One big event at the end of trip to California was a house full of sick people. Charlie and Maya both were in bad shape – Maya had scarlet fever and Charlie had strep throat – and both my parents were fighting bad colds. Somehow we managed to avoid getting sick while we were there, but I started to notice a little tickle in the back of my throat on the flight back. Once we settled in it seemed like I managed to avoid the brunt of the cold but Kuniko got hit in full force. For the last few days she lost her voice, and she’s coughing, hacking, and taking antibiotics to try to get over it. A lovely souvenir from our trip.
Despite the yucky feeling we had made plans to go see one of Kuniko’s students in concert on Sunday. She is in an idol group that performs weekly in Shinseikai, the very old and traditional “center” of Osaka. The neighborhoods are far past their prime but have entered a state of sort of retro coolness (at least in my opinion). Japan is a country full of old people with long memories, and it appears that this area holds a special place in local culture.
As it happens we were there during the Ebisu festival, the annual festival to celebrate the god of commerce and business, and the Osaka area people take it seriously. We walked through the food stalls and did a lot of people watching as we waited for the concert to start. In the deep southern part of Shinseikai we found a Korean restaurant and sat down for beer and chijimi to kill time. The other customers were curious and struck up a conversation with me (since Kuniko couldn’t talk) and we left right when things were starting to go to the next level. It was hard to believe it was only 2 pm and they were drinking and eating in a big way.
We debated walking through the prostitution area nearby – I had heard about it in a blog post and it sounded extremely weird, which is always a good sign. Kuniko offered to guide us there as it was nearby, but she said that as a woman she might be yelled at or chased off by the old ladies that serve as pimps in that area. So, we decided to skip it and instead head to the theater nearby and get some seats.
The theater was weird. Old and weird. The neighborhood around it dealt in strange goods – costume shops, maid cafes, “subculture” books, but then equally there were many restaurants that had long lines of people waiting to get in – mainly the Osaka specialty kushikatsu. It seemed like the main attraction was food, but also lots of weird stuff, too.
We entered the theater, bought our discount tickets that Kuniko’s student had set aside for us, and sat down.
The show started and it was like a trip back in time. They had about four performers before the idol group came on, and they were all older females wearing kimono and singing enka (traditional Japanese) tunes. Each lady was introduced as being a recording artist with some major Japanese label, which apparently was a badge of authenticity. The type of music is really popular with older people, and often you can hear people crooning enka songs from old karaoke bars in nightlife districts.
The crowd was mainly older people and they were eating it up. They clapped and cheered their favorite performers, they walked up between songs or sometimes in the middle of the song and handed envelopes of cash to the singers. One really old lady actually stuffed money right in the kimono of a surprised performer in kind of a sanitized stripper move. The really telling point was that the older folks all used old flip phones to take pictures. Flip phones have stop being manufactured in Japan and now everyone seems to have a smartphone, but the older folks are still using them. Many of the audience seemed to know each other and greet others as they left to use the toilet (and as we sat near the door to the restrooms there were a lot of toilet runs while we were there). It became clear that these people had established a sort of social event out of visiting, and it was an important part of their social lives.
Finally, after sitting through some pretty traditional performers, the four-member idol group came up. Kuniko’s student seemed to be the best of the bunch, and they twirled and danced to a pop music tune and sang like crazy. It was a completely different style from the previous acts, and I noticed that nobody took any envelopes of money up to give them. It was an interesting act, and I could see they really enjoyed themselves. Kuniko’s student’s parents were there cheering her on, and I’m sure they have high hopes for her future in the entertainment business.
After their performance we headed for the doors, and the various performers were out there waiting to say goodbye. I think they were hoping to get one more envelope out of their fans, but we had only thank-you’s as we left.
For dinner Kuniko wanted to take us out to Tsuruhasi – the Korean Town in Osaka. We’ve been there before, but I wanted to see something a little different. Using the internet we went off the beaten track a little and found a restaurant built inside a tent next to a house, and it had the feel of a temporary structure that ended up being permanent. It was busy and we were lucky to get a table. It seemed like only one member of the staff was fluent in Japanese, and she was hurried and busy. The other staff spoke a little Japanese but they were clearly more comfortable with Korean.
We ordered a variety of different things and drank beer while we watched the controlled chaos of the busy restaurant. We had deji kalbi – pork rib meat fried up on a hot plate in spicy sauce, and then wrapped with miso and kimchi in a green lettuce leaf. We also had a stir fried chicken in spicy sauce, bibimba, and sides of various kinds of kimchi. We ate and drank and ate some more and really enjoyed the meal. For some reason I was a person of interest there, and one slightly drunk customer shook my hand as he was leaving, and the Korean guy delivering our dishes asked me where I was from in English. When I told him I was from California he shouted across to the cooks across the room some information in Korean and everyone seemed happy. As we finished up the meal and left the Korean staff said “I love California!” and did kind of an air guitar move, but backed right into his boss and almost caused a big accident. It was an interesting night. The whole meal was only 4000 yen including all the beer we drank, so it was an affordable dinner, too!
Our final stop was the stands of Korean food for sale near the station. There were still a few open and we did some picking of choosing of foods to bring back home with us. We got some Korean norimaki, three kinds of kimchi (crab, cucumber and nori), and also some chapuche. At one stand they had some pork ribs braising in soup and it looked so good we went inside and ate that with some beers – kind of a second dinner. I knew the Korean for “It is delicious” but every time I used it the staff would respond in Korean and then I had nothing left to say!
People were really friendly at all the places we visited that night, and I really had a great time. It is not a place we will visit often, but sometimes the weird and the old and the delicious combine and make for a unique experience. Yesterday, that experience was Shinseikai.
