Patrick: Osaka, Baseball, and Kiyomizu Temple

On Friday, we went on a class field trip to Osaka for Contemporary International Affairs. Specifically we ate lunch at the Tsuruhashi district and then went on to visit the Peace Osaka Museum. As a little background, Tsuruhashi (crane bridge) and the neighboring Momotani (peach valley) are the two districts with the highest concentration of Koreans in Japan. Since the World War II era when Koreans and other Asians were pressed into forced labor in Japan, Koreans have concentrated in the Kansai area. Nowadays, Osaka is perhaps Japan's most diverse cities with residents from all over Asia and beyond.

We ate a Korean lunch in Tsuruhashi and then visited a wet market. The yakiniku looked delicious but the prices were prohibitively high for students... The wet market was probably the closest to Taiwanese market atmosphere that I've seen so far in Japan. Everything from clothes to snacks, crackers, and sweets, to kimchi, and fresh seafood was sold. I wanted to stick around a little longer but are schedule wouldn't permit it.

The peace museum was soso. It had floors dedicated to the memories of civilian victims from the fire bombing of Osaka. It also had floors dedicated to Asian victims of Japanese hegemony as well as the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A few Japanese students who were taking the International Affairs class and the Postwar Japanese Society class came along with us. It was a little awkward reading the same saddening diary entries, browsing the same war-marred artifacts.. In all, it was a rather depressing end to the class field trip.

After the museum, a few of us took the train to Koshien (in Kobe, I believe) to watch a Hanshin Tigers game. I bought Jeff's ticket since he said he was too sick and tired to go. I'm not really a baseball fan but I think I've discovered that a Hanshin Tiger's game should be at the top of any tourist's list for things to do in Japan. The fans are absolutely crazy dedicated. They have a song for every person on the team. There is non-stop cheering throughout the game. And the stadium was packed even after the team's suffered a 10-game losing streak last, last week and a 3-game losing streak leading up to the game we attended. The Hanshin's ended up beating the Baystars and the crowd went wild.

When the game finished, Michael, Jason, and some others went clubbing in Osaka and stayed out all night. Brian and I left early to catch the last couple of trains home. I still had the badminton circle to attend on Saturday morning and Brian seemed pretty exhausted and sick.

On Sunday, Stephanie, Daryl, and I went to Kiyomizu Temple. It's apparently a candidate for the new 7 wonders of the world. It was, in my opinion, one of the most fabulous temples I've seen so far in Japan. Overlooking Kyoto, it offered a magnificent view of the city. It was also a very natural place; good for hiking. Leading up to the temple, there was a 10-minute walk along a street lined with shops selling souvenirs and delicious traditional snacks and ice cream. It really was tourist central. And on a beautiful day like yesterday, all the school kids were out too in their uniforms.

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