City Skylines

The last picture of the last two blog entries have both been off of the view from our accomodation. With a nicely large window, and a window sill to sit on, I made myself rather comfortable with a tablet and a glorious view. Apparently, I made myself a little too comfortable considering that I in the end went to bed past 2 in the morning. I guess I needed to cool off a little bit after the hot spring public bath that was part of the hotel.

But we comfortably got something to wake us up in the morning before proceeding onto the next Shinkansen, shooting to our next destination. It's a little bit fascinating to watch the scenery constantly changing in one respect, but the closest you get to "vast open spaces" is "not yet planted rice fields". There never seems to be an actual point where things properly thin out, they just don't grow as tall. I guess the corresponding quote from my travel companion was: "If you want to build in Japan, you have to negotiate with the farmers, an existing building, or a mountain."

The buskers in Japan might be fancy with the mixers sound equipment that they need for their street performances, but today that brought a whole drum kit for their Jazz set. Certainly a slightly different sound than the reverb "Hallelujah" disaster singing that I usually hear on my own streets. That's not to say that Japan does not also have its share of ear-bleeding performances to run past though. They just seem to have a slightly broader range towards both extremes.

The longer this holiday progresses, the more it seems to turn into more and more relaxation time. Taking the metro into central Osaka, and then consequently just walking back until everything is closed and there's nothing to see and the café's all kick us out. Though I'm not too sure whether the nightlife district of Osaka ever actually gets dark.