Wachi, Osaka - August 2015

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Monday 24th August (continued)

From Wachi, Osaka - 2015

Back on dry land, we jumped in a small fleet of taxis to shuttle us to the train station; Toshi had worked out there was a train in a few minutes - but it was a little ambitious given the time required to purchase around 35 tickets (even in a single transaction). Peter had managed to get the earlier train, being sure that his JR Pass would work, and had presumably convinced the ticket booth people as well.

The local train took us to the Shinkansen back to Kanazawa where I reserved a seat for the Thunderbird high-speed (but not Shinkansen) limited express to Kyoto (in the reservation office queue I high-fived a Japanese lady also carrying a ukulele). It was around this time that the extendable handle of my suitcase gave way completely, meaning that I could wheel it around somewhat by pushing it, or carry it via the strap on the side, but it became quite a hassle. I didn't manage to reserve a window seat but whoever had booked the one next to me failed to show up so I had a great view of the countryside as the train made light work of the hundreds of kilometres.

At Kyoto we had an hour or so spare. Shuffling my case around, I topped up my cash levels at an ATM (easy to find this time), and found a cafe in Porta shopping centre, where neither the cafe's WiFi or Porta's worked. While I didn't get beyond the station precinct on this visit to Kyoto, it still brought back many great memories of my previous visits. On to the local train to Sonobe where we all swapped to an even-more-local train, which was more like a bus: passengers enter and exit the two carriages via a single door next to the driver's partition, and the driver also checked our tickets. Our ryokan at the tiny town of Wachi was just a few metres from the station; its structure reminded me a lot of an old theatre and it made for a comfortable and much-needed sleep.

Tuesday

From Wachi, Osaka - 2015

After a generous and partly DIY breakfast, we jumped in our minibus to visit the Wachi Daiko shrine, and then visit a local transport hub for coffee and a visit to the museum which had an exhibition about Yoshikazu Fujimoto who we'd seen perform at Earth Celebration Theatre.

We then headed to the Wachi Daiko training hall where a number of the group collected their special Wachi bachi, and we had a great day of practicing the Wachi routine under the supervision of the local instructors - "Dokkoisa"! It was quite warm but it was a battle to hold onto our bento trays in the wind, resulting from a typhoon that we'd caught the edge of.

At the end of our session we piled back into the minibus which promptly ran over the centre's soccer ball and burst it. Further along we received a phone call- the Wachi guys had found Jenny's umbrella and were bringing it back to the accommodation for us. All packed up, we headed across to the station next door and took the train back to Kyoto. From there the rest of the Wachi group were heading to a Haneda hotel but I was making a brief detour to Osaka. (The Wachi station showed an alternative route back to Osaka via Fukuchiyama which I thought might be quicker, but it looks like it would've taken a little longer.)

I was on the escalator descending to the Osaka-bound station when a scary situation became apparent - the platform was absolutely crammed full of people; presumably the trains had been disrupted with the wild weather. I was worried that me and my wonky suitcase would be jammed up against the crowd, with more people coming down behind! I spied a very small gap straight across to the 'up' escalator and bid a hasty retreat, as platform attendants started to arrive to sort things out. A moment later they'd thankfully barricaded the 'down' escalator to prevent more people having the same problem.

My original plan for the evening had fallen through, so I grabbed a quick meal (not that there were many good options on offer) and then took a slow train to Osaka - by this stage the crowds had dissipated. My battered case was quite a pain in the walk to Nishi Umeda which is all part of the same complex but could've just as easily been in the next suburb. After a bit of hunting around in the rain I found my hostel which was surprisingly comfortable and welcoming - I highly recommend it! They were just putting out a plate of scaldingly hot and delicious takoyaki and offered me some - yum! I had another plan though - a return visit to the Frame House Ukulele Bar a number of blocks away, and inconveniently not really aligned with any of the metro lines, so I set off for a brisk half-hour walk.

I arrived at around 10:30 so things were winding down but there were still 4 people there including the proprietor, Misu-chan. I joined them for a drink and a chat - sharing ukulele stories and showing them photos of my previous visits. They'd remodelled the bar a little but recognised a few of the people in the pictures. After a great chat I headed back to the hostel in time to redeem my voucher for a free sake in the bar downstairs - Kanpai!

Wednesday

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Heading into Yotsubashi station and with a renewed interest in finding elevators to deal with my mangled bag, I experienced something a bit different - a lift whose exit door was side-on to the entry; it's quite common to see doors offset by 180° but it's the first time I can remember seeing one where they're 90° apart.

After grabbing some breakfast at Shin-Osaka I took the shinkansen to Shinagawa. This trip was memorable for a conversation with an older Australian couple who I offered to make room for, when they were finding a spot for their luggage: 'nah you're right, no need to put your seat upright, you really don't want a suitcase up your arse, do you?' They mostly referred to their bags as 'ports' which I think is a rare regional dialect. They are apparently doing quite well out of medical tourism at the moment - quite an interesting couple!

The journey continued via the Yamanote line to Hamamatsucho and then monorail to Haneda. I had time to hunt around for some vaguely acceptable airport food for lunch, and then wander up to the observation deck where I was impressed to see an excellent student orchestra performing, with planes taking off in the background - Strauss' Radetzky March was a great finale. From the departure lounge we had a bus across the tarmac to our waiting plane, which, in another first for the day, taxied across a bridge to its departure runway on its own island.

Wachi, Osaka summary

It was another great opportunity to discover another corner of Japan that most visitors - and locals! - don't get to. I felt a bit out of things at times when there was Japanese being spoken all around, but very nice to see Wachi & learn from the local teachers. And as much that it had been fantastic to enjoy the camaraderie of my Melbourne buddies over the last week and a bit, it was nice to have my own little excursion to Osaka and see some familiar sights there and do things in my own time. I was delighted that the hotel, which I'd booked in a flurry of reorganising a week earlier, turned out to be a fantastic refuge and a very comfortable base.