Last day in Osaka

Today is my last day in Osaka, I have left Peace House Showa and now I am at a capsule hotel in Shinsaibashi....　



I seem, yet again, to be in a red light district!! It seems the majority of Osaka is like this! Men keep saying "kiree, kiree" as I walk past which I found out means "beautiful, beautiful" so now I understand why! haha. I met some lovely people at Peace House Showa and the experience this morning of visiting the homeless people in Nishinari-ku I am very grateful for...　but if I'm honest, I won't be sad to leave Osaka as it doesn’t have much character.

Visiting the homeless area of Nishinari-ku this morning was such an experience, interesting but pretty sad really. It made me realise that I take for granted the fact that I have always had somewhere to live (and have such great family and friends that I know I will always have a roof over my head whatever happens.)
Basically Japanese men come to Nishinari-ku from areas of Japanese countryside to get contract / day labour work. Vans arrive about 3 or 4 in the morning and chose people for the work, leaving most of the middle aged and elderly men behind. The economy is not as strong as it used to be and so now there are even less jobs and even more homeless and unemployed people. There were hundreds of them in that area - sleeping on the streets, making cardboard shelters for themselves etc..　 there was also a street market where they set up stalls etc.. to try and make money. Needless to say, what they were selling was dodgy or stolen e.g. stolen old shoes (which i assume were stolen from outside temples or places like that where you have to　take your shoes off), newspapers and magazines they had taken out of rubbish bins, second hand underwear, pirate dvds etc..
The guy that I met last night (Blackstone) who took us round the area this morning does so much good work in the area - the best thing being the provision of sleeping bags. About 3 years ago, the average amount of people who froze to death over the winter was 300. Now it is a lot less and decreasing every year thanks to the help that he provides. Every day rice soup is provided for them too and there is a church building that they can go to during the day, to get out of the cold and just rest safely. There is a prayer room and a hairdresser and outside there were 2 nuns selling very cheap clothes and shoes. Most of the people who are homeless, even if they manage to get a job they can't get a place to rent because they can't register with the government because they dont have full time employment...　so some of them go into local dormitories if they can afford it, or they just continue to sleep on the streets. There were masses of food stalls / cheap restaurants as nobody there has the facilities to cook.... except there is a street kitchen and those who have managed to get employment, club together to　buy ingredients to make 3 big vats of noodle soup for every homeless person in the area. :)
We walked right through the heart of the red light district and all around the area and then we stopped at one of the restaurants for lunch.... OH MY GOD I tried raw egg and it was the most disgusting thing i have ever eaten (apart from jellyfish tentacles)　and I have decided I actually hate miso soup - it really does taste of farts and bad breath and mould. It was quite surreal being sat in the middle of a japanese restaurant surrounded by 6 japanese strangers (only 2 of whom spoke english) after having spent the morning visiting the homeless! Most of the time the conversations were in japanese so I didn't understand but every now and then, somebody would involve me...　usually in japanese which meant i had no idea what was going on but luckily Yumi is a very good translator!
I got back to　the hostel about 3pm and decided to pack and go quite quickly as I wanted to get to the new place before dark. It was quite sad saying goodbye to Yumi and the others at the hostel as they've been so friendly. I headed for the subway station (my bag seemed to　be heavier somehow!) and got the tube to　Shinsaibashi.　the directions for the capsule hotel said "take exit 7 and head for Namba". Great. What direction is Namba? There was no map and no instructions at the station so I had to　ask for directions from a girl handing out leaflets in the street. I followed her directions but still had no clue where I was and was getting annoyed because my bag is so heavy! I went into a hotel and asked directions..　I followed those...　still no sign of the capsule hotel...　I went into　a supermarket and a really sweet middle aged japanese lady walked me to the hotel which was about 2 minutes away.... at last!! As well as the brothels, there are lots of shops selling completely crazy clothes around here and also some pretty posh shops like dolce and gabbana (and not fake - it is real, just a very random mixture of shops!) every street corner has a black man with a hoody or a very gay looking japanese man singing english/american songs! It's actually very amusing as most of the songs are really cringe worthy songs! its actually very amusing as they all think they are uber-cool but most of the songs they are singing are really cringe worthy like backstreet boys or celine dion! haha!
The capsule room is not as small as I imagined and there is a spa and sauna to　use for free (yes you have to get naked again). You get a locker to　put your bag in (mine just squeezed in!) and in the locker is a robe and towels and sponge etc..　there is also huge shower rooms and rows and rows of basins and hairdryers and mirrors. hardly anybody here speaks english but it doesnt really matter as I'm just using it as a base for the night and I'm escaping early in the morning to get to Kyoto. I have been practising the lotus position so that my bum doesnt go too numb tommorow. when I stay at the temple tommorow night, I will have my own room, wooop woop, what a luxury!! However it seems like it's going to　be quite a mission to　get to　the temple which appears to　be in the middle of nowhere. Wish me luck!