2018年11月16日金曜日 - 
William M - Playing the Tour Guide in Japan
Since
I've always been interested in living in Japan, my love of this country is
something I have a hard time containing. So whenever I get the chance to convince a friend to
come here to Osaka, I always have a set list of things I'd like to show them.
These stem from my three most favorite things about Japan:
anime/video games, Shinto, and food!
To
satisfy my otaku streak, I always show my
friends Nippombashi, nicknamed Denden Town. For my friends who don't know it,
but who love anime, I describe it as a “mini-Akiba”. It's only a single street,
but it's packed with a couple dozen stores catering to anime
and video game geeks. Tiny stores – with
aisles way too narrow for a chubby foreigner like myself
– lined from wall to wall with anime figurines, plush dolls of famous
video game characters, and various other little trinkets from the
anime and video game industry are enough to keep me occupied for hours. I can
spend an entire day on this single street, and only get halfway through, but if
you're going to go to a single store there, the Animate is the best one.
Several floors, conveniently divided into different sections, cater to multiple
genres in a single building, and if you know what sort of thing you're looking
for – a comic book, a figure, a poster – it's pretty easy to go to the
appropriate section.
Most
of my friends who want to visit Japan do so for the anime culture. However,
those who are interested in more than just current pop culture will usually
love being shown local temples or shrines. There are plenty of them in Osaka –
Sumiyoshi Taisha is the latest one I've visited – but my favorite ones are in
Kyoto, and it's only a simple train ride away. By far, Fushimi
Inari is the one I've visited the most. It provides a huge array of statues
and buildings to examine and compare, with multiple styles drawn from purely
Shinto traditions, as well as Buddhist ones.
Street vendors and tourists clog the way
from the Keihan station to the shrine itself, but I can't help but grab some
grilled pork belly each time I'm there! My friends are always caught
off guard
as we make our way up the mountain, no matter how often I warn them of how
difficult it is for those who aren't in shape. But getting to the top is a
great achievement, and the views of Kyoto along the way are unparalleled!
Lastly,
the thing I must introduce to people when they're here is the food, both
Japanese and Osaka-specific. I always take my friends to my favorite
restaurant, Torikizoku, and while these are all over the place in Japan, it's
usually the first time they've experienced it. The same goes for Ichiran Ramen,
with cheap, customizable ramen that can cater
to anyone's tastes. But my favorite Osaka-style food to show them is kushikatsu.
My favorite kushikatsu joint is near Umeda station, and while it's a
literal maze trying to get from the subway to the restaurant, the
confused wandering is always worth it. However, I find I need to watch my hapless friends
like a hawk to make sure they don't dip their skewer twice!
There
are only three things I don't like about Japan; natto, the summer heat, and
takoyaki (and I live in Osaka! What a nightmare!). For everything else, it's
easily accessible here in Osaka, and I can't think of a better city in Japan to
be based in in order to share my passion for living here and – hopefully –infect
some
of my friends with that same love!
convince：説得する
stem：軸
streak：傾向
catering：調達する
geeks：オタク
chubby：ぽっちゃりした
plush dolls：ぬいぐるみ
trinkets：小さな装身具
By far：圧倒的に
array：ずらりと並んだもの
Street vendors：露天商
clog：（道を）詰まらせる
caught off guard：（予期せぬ出来事に）驚かされる
unparalleled：他では味わえない
customizable：カスタマイズできる
maze：迷路
hapless：哀れな
skewer：串
infect：影響を与える