Katsumoto and I planned to meet in Osaka at the Temma station at 10:30. I still needed to pack a lunch and stop at the ATM at the downtown bank for some money. I only had 95 yen after my trip to Costco on Saturday. Train fare alone would run me about 1500 yen for the day.
I got to Temma Station shortly before 10:00. I left early, because I was taking the JR line all the way and I am not real familiar with that line. I did have a little mix up in Amagasaki, but I back tracked one station and finished the trip. Before Katsumoto arrived with his family, I had a chance to explore the area right around the station. There are several Pachinko parlors very near to the station. Long lines of people wound through the shopping streets, making it difficult to pass. The parlors open at 10:00 and many people really want to play.
The shopping street is a little more traditional then most of the streets we have seen, but there isn’t too much variation
between all of the shops. It was really a chance to get to meet his daughter, Maho and to get to know his son, Shota, and wife better. When I first met his daughter, she was sure to keep her mother between us. Anytime when we were walking if they came up beside me she would shift sides. I teased her about it, and Shota made a point of walking next to me most of the day to show his bravery.We picnicked on an island park just east of Osaka city hall. The kids played hide-n-seek around the roses while we visited in the park. They are really a great family, I kind of feel like they made this trip just to entertain me. I halfway wonder if Chrissy drafted Katsumoto and his family to keep me busy and out of trouble. By the time we finished lunch, Shota was pretty tired and Maho, Shota and their mom returned home. Katsumoto and I went further south in Osaka to ‘Electric Town,’ the part of town with a plethora of electronic stores.
It really turned into toy shopping. Along with the electronic shops we found a lot of toy stores. I had to look at what they offer and Katsumoto didn’t mind. Some of the toy stores we hit turned out to be just like the sporting goods store I saw last week, 10 floors and different types of toys on each floor. On the top floor of one store they had two racetracks set up. Around the racetracks were tables where kids and middle-aged men fine-tuned their cars before competing with each other.
At the extreme southern end of Electric town is the Osaka tower. We walked to it, but Katsumoto didn’t want to go up into it. It was 600 yen for the elevator ride; maybe I will take Chrissy there later on. It is something that Katsumoto prides himself on never having done. Katsumoto and I parted ways just before sunset. His stop was closer than mine. I peddled home in the dark. Fortunately, I had packed my bike light that morning. I was tired, but I couldn’t sleep. I stayed up as late as I could. Once it hit 10:00, I went to bed and read.
This morning, I woke up at 2:00 am, again. This time I lay in bed for nearly an hour before getting up. I was just going to turn on some music and go back to bed and read, but I turned on the TV. Japanese football was on. It was Saturday’s game of the Panthers against the Gangsters. We saw the Gangsters play a couple of weeks ago, so I watched the last quarter of this game. The Panthers were up 42-0. It was perfect material to put me back to sleep. The Panthers added two field goals. The Gangsters threatened to score once, but couldn’t get across the twenty. The wind was against them and their kick was short. I managed another hour of sleep before I got up to call home and check in.
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