Osaka Field Trip

April 17-18:
location, Osaka
(A is where I got my tattoo =)






Arrived on a Saturday morning in Osaka, and first it was off to Cafe du Monde in Osaka as usual, and then straight to Namba with me! The weather was beautiful, and I walked across the canal at Namba in Osaka and was surrounded by the surreal architecture of the FM Osaka building and nearby canal-crossing pedestrian footbridge. The sun was shining, and it was off to consult with the guys at Three Tides Tattoo in Minami Hori-E about my new ink. They showed me the prototype, and we made some alterations and from there got a price and time approximation hammered out. Then from there I had a nice picnic in the park, where I was surrounded with the surreal cherry blossoms in Osaka, perfect time to be there! Finally after lunch was some shopping, including at an incredible gallery cum art space called The Art House near the park where I had lunch, and there I picked up many adorable postcards, including this one of a girl wistfully drawing the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island saying in Japanese 'Man, I wanna go to Coney Island...' well, how can I NOT pick that one up! Along with that amazing postcard, came these other 2 very diverse looks, from a series about contemporary Asian artists. (hooray for curating postcards! Gotta start somewhere!) Tell me which one(s) you like!

(this last one is an artists rendering of Osaka)




















From there I went and checked into my capsule hotel (how cool did the tiny space-age capsules look! amazing. you could even control if you wanted to watch miniature TV or put on a radio station!) Then from there it was time to go grab some dinner and then I wound up listening to Japanese Billy Joel out on the waterfront at Namba's Ebisu bridge, the Times Square of Osaka.

Next morning, it was sleep in and get ready for the day! Did some vintage home shopping and popped back over to the park for a snack and got to witness the Osaka Police Band, right at the end of their act! (These are the gentlemen and Ladies exiting in formation from their performance.)







Next, it was an afternoon (well, really about 2 hours) of, hm, extreme discomfort for this lovely beaut to be added to my upper back.












Then, I ran back to an art gallery where I had met an artist earlier with his pet dinosaur (he created this creature out of aluminum foil, including several other creatures on the floor that all made noise when plugged into amps. He also created this kitty, seen here on my purse.)















The gallery was called Oso Blanco, and along with Art House became my new favorite place to frequent in Hori-E! There at 6 pm was where I saw this lovely Butoh dance performer react and dance to the moving, clicking aluminum sculptures around her. (Butoh is a form of modern dance unique to Japan that emphasizes how the body moves and reacts to certain sounds and situations spontaneously. Also this woman doing the dancing seemed legit crazy, she was from Kyoto. I loved it. Definitely not for kids.) These are some shots of her performace.




Well, I didn't take too many photos because the entire trip was full of experiences interacting with many of the young (and older) Osakans I came into contact with; in fact it served as more of a field trip for me and less of a photo opp. But definitely a memorable trip!