After work today Mr. Kimura and I took a trip to Den Den Town in Osaka. It’s kind of the center off all things geeky – the high tech area of Osaka. Walking through there was kind of like how I expected Japan to be before I got here – lots of computers, software, video games, porn shops, toy stores, all concentrated into a huge area of Osaka.
We took the JR Loop Line to the southernmost part, Shinimamiya station. From there we walked north for about ten minutes to get to the southern gate of Den Den Town. The name Den Den Town comes from the Japanese word from electronics/electricity – Denki. This place earned it’s name.
I was glad that I had Mr. Kimura around to steer me in the right direction. He pointed to shops where he had found good deals in the past, and sometimes led me away from stores that were overpriced. He and I compared prices on DVD Burners, and after comparing amongst seven or eight stores, we decided on this one. We picked it up for about 15500 yen, roughly $160. That’s $50 less than the lowest price I could find on the internet.
Another cool place I found was a toy store, just a tiny place that was lined with glass cases filled with famous Japanese toys. I recognized lots of toys from my childhood – some from back when I first moved to Glen Ellen. They had every Transformer robot since the beginning of the series. I asked the guy if I could take some pictures but he said “no way”. It was like a shrine to toys, and Mr. Kimura and I were both walking through “oohhing” and “aaahhhing”.
We gathered up our stuff and headed out, catching the train back to Umeda. On the ride back I was telling Mr. Kimura that I’m just not geeky enough to take advantage of all Japan has to offer. Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m not dropping money on lots of toys from my childhood, but sometimes I think of all the people I know back home who are crazy about comics and toys from Japan. If that’s you, come out and visit me and do some shopping.
Mr. Kimura caught the next train back home, but since I was in Osaka already, I sent a message to Kuniko and then dropped by her place. She had dinner on the stove, and it looked great! It was called Jaganiku (I think), literally “meat and potatoes”. They tasted excellent and with a little rice and a bowl of miso soup it was a real feast. Kuniko said that it was completely different from how it is supposed to taste, but since I’ve never tried the original, it tasted great to me.
At around 8:30 I went out to Shin-Osaka and caught a train home. I’m now able to sleep on the train and not miss my stop. It’s like slipping into a trance – you’re not really asleep, but it feels good to rest your eyes and also to think about the plan of attack for the days ahead. I was zoning out all the way to Akashi, and then again on the train ride to Nishi Futami.
I hooked up the DVD Burner when I got home and it powered up just fine. Tomorrow I’ll try to burn a couple DVDs and see what happens.
