Discover Osaka- Bar for cheap drinks

 Welcome to Shinsaibashi. The downtown shopping, clubbing, and bar hub of Osaka.

I must admit I do not have much experience with this area but every time I visit, I swear to myself that I have to get out here and discover more, more often! Last night a visiting mate from Australia and I went searching for a few popular 'gaijin bars' (gaijin=foreigner, so basically Brittish or Irish pubs etc where all the expats go to play). The atmosphere is always a lot more casual, and friendly, and not as creepy as the bars aimed at the Japanese (more like hostess bars for the exhausted business men). This is one we came across:

WHAT: Bar Moonwalk

Like many places, it is a chain bar found in a few locations around Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. http://www.barmoonwalk.jp/index.html

WHERE: Osaka Centre Building 2F, West Shinsaibashi.

(Hidden behind a very plain dark wooden door, no windows <<and the only sign was this, hanging off to the side)

COST: Very cheap. All drinks 210yen (inc sneaky tax). Repeat: ALL DRINKS 210yen!! There is also a table charge of 420yen, but after a few drinks you well and truly make up for that as one drink from most other places start at 400yen at happy hour!

ATMOSPHERE: We got a bit of a shock when we walked in at how the dead the place was, with just a group of three french guys sitting at the bar. But it was only 8.30pm! So no judgements made. The tiny bar felt cozy and was decorated to look like some kind of european pub. Seating options were the bar, high tables for two, and a set of couches.

Bad lighting, apologies.



DRINK: OMG the drinks menu was amazing! It ranged from your typical cosmopolitans, sex on the beach, japanese slipper etc, to lychee yoghurt vodka, and choc mint milks. Each drink took me WAY to long to choose but i eventually decided on:



1. CHINA BLUE - Grapefruit juice, Lychee liquor, and

Blue Curacao liquor.  It was light and refreshing.



2. Salty Dog - Vodka and grapefruit juice served in a glass with a salty rim. A lot more simple than the first one obviously, and the salt was too much for me, but now I know!



3. Jungle Fantasy. Not entirely sure, but it was a banana, yoghurt cocktail of some sort. 

I was afraid the yoghurt would be a bad mix after all the previous drinks,

but it was actually very light and tangy. I would get this one again!



VERDICT: While it was dark and quiet, I still rate this place high due to the price and variety in drinks. Matt and I had fun drinking and chatting, so I can imagine it being really great with a group of friends. And again, it was early and I am sure would have picked up like I hear it does after 11.30, or moreso on a Saturday night.

Speaking of time! I had checked that my last train was 12:13am but for some unknown reason it had already stopped by the time I got there at 11.40. People were running through the station, so I assumed everyone too was needing to find an alternative route home, an option which was also reaching its expiry. I hassled a few train staff to tell me where I needed to go to get home, who told me to run for platform two, get off at the next stop, run for a different station, get a train to the city and then change to my local one which I may also have to run for. This was ridiculous. I was scared. If too slow, I would have to find somewhere to stay the night in the city (Internet cafes: an amazing option I will explain in a future post!).

My amazing host mum picked me up at the local station (my host sister also happened to be on the same train!) and I was in bed by 1.30. Today: ASSIGNMENTS!!!!

ROOFTOP LOVE

Another rooftop BBQ here in Japan with the hostfamily. This really is what summer is about for this family. Great food, wine, silly photos and just kicking back and relaxing before the start of another crazy week!

I made chicken meatballs!

500g minced chicken
1 egg

1 crushed garlic clove

half small diced capsicum
parsley
handful of corn kernels
half cup fresh bread crumbs
salt & pepper to taste
(pretty much anything in the fridge I thought I could get away with)

rolled in dried bread crumbs and fried in a little oil.

We were all given these huge pork and herb sausages..
Delicious, but I snuck half back to the serving dish (holding off for the cake)

Often in Japan the 'birthday cake' is an assortment of small cakes. They always look so fancy.



"Happy Birthday Hiroka"



I'm still here!

This is just a post to get my toes back in the blogging world again. It has been two weeks!
I've been super busy with uni, sleepovers at new friend's places and working on assignments into the night...oh and watching episodes of Offspring and Sex & the City (don't ask how they found a way into my "super busy" schedule..:P).

Last night was a roof top BBQ of a friend, Lisa, who is an English teacher at the highschool I did exchange at back in '09. It was so great mingling with a bunch of expats from Switzerland, Canada and the US, hearing their stories on what living as a foreigner in Japan for 20+ years is like.

Lisa's has a lot of japanese friends over too who I really enjoyed having slighty drunken japanese coversations with! (A robust and jolly American woman had us all on Margeritas!).

Some photos from early into the evening.



This lady is head of communications at a french pharmaceutical company. I had a lot to ask her:)



BBQs slightly smaller than Aussie ones...;)

Japanese style summer pj's i believe.

Lollia hand cream

I am a believer that good things should be shared..unless they are in limited supply (like my last serving of almonds I hid behind the self raising flour this morning..).

So I must SHOUT out to all those who care that I am in love with Lollia by Margot Elena handcreme. The love affair started when mum bought herself a tube at the Chelsea Markets in New York last year (name drop). She then bought me one online for my birthday, another one for herself and then discovered the perfume range!

Mum did a lot of hunting into where it could be bought in Australia with a little luck. Now just last Sunday while window shopping in downtown Osaka, I happened to walk straight up to it in a bath and body boutique! I don't know whether it was the memory of that gentle coconut, jasmin and mandarine creme pictured above, the sweet and innocent floral tube design, or just the fact that I had found a piece of mum in Japan, but I had to buy one.

I chose BELIEVE - cabbage rose & citrus. Mostly because it reminded me of Anne Shirley asking if a rose could smell as sweet if it was called a 'skunk cabbage':p BuSeriosuly thought, this one smells so summery and scrumptious! I wish I could just put in on a vanilla muffin and eat it! 

That is all. If anyone is into online shopping (I havn't tried yet) and looking for a nice end-of-exams treat for themselves, this is it! Enjoy:)

PURIKURA

 Ahh PURIKURA. A weird and wonderful slice of modern Japanese culture.

On the weekend I met up with a friend for a spot of shopping and she took me to a seven story building full of these photo booths. SEVEN floors!!! SEVEN!! I couldn't figure out why there needed to be over one hundred different photo booths? They all did the same thing- widen eyes, lengthen eyelashes, smooth out skin etc.

Once the photo's been taken, then starts the agonising process of working out what to write all over it. The Japanese are so fast and creative...while I take ages just trying to work out how to change the pen colour and font. Also, adding some kind of english to the edit seems to be a must..it's hilarious.

So what do they do with all these photos you ask? Once printed, they can be cut up and given out to friends, or stuck on notebooks and backs of calculators! Some girl's even make special notebooks to stick all their photos in. How awesome!!-- If you were seven. Yet strangely this is still a loved past time of Japanese girls well into their 20's. 

 I often receive little 2x1cm photos of girl's own purikura when meeting for the first time. Why I would want them? I'm not sure, but I put on the "For me?! Oh wow you're so cute! Here have one of me!" routine and the friendship can officially begin.

For the Brisbane readers, Elizabeth Street Arcade is home to a few of these Purikua photo booths, but will set you back $12 a turn as opposed to the 400yen ($5) here in Japan...saying letting you know:)

Guy's handbags

I could go on and on with how Japanese and Australian fashion styles differ. I've already mentioned the need here to wear MORE clothes the HOTTER it gets, but another little thing that has caught my eye this week is the bags boys have been carrying around uni campus. They are pretty much what I would call women's handbags.

It brought me back to a memory of browsing through MYERS with Scott for an appropriate bag for uni. He was wanting something a nicer looking than a back pack, but made it clear he didn't want anything that said he was one of those 'new-age sensitive metrosexual guys' or into manicures and chick flicks. For a guy who only every carries around a phone, keys and wallet, he was stepping into the unknown territory of the MAN BAG. This is a bit of a tricky task for a lot of Australian guys I think- wanting to try the over the shoulder bag while maintaining their masculinity.

When I first started noticing the women's handbag look in Japan I found it hard to get used to, and well I still do I suppose. But I'm begining to feel sorry for Aussie guys who all stress out about trying not to look homosexual when choosing to adopt some kind of bag in their daily attire. What if all Aussie men embrace the handbag! Off the shoulder for easy acces, and great for keeping those little things you might need across the day like pen and notepad, water bottle, face towel, chapstick for those dry lips, and an afternoon snack if your out all day etc. Plus new studies are saying carrying mobiles around in pant pockets is bad for fertility!

So what do we think? Is this a look Australians could ever embrace for their men? Personally, I still prefer the long strap statchel style bag for guys (if they had to stray from the trusty backpack). But perhaps that is just because this is all we know in Australia. Maybe I should bring home Scott one of these little black handbags and see if it starts a brand new craze...

Weekly Photo Challenge (1)

As sad as it sounds, I've been doing a lot of internet surfing lately, perhaps procrastinating from kanji study, report writing and speech practice..ugh. I stumbled across a digital photography website as I am wanting to start using my NikonD3100 more while I am over here. A blogger on this website has organised a weekly photo challenge where every week there is a technique or theme that you would have to use in your photo somehow. Check it out at Digital Photography School- weekly photo challenge.

I thought this would be a good way of making me take the camera out a little more often and motivate me to take it off auto and play around with the settings a little more. So here goes.

This weeks topic: YOUR BEST FRIEND.

Could be anything, a person, food, laptop etc...I chose little Kenneth. My faithful teddy that is also there for a cuddle when I need it.

My mini aim was to only use natural light.

Was going for the 'sitting and waiting for their return' kinda look;)

^^I think this says it best. Sitting inside on a gloomy rainy day.

Bit of blur in the foreground and background. Do I get any points?

Anyway, that's my first effort. I know it's probably only meant to be one photo but I guess I can do whatever I please (actually I'm just not decisive enough..next time I'll try sticking to one shot!)