Tsuruhashi and Karahori-Ezu
In Osaka, it is easy to fall into a perpetual night life and only rest during the light of day. I’ve worked hard over the last few days to shift back to a more reasonable schedule. My efforts paid off with a few unique adventures under the old familiar shine of the sun… or what would be the shine of the sun, if it weren’t raining or cloudy all the time.
On Sunday I made plans with Hsinyun and Chinatsu to make a day trip to Kyoto. According to the weather forecast we were going to have a warm sunny day to explore. Apparently, in reality that means it will be raining all day and night. We still met and explored the covered back alley market streets of Tsuruhashi. This network of narrow corridors is lined with tiny stores selling anything from clothing to Kimchi. The best find was the archaic Chinese Medicine shop. Imagine the joy in my eyes at the first glimpse of a monkey skull in a jar!
After gazing at the oddities and browsing a few of the clothing stores, we made our way to Karahori-Ezu. Seeking shelter from the increasing rain, we managed to find an old kimono shop with a teahouse on the balcony. We settled in for a few hours of cultural exchange, language lessons and matcha (thick green tea) before parting ways.
I also finally got around to taking photos of the finished tattoo from Tokyo. They’re not perfect, but if you try taking photos of your own arm you’ll see how difficult it is!
see more photos of the finished tattoo
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Tags: - Photography, Asia, Japan, Japan: Kansai, Kansai, Osaka, Rain
Adam Shane
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