Travels with hannah III

Castles, Nakedness and Okonomiyaki

Our first morning in Osaka was a dreary one, unfortunately, but we braved the drizzle and made our way out to Osaka-jo, or Osaka Castle. It's a recreation, the original castle having been destroyed long ago, and the entire inside is devoted to enlightening the general public of the history of the castle and of the wars for the unification of Japan. Still, as English explanations were rare, hannah and I found ourselves making quick rounds, admiring the art and artifacts and passing over the plaques.


Osaka castle was interesting in that tourists were shuffled to the top level of the castle first, where one is afforded a view over the city, and then slowly make their way down, floor by floor, to the base again. It must be a way to encourage people to see the exhibits, although I found it to be somewhat anticlimatic due to my inability to read the history presented there. Oh well. At least we had ice cream outside!


After the castle, we made our way to an onsen, or "hot spring/pubilc bathing area," that had been recommended to us by the owner of our hostel. Now, when I say "we made our way," what I really mean is "I got us horrendously lost and we did about five times as much walking as we should have, for I am an idiot." Now, I've written a little about onsening before, but this time, things were a little different. On the one hand, I am now an onsen veteran - I've been onsenning with other ALTs, with teachers, and even once with an ex-student and her mother. My level of Japanese is also higher, so I'm fairly well able to navigate on my own. On the other hand, hannah has a tattoo.

Tattoos seem innocuous to most Westerners, I imagine. In Japan, howerver, tattoos have long been owned by the Japanese mafia. Even now, few people outside of the mafia get tattoos, and the gangsters flaunt their monopoly over the form with full-body coverings of dramatic art. It's beautiful in the same way coral snakes are - colorful, bright, and a sign of danger. Anyway, as there is nakedness involved and tattoos can be seen there, most bathing houses have a "no tattoo" rule in place as a way to keep out gangsters. (A cynical view of this would be that it is also to keep out foreigners.) I don't know why the gangsters would follow the rule, to be honest, because they know no one is going to fight them, but the rule is there in any case. I talked about the issue of hannah's tattoo before the trip with teachers and some Japanese friends, and the general consensus was that, as the tattoo is on her hip, she could "just hide it with the towel - it'll totally be fine." It was with that vote in mind that we headed to this onsen in the first place.

I've been to several bath houses, but never before have I seen such full plastering of a place in "no tatttos!" signs. They were in English, Japanese, and Korean if I remember correctly, and were not only displayed at the entrance, but also on every single shoe locker and as a sign at the front desk. My fears began rising dramatically, and I couldn't help but whisper "You've GOT to keep covered" and "Man, we need to be careful" under my breath to hannah, a reminder she probably didn't need to hear.

We anxiously made our way into the changing room, got lockers on the far side of the room where hannah could hide her tattoo against a wall while changing, and undressed. The elaborate schemes continued throughout our entire time in the baths - getting a showering seat where hannah could hide a little, seating in the baths themselves...it was almost like we should be humming the Mission Impossible theme. Still, we spent some hour or so there without any incidents, and in fact were able to relax quite well despite the fear over her tattoo. We celebrated quietly when hannah put on her jeans again, having completed our onsen mission fully and with flying colors. We spent a little time relaxing in the lobby with a bowl of noodles and cold milk in traditional, Japanese style, and then made our way outside.

We were still a little snacky, so we found an okonomiyaki-ya ("ya" means "shop" or "store") at which to enjoy the local favorite. People all over Japan talk about Osaka okonomiyaki - in fact, the wikipedia page for okonomiyaki says that the dish is referred to as "Osaka soul food." The place where we went was smoky, dark, and a little dirty, which is just the way you want your okonomiyaki-ya - it's like how the best diners have to be a little dingy. We ate, drank beer, and chatted under the watchful eye of the owner and cook who clearly didn't expect a pair of foreign women in his store. Then, with full bellies and relaxed bodies, we made our way back to our hostel to prepare for our trip to Kyoto the next morning.