It was also our first ride on a shinkansen, better known as Japan's famous bullet trains. It was quite a ride. We rode in an "unreserved seat" car. The first few cars were what they call "green cars". That's like the first class compartments... people sat in 4 seat booths that were roomier and more private - and of course, more expensive as well. The rest of the train was standard seating. There were a few reserved seat cars and a few unreserved (space available) seat cars. If you travel during the heavier times, then reserved seating is better because it guarantees that you have a seat. However, as we were traveling during the off season, it didn't really matter. We found a couple seats and sat down.

The ride was quite smooth and comfortable. We sat in rows, similar to an airplane, with 3 seats on each side. Every so often, someone would come by with a cart selling drinks or snacks. We were on a limited budget, so we brought most of our snacks with us. I did buy a box of chocolate covered nuts for us to share. Mostly, we just sat back and enjoyed the view. It was cool! We saw cities and small towns and farms... and even went just a little bit up into the mountains. However, it was going too fast for me to get good pictures.

I munched on the snacks I got from Kataoka-san and read manga during the ride. The seats were pretty comfortable, so I think I ended up napping a couple times.

The train traveled through Kyoto and Kobe, then on to Shin-Osaka eki (station) where we got off. From there we caught a local JR densha (train) to Osaka eki. Tsuyoshi-san had set up the rendezvous point, but he and the other guys were busy getting ready, so we were met by his girlfriend, Yuka-san.  That's when we learned that it was Tsuyoshi-san's birthday. ^-^ She had us write notes to him on cards that she was inserting in a book full of mementos from friends she was compiling as a surprise.

We were told to wait for the person that was going to meet up with us next to the fountain by the west exit. The person that would be picking us up would have a pink stuffed animal. Mom went to the bathroom while we were waiting. I saw a woman come around the corner carrying a stuffed pink doll with cute little wings. I walked up to her. "Yuka-san?" I asked. She was the one.
Well, duh. She had the stuffed pink thing. Anyway, mom came back from the bathroom to us chatting in Osaka-ben, said hi, then we headed out.

After that we wandered around a bit in a nearby shopping street. It was very colorful and interesting. Of course, she'd heard about Eleanor's obsession with manga, so she showed us a couple really cool used manga shops. One place, called "Mandrake", was an anime and manga fan's dream. It had floors of collectibles, some dating back to before I was born! When we get a chance to go to Japan again, I'd like to go back there... this time with money! As it was, Eleanor was limited to 500 yen, so she bought some titles she liked that were priced at 100 yen each.

Mandrake was cool. ^~^ 
It had the huge mammoth skeleton over the whole shop, lots of manga, lots of models, and even cosplay costumes for sale. 
There were a lot of older books done by my favorite manga artist, and I wanted to by them all, but Mom said that I could only have as much as 500 yen would by. Pooh.

While we were at Mandrake, some of the others started to meet up with us. That's where I met Watanabe-san, Kimura-san, and a few others. Someone (Kimura-san, I think) found another guy who was a fan of the anime, Macross 7, and he also tagged along with us. We were getting to be a pretty good sized crowd. ^-^

Both of these dragons were watching over karaoke shops. As you can see, this whole area was quite colorful.

Mandrake also was quite colorful. It had an entry that felt like going into a cave. We went up the stairs and it opened up to a huge mastodon skeleton the greeted people as the entered the main part of the store. Unfortunately, they didn't allow photography.

After a while, it was time and we went to the studio where the others were waiting....

Albatross
left to right: Ryo-san, Shapen-san, Toshiaki-san, Tsuyoshi-san, Watanabe-san

The studio room was small, just about the size of the living room in my house. I was able to get pictures of the band performing, but not everyone in one shot.

Toshiaki-san, Ryo-san, and Tsuyoshi-san were already friends of mine from the internet. I met Watanabe-san earlier this day at Mandrake. I met the drummer when we arrived for the performance. In his best English, he introduced himself, "I am Japanese drummer." ^-^ His name, Shapen, is somewhat unusual. We didn't quite catch it at first when the others said his name, so for a while we just referred to him as him "Japanese drummer." We later found out his name from Ryo-san.

I had read about their performances, but this was the first time I ever heard them. Tsuyoshi-san sang lead the majority of the time, but the others also took their turns at lead singing. They were pretty good. They did quite well with the "copy" songs, but they did even better with their original songs. I look forward to the day when they are able to release a CD of their music!

Albatross's music was pretty dang good. It drew the audience to it, and was very catchy. Especially Ryo's guitar work. When Ryo plays the guitar his personality changes. He becomes a lot more bold than his usual sweet self. He also plays the guitar very powerful. I like the sound of it.

Albatross played one of my favorite songs, "Hara Kara no Uta" (Song From the Gut.) and they also played "Submarine Street" ( from Macross 7) which is another song I like. 

At the end, everyone set off streamer poppers in honor of Tsuyoshi-san's birthday. Since most of the mess was all over him, it was pretty easy to clean up after.

Happy Birthday To~ You~
Or something like that...

Time was up, so everyone put away their equipment and checked out of the studio. Then we headed to the street...

The street performance was more informal than the Albatross performance. There didn't seem to be a set play list. They just played what they decided to at the moment. At various times, in various combinations, they played guitar and sang. They even sang the opening theme to Sakura Wars. It was very cold out, but we had a lot of fun.

Tsuyoshi-san and a couple others went and bought some takoyaki (fried batter wrapped octopus). It was delicious! I always like takoyaki!

They also bought some hot orange juice from a vending machine. I'd never had orange juice hot before. It really hit the spot in the chilly winter air. Later, Eleanor and Ryo-san went in search of more, but came back with hot lemon instead.

To tell the truth, I didn't watch much of this concert. Because Ryo and I were doing The Quest for Hot Orange. We were looking all over the place for it, but in the end we couldn't find any. Next time, I WILL find it though! (grumble grumble)

After a couple hours, a couple people had to leave. The rest of us grabbed our things and headed out to find dinner. Tsuyoshi-san asked what I wanted to eat. I said, "yasui tabemono" which means "cheap food". I explained that we only had 2,200yen (roughly $22). So we went to Yoshinoya.

Yoshinoya is a chain of gyudon (beef bowl) shops. For under 500yen, you could get a good filling bowl of meat and rice. They also served Miso soup with it (and green tea to those people who drank it). Eleanor had the standard gyudon. I had the version with kimchee in it.

I found out that Ryo was a big fan of Gyudon too, and we spent a lot of time chatting about Gyudon and other things.

Watanabe-san and Kimura-san sing while Toshiaki-san tries to keep warm.

Everybody poses together for a picture 
across the street from Yoshinoya

After determining that, yes, I was crazy, (That's a given.) it was decided that we would spend the night at Toshiaki-san's apartment. We said goodbye to the others, then five of us headed towards Toshiaki-san's place: Toshiaki-san, Watanabe-san, Ryo-san, Eleanor, and I. Toshiaki-san got his motorcycle. The rest of us went with Watanabe-san to his apartment where his motorcycle was. 

We waited with Watanabe-san and his mother (very nice lady) while Toshiaki-san took Ryo-san to his apartment.

She gave us ice-cream. (Yum.)

Then he came back and got me. Eleanor rode on the back of Watanabe-san's bike. It had been a few years since we had to sell our Kawasaki. I'd missed it. It felt good to be on a motorcycle again. 

I don't think I'll ever be able to go very long without riding a motorcycle again. Not now that I've had a taste of it again...

We walked up about three flights of steps to Toshiaki-san's apartment. It was small, but bigger than my younger brother's apartment. Just past the front foyer, we stepped up into the kitchen area. From there we could go left through a door to the bathroom or right into the main living room. On the other end of the living room was a small balcony. The living room had a futon on a platform (the bed/couch), a low Japanese style table, a computer desk and chair, a TV stand, and a small assortment of bookshelves and storage boxes. It was tight, but really quite comfortable.

They had two 2 liter bottles of soft drink on the table: Canada Dry Ginger Ale and Calpis. I had first tried Calpis the night before at the Far East Native concert. It's a soft drink made with fermented milk. (Fukuyama-san had said it was "sour milk" when I asked what he was drinking.) I'd never tasted it before that. Now I'm addicted to it! ^-^

Bleh. Calpis. I didn't and still don't like it much.

Toshiaki-san put on a video of Yoshiki Fukuyama-san performing. I watched it while listening to the others talk. Eleanor and Ryo-san spent a lot of time playing with a Japanese/English dictionary.

This report continues on in the January 27th report...