On the 12th day of our trip we flew from Busan to Osaka. We still strolled around in Busan for some hours until it was time to head to the airport, and I knew I would miss Busan. It really is a special place. Our flight to Osaka was about an hour long – it was amazing to land in Japan after an hour in a plane and no jet lag whatsoever.
We landed around dinner time. We got our JR tickets (which took a long while) and got on the train to our hotel in the city centre. We didn’t waste time to run around to get dinner – we got into a 7eleven and got all our beloved goods: plum, tuna and salmon onigiris, hiyashi chuuka, etc., etc..
The next day we walked around a very hot and humid Osaka without any goal. We just got lost around the city. We visited shops, we bought souvenirs and tried to run away from the heat as much as possible (you really can’t).
In the evening, we got on the train and headed towards Nagai Botanical garden . We had tickets for the teamLab exhibit, which is a permanent exhibit that merges technology and nature. The effect is absolutely enthralling.
It’s starts out as something out of a dream, with these little colourful egg-like things spread around the park. You can touch them and they will interact with you through sound and colour. Then they start to get bigger and bigger until you have to literally shove them out of the way to make your way through. It was such an incredible experience. You also had these giant light brushes that would ‘paint’ based on the noises around.
The whole thing happens at night, obviously, and the lights and sounds, mixing up with the park’s natural features are incredible. The girls had a blast with it, probably more than we did. Totally recommend if you’re in the Osaka area!
Afterwards, we got out of the park and made it to the train station, but saw this little restaurant that was honestly calling out to us. No English menus but a whole lot of atmosphere. There were no other clients beside us, and who was taking over the restaurant were basically kids. I could see them struggling with the English, and one of them had burnt something just before we went in, but I was immediately making up stories in my head as to why these two, who were obviously friends, were taking over the business. I imagined part time job after the baseball practice and the normal teenage years struggles. They managed to be incredibly welcome and super nice. They even dug out plates and cups for kids – they were going back and forth trying to find them in the restaurant, hence why I knew they weren’t super familiar with the place.
And this was the moment I felt it. The moment I stepped inside this place. It wasn’t the restaurant itself, it was the whole thing. That feeling of familiarity, with the language and the mannerisms of the people, and the feeling of being taken care of, as best as possible, so far away from home. The feeling that only Japan can give me, the feeling of being home.
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