Today, I have been alive for two decades. I can’t really wrap my head around it yet. Technically, I won’t be twenty-years-old until 8 AM on Friday (8PM on Thursday, you know — the perils of living in the future), but still. It’s September 18 and I have apparently been alive for two decades. I wonder what Nietzsche thought of birthdays. They’re probably the kind of monumental history which he despises…unless someone were to give him a pair of moustache clippers for his birthday.

That moustache is pretty monumental in and of itself.

In Japan, twenty is the age of full adulthood. At age eighteen, one can drive but cannot consume alcohol. Unlike the America with its terrifying Five Year Plan To Increase Drunk Driving And Underage Alcoholism (the gap between the driving and drinking ages), Japan merely has a two-year span in between. Even so, the country has neither a problem with drunk driving nor underage alcoholism. Beer is readily available in myriad places in unmonitored vending machines, making it a breeze to buy at any age.  Seriously — there’s one right across from my homestay.  I guess it’s a case of the the grass always being greener, except a tad more fatalistic (and no, this is not my being an Orientalist).

The promised land of milk and...beer?

This past weekend, some fellow gaijin and I made the trip down to Osaka.  Leaving Tokyo out of the equation, Osaka is the New York to Kyoto’s Boston. Including Tokyo, I guess Osaka is…Philly? No, I couldn’t do that to dear old Osaka. In any event, it was a fun-filled trip full of Ferris wheels, fried food, and freewheeling.

Dotonbori is one of the best places in the world to get street food.

It was a bit of a whirlwind tour, lasting almost twenty-four hours in totality. Leaving Kyoto at 10 AM, we found ourselves wandering the vibrant, metropolitan streets of Osaka a mere forty minutes later. Kyoto is a city — there’s no doubt about that — but Osaka is a city, man. You dig? It was such an overwhelming experience after having just begun to get used to the confines of Kyoto (of which I still have so much to explore).  We rode a ferris wheel atop a shopping center which gave us a pretty amazing view of the city. It’s much more interesting from the ground, by the way. Although, I bet that view would be pretty phenomenal at night.

After that, we went to the Pokémon Center (it does exist) to see what all the hubbub was about. Apparently, we went there on a day that they released a brand new game, Pokémon Cubic Zirconia Platinum. As much of a dastardly marketing scheme as it is, the games themselves are actually really fun. That being said, enough is enough Pokémon! This aggression will not stand!

Capitalism, I choose you!

After earning our gym badges, we departed for the Osaka Aquarium Takyukan, one of the largest public aquariums in the world. It was, in a word, breathtaking. They had everything from sea otters to giant crabs to a whale shark and more! Other than it being intensely crowded, a good time was had by all and I managed to get some rad photos, particularly of the jellyfish. Check my Flickr for more on that and other pictures from my trip.

Peanut butter & jellyfish

Later in the day, American reinforcements showed up, swelling our numbers to unwieldy amounts. Luckily, we found an okonomiyaki (think omelettes, but way better) jumpoff that was able to seat thirteen. Afterwards, I fulfilled one of my many dreams — doing karaoke in Japan. It was every bit as awesome as I was hoping it would be, although I do regret that no Japanese students were with us. Having wiled the night hours away singing everything from Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West” to the “Freebird” for a new generation, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”, we caught the first train back at 5:30 AM and I stumbled into my bed by 8 AM. An action-packed day, for sure, but it was so worth it; I can’t wait to return.

A quick side note before I “Seacrest OUT” of this piece: meeting other Japanese students has been one of the best parts of my experience thus far. The American students are all great people, but nothing quite compares to these brand new foreign friends we’re making. For instance, this past Monday, I went on a group outing with Atsuo, an auditing student from Kyodai Kaikan in my Pop Culture class, and two cuties. Such interactions are only made possible by getting out there and getting to know the locals. I’ll talk about it in greater detail later (as it’s 2 AM and I grow weary) though, so don’t worry about it for now.

THINGS TO COME: A primer on all the delicious foodstuffs I’ve been eating, more tales of my adventures, ruminations on classes

By the way, I’m still nineteen in America. Good night, everyone.