Robot Claw

It was laundry day today, and since this (fancy) hotel doesn’t have a coin laundry, that meant I did the old ‘carry a bag of laundry several blocks to the nearest laundromat’. Naturally I wrote postcards while I waited for it to finish.

This was just the preface to what turned out to be a special day, since just before lunch my friend Jessica, her sister Jisu, and their friend MJ arrived in Japan – from Korea – for a shopping trip. Since they flew into Kobe and are headed to Kyoto, I suggested we meet for lunch. So we did!

That’s Jessica next to me, Jisu opposite her and MJ in the top right. We ate at Sushiro, and as you can see many plates of sushi were consumed (only three of which were mine). You all know how fussy I am, but it was fascinating seeing them putting away cuttlefish and crab intestine sushi like I can put away a bag of Toobs!

This was great, and I’m very thankful they found the time for an old man like me. As much fun as I have on these Japan trips they are very solitary experiences and it was nice to talk to someone 🙂

Afterwards we went to a massive gacha store and did some shopping before I guided them through the labyrinth of Osaka Station to the gates for the Kyoto trains and said goodbye. I know they’re going to have a lot of fun in Kyoto.

Speaking of gacha, I found the above two machines today. They are evolutions of the photo of ‘someone else’s dog’ I blogged about last trip, only this time they feature ID photos of Japanese ‘punk’ girls. Here’s one I got:

The girls thought these were terrible and a complete ripoff (at about $2 each) since they’re not even stickers, but I think they’re funny and charming! If you want one, comment on this blog entry within the next twenty four hours, since who knows if I’ll ever see these again when I leave Osaka!

That’s my room view at dusk. You can see why I keep returning to this hotel.

Incidentally I only had a very rough schedule planned for this trip in advance, and activities like Nokogiriyama were spur-of-the-moment decisions made the day before. I find that I don’t have any trouble filling my days when I’m here in Japan, since often a memorable encounter or activity just falls into my lap unexpectedly. Tomorrow may be one of those days…

Last January we visited Kobe, and amongst other things we wanted to visit an ‘amusement park’ but couldn’t because it was closed. I was determined to go, which is one of the reasons I’m back here in Osaka.

Therefore today I day-tripped to Kobe (about an hour away) and finally visited Samaura-Yuen park!

The train station closest the park is right at the base of a ropeway leading up Mount Hachibuse. I purchased the ‘full course ticket’ which gave me round trip fares for each ‘ride’ for ¥2100, and was on the ropeway a few minutes after disembarking the train.

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The view from the carriage was lovely, especially on a day as nice as today. The above photo views south, and Kobe/Osaka are to my left. The pier structure is Suma Fishing Park, a complex where you can pay an admission fee to fish from all day!

Immediately after the ropeway comes the ‘Carlator’. This is a transportation system which is essentially an escalator but instead of standing you sit in a large metal basket. What has made this strange conveyance infamous is that it’s also said to be the most uncomfortable ride in Japan 🙂

The bouncing and shaking is incredible, and I was laughing like a maniac throughout. We’d learned of this on YouTube but the jerking was much more than I expected. If you’ve never heard of a Carlator, that’s because only two were ever made and the other (at another Japanese location) was closed over fifty years ago!

The Carlator was immediately followed by ‘The Sightseeing Lift’, a single-person chairlift with (as you can see in the photo) no seatbelt. The seats were sized for the average Japanese person, which means they felt a little small for me, and this ride was actually a little scary. It felt unsafe, but then it’s been running for 60+ years now so I’m sure it’s perfectly fine 🙂

Incidentally counting this chairlift I’ve now been on three ropeways this trip, none of which I’d ever rode before! Could there be any more to look forward to before I leave Japan?

And then came the ‘Cycle Monorail’, a short monorail that you (the rider) need to power via cycling. I did something like this once at Yokohama with Bernard, but given this one was about 250 meters up a mountain you can appreciate the views were much better. The pedals were difficult to move, and after my unending exertions these few weeks that was a bit of a challenge!

I rode the chairlift back and went to the top of the ‘observation tower’ which did indeed have good sights. Look closely and you’ll see the chairlift in the lower right of the above pic.

The above is looking east toward Kobe (near) and Osaka (far). The visibility was fantastic today and I could see to the far distant mountains. It had become hot by this point but there was one more attraction in the park I needed to experience.

Inside the tower was a revolving restaurant! This was perhaps what I was most looking forward to at the park, and I happily ate my ‘beefsteak pilaf’ while watching my view very slow change as the entire third floor of the building slowly rotated. I think I’ve experienced a revolving restaurant before but was probably young enough I’ve forgotten the experience (or maybe it never happened at all) so now I’m happy that I’ve definitely cross this one off the bucket list!

The second floor of the observation tower is a game center with retro prize and video games. Many of these had seen better days but still worked, although I think the should have put more retro prizes into them.

They only had four video games: identical Space Imvaders DX cocktail cabs. One was broken, and the picture-tube screens of the other three showed evidence of decay. I don’t think there’s much life left in these guys.

“Write down anything you want”, said the visitors book. On a page with a striking depiction of Pikachu, I did just that!

Samaura-Yuen was dated and rickety and in need of maintenance but I greatly enjoyed my short stay. I’ve got a video of me on the Carlator and I think I just laughed the entire time. I arrived right at opening and had the ‘rides’ (and most of the park) to myself, but I was happy to see when I left that the ropeway carriages were bursting with people heading up, including young people. I like to think that this quaint and nostalgic old park has many years of happiness left in it.

Nara exists now only on the postcards winging their way to you. I left early this morning for Osaka, where I’ll stay for a few nights.

My room here is big and comfy and has a wonderful thirtieth-floor view. It also has these in the cupboard:

These are large boxes containing food, water, medicine and toiletries. This is in case of an earthquake, and reminds me when we stayed in Osaka a few years ago and KLS was ‘stuck’ on the 36th floor (of a different hotel) for several hours after the Noto earthquake shut down the elevators. Interestingly, we stayed in this very hotel five months ago and our room had no such supplies!

After checking in I headed to Den Den town to look in the game shops since I’m hunting for something. I had no luck today with that particular item, but did see many other interesting things in the few hours I browsed. I’ll get to games in a blog before this trip ends.

I then went jewelry shopping for KLS (which was a long process!) before taking a ride on the Hep Five Ferris Wheel:

I like this wheel and have ridden it a few times before. I may even do it again this trip at night because the views – it’s on top of a mall right in the center of the city – are great:

On the way down, at a Sanrio store, I spied this:

It’s a rubber stamp maker! You design your own stamp and the machine makes it in the spot. The mechanism is fascinating and the stamp is self-inking. I made two: one for a student of mine and one you’ll see on a postcard 😉

It was another long and tiring day and even isekai anime on the room TV much larger than the one we have at home can’t keep me awake much longer…