Osaka – Haru’s hometown, and our last stop for Japan.

I hesitated on this entry for the longest time since..well, 1) it’s not nice to ‘kiss-and-tell’, and 2) I wonder what Eliot would think if he reads this [I've told him the story already], and 3) people may get the wrong perception of me. Argh, wth.. NEVERMIND.

It took only 15 mins by Shinkansen from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka. The map of the Shin-Osaka Youth Hostel (10F KOKO Plaza Building, 1-13-13, Higashinakajima, Higashiyodogawaku-ku, Osaka city) from the train station looked simple enough, but we got terribly lost and confused when we walked to the end of the street and no appropriate building appeared. Turned out that the Youth Hostel is actually housed in a building of a different name, KOKO Plaza, and it only occupies 2 storeys of that building.

- Sister

It was when we were washing up when I discovered the fortune-telling video in my mobile phone and played it, scaring both sister and I when we realised part of the ‘prophecy’ has materalised. After much hullabub, we set out to meet the ‘Spring’ in question.

He was fashionably dressed in a long black coat over a black long-sleeved shirt (an improvement over the green scarf?) [Ed: I thought the green scarf gave him character.. ], and carried a tote that looked as if it came from his sister’s collection. [Ed: *rofl*] We commented privately that he must be really metro. He brought us to the shopping districts of Osaka: Dotonbori, and Shinsaibashi. As we passed through stations, Sis and I noted excitedly that some stations had names of characters in the dorama “Hana-Kimi (Japan)”. We stopped for dinner at a ramen store along the street; Sis, having learnt how a Japanese woman should behave from watching Maki with Tomoyuki, smilingly refilled Haru’s empty tea mug when he reached for the flask [Ed: I was merely being polite 'cos the flask was far away from him! *indignant*].

- Sister

The bright garish lights of Osaka can get a tad overwhelming for first-time visitors.

Haru-kun brought us around for some shopping which was kinda disappointing because none of us knew where the 100 yen shops were! *pulls face* The non-shopping bit of the shopping experience [Ed: well, have I sufficiently confused you here?] was the interesting part, for me at least. As sister was walking in the front of us at most times, and Haru managed to find some courage to.. put his arm around my shoulders [which sister caught him doing on his first try] and to hold my hand at times. At other times, we were simply walking very close to each other and linking our last fingers together. *cough* It was all very shy and sweet schoolboy-schoolgirl feel. I felt like I was a 16 year old girl and that he was a suitor from a neighbouring boys’ school. Ahem. ^_^

In one of the buildings Haru brought us to, I pointed out a glass display of Ghibli figurines to sister and Haru excitedly started to hum a song from Kiki’s Delivery Services. He likes Studio Ghibli too! He asked us which musical figurine we liked best from the array displayed there and sister and I pointed to the same one – a Kiki musical figurine.

For the special part of the evening, Haru brought us to the Umeda Sky Building’s Floating Garden Observatory for the night view of the city. We had a discount from the usual 700 yen entry fee as he presented some coupons he printed from online. By then, i had expected the biting cold wind, but still was not used to it especially when standing on the rooftop taking photos.

- Sister

The observatory was where the whole holiday-romance drama came to a peak [what is the title of the show where Japanese actress Kyoko Fukada and Korean actor Won Bin met in some country and fell in love with each other?]. Sister left us to our own devices [I think she was feeling uncomfy], and I walked around with Haru [and chased after sister sometimes so that she wouldn't feel so left out], stopping by occasionally to take pictures the night scenery and for him to explain the different parts of Osaka to me.

Which bridge goes where and why.

At one point in time, I was taking in the night air when Haru stood behind me and put his arms around me. He confessed his feelings very sweetly and I turned to look and smile at him, and then….. It was all very, very romantic, but I was half-caught in fear that sister will see us, or that some kiddo will knock into us, or something.

Haru sent us home after the observatory experience and some photo-taking, and tried to get me out the next day. However, sister and I had plans for Osaka Castle and Universal Studio, so he changed it to seeing us off at Shin-Osaka station the following day when we have to return to Sg. [Initially, he had wanted to accompany me all the way to the airport, but I found out it would take him 2 hours to travel each way, and dissuaded him from doing so.]

Skipping by the Osaka Castle-Universal Studio bit for now, Haru met us at Shin-Osaka station on our last day and told me he got a ticket in to the station [which I thought was back to Osaka where he lives], but he accompanied us to wait for our Shinkansen and even helped us put our luggages in the train. To my horror, the Shinkansen pulled off with him inside and I was in a tizzy for a while like, oh no, he’s still in the train and the train pulled off oh no how?!?. Then I realised he bought a ticket all the way to the train stop just before the airport. >.<

“You know when you two were standing at the train station and he put his arm around your shoulders? You guys look like you have been dating for a really long time,” commented sister.

During the train journey, we spoke a bit and I understood that he was really keen on continuing whatever there was between us. But pragmatic me knew that it would be tough, close to impossible, due to the language barrier and the miles between us. Idealistic thoughts vs reality. It was hard to translate even that to him. We kept in contact for a while after I returned to Sg, but what I foresaw will happen came true – the difficulty in communicating, thus preventing any progress from developing.

In my very first Nihon entry, I wrote that I gave my good-luck-in-love charm away before the trip ended. Well, no prizes guessing who I gave it to; I couldn’t find anything to give him! And in return, he passed me something before we parted and when I unwrapped it on the plane, I saw this:

The Kiki musical figurine. He went all the way back to the shop to get it for me.

To end this bittersweet entry, I’d like to share this quote from one of my favourite books by Haruki Murakami:

And it came to me then. That we were wonderful traveling companions but in the end no more than lonely lumps of metal in their own separate orbits. From far off they looked like beautiful shooting stars, but in reality they’re nothing more than prisons, where each of us is locked up alone, going nowhere. When the orbits of these two satellites of ours happened to cross paths, we could be together. Maybe even open our hearts to each other. But that was only for the briefest moment. In the next instant we’d be in absolute solitude. Until we burned up and became nothing.

More Nihon Reads:

The Amazing Race [Nihon Version]
Meet The Katenas
Let’s Become Lost Children Together
Disneysea Part I
Disneysea Part II
Tokyo Misadventures
Appletown
City of Lights
Snow is a Happy Pill
You Light Up My Life
Spring in Winter
Visiting Traditional Kyoto
Roommates from Insertchoicewordhere