukas 300<\/a> (across the street from our hotel) to take night photos of the city from the observatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/andrewlong\/30632452867\/in\/album-72157701466743541\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1963\/30632452867_788585238d_c.jpg\" alt=\"DSC03640\"\/><\/a><figcaption><em>No, we did not ask a small child to take our picture; this was taken on my Gorillapod, otherwise, it would be super dark and super blurry!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, I did see the actual aquabus. It is a real thing. 16-year-old me would be so proud. Now the lyrics make a little more sense. Before I could see the bus, we had to get to Japan. Our flight on JAL was nice. (international flights always tend to be &#8220;easier&#8221; than long-haul&nbsp;domestic) the large [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":4034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3434"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3470,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3434\/revisions\/3470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}