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steepholm ([personal profile] steepholm) wrote2024-10-26 01:41 am
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To Osaka Then I Came

Well, I'm back in Japan. Not for a holiday, this time, but for research. I will having a few side adventures, especially at weekends, but for the most part I'm commuting from an AirBnB somewhere in Higashiosaka to the Prefectural Library, where I'm working with their superlative children's book collection.

Higashiosaka literally means 'East Osaka', by the way, and there's no gap at all between it and Osaka itself - but officially it's a separate city, with its own city hall, etc. Big Japanese cities seem to be divided this way quite commonly, at least for administrative purposes. Tokyo, for example, though it's well known to be the biggest city in the world, can also be thought of as a conglomeration of 62 independent wards and municipalities, each about the size of Peterborough, wearing a very long trench coat. That said, "Tokyo = Peterborough x 62" is a misleading equation.

Because this is a work trip, and because someone else is paying, I had to come by the cheapest route, which turned out to be Air China, with a stop in Shanghai. I'll be honest, this worried me. I'd always rather a direct flight if possible - less to go wrong - and Air China's internet reputation isn't great. The bugginess of their online check-in system didn't inspire confidence, and the combination of the M4 being shut (for a bridge replacement) and the advent of Storm Ashley made me worry perhaps more than necessary about missed flights and connections. If I got stuck in Shanghai with no Chinese currency and precisely two Chinese words at my disposal, how would I fare?

Such worries were needless. National Express, Gatwick Airport and Air China itself all did their jobs efficiently and fusslessly, and seemed not even to guess that I'd been doubting them. Yes, the in-flight entertainment was rather heavy on patriotic fare, but it made a change from the diet of bittersweet terminal-illness stories that I've got used to on JAR and ANA. The food was fine, and Shanghai (contrary to internet reports) had plenty of shops to browse, most of which accepted yen.

So, I arrived in Kansai Airport, and made my way to Higashiosaka. Though physically just an extension of Osaka, its vibe is very different from Nanba or Dotonbori. There are very few foreigners here, for a start. As an instance, I was walking down the street (in the wrong direction) trying to find my AirBnB I was hailed by name from a passing car going the other way. The driver - who turned out to be my AirBnB host Rik, a tanned Texan with a mohawk - had had no difficulty picking out me out.

The street is a mix of shops, housing and industrial workshops that would boggle the mind of someone used to zoning laws, I imagine, and is far from glamorous, but I kind of like it here.

I've been here a few days now, and am pretty much over the jetlag. During that time I've done little but go to Osaka Prefectural Library, one of Higashioska's cultural jewels, to look at the magnificent collection of the International Institute for Children's Literature, which is based there. Mostly I've been reading books in the collection of Okiko Miyake, a renowned scholar and bibliophile who died in 2022, whose enormous collection the Institute has inherited. My fellow scholar Yasuko Doi, of the Institute, has been looking after me very well.

So, no big adventures, yet - though today (Saturday) I start tracking down Thomas the Tank Engine sites, which is a bit of a side quest for this trip. I felt a bit guilty about only mentioning Thomas once, and that in passing, in my book on British children's literature in Japanese culture - because a) Rev. Awdry was from my home town and b) Thomas really is very big in Japan - at least as a 'franchise'. Japanese children's literature people don't appear to have touched him, though. So, there's work to do! I hope to write an article or at least a conference paper on the subject.

3 japan hiro puffing away

Small highlights of the week:

1) My first taste of shirako - the most fun you can have without fellating a cod. I was already happily eating this in tenpura form before I remembered what the name actually denoted.

2) Japanglish in all its glorious forms - something that's always very noticeable in the first few days before one's eyes adjust, ranging from outright nonsense -

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- to the slight uncanny valleyness of a bakery called "Delicious Stage" (which, to be fair, serves excellent orange cake).

3) On the subject of cake, I bought a Tiramisu melonbread from Family Mart - a line launched only last week, the assistant told me. I feel like I was in at the birth of a classic.

4) Ridiculously cheap food all round. Take this bento, for example, which I ate at the library a couple of days ago. Maybe it's not most luxurious you've ever seen, but it was delicious, healthy, pretty, and cost 450 yen (£2.28):

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I mean, come on!

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