November 20, 2004 - Osaka with Masako

Osaka Museum of Housing and Living: WWII temporary bus housing (pre-hippie movement) Bus living - up close We scoped out floor plans for each of our family members. (They are all one-room.) Kitchen with dirt floor Tim and Masako plot our route Euro-esque Gateway Park Puffers galore (I relived my nightmare of being surrounded and bitten by puffer fish.) Tsutenkaku Tower Wagashi treats to take home

Yesterday, Tim and I went to 'deep' Osaka with our host mother. She is such a kick. We bought an all day transportation pass (the 'No-My-Car-Day Pass) for Osaka. Masako took us to a sort of amusement park area that is slowly going bankrupt and to a coffee shop that imports Indonesian coffee. We had a gnarly cup (with sugar) and she bought some to take home to her husband. Then, she took us to a hipster lunch joint that had been converted from an old Japanese longhouse. (A Japanese long house is often several residences under one roof with a narrow street frontage for each residence. In the past, property taxes were based on the amount of street front area each residence had, so they made long narrow residences and used a common roof to cover half a block or more of them.) It was really cool. There was a small internal courtyard where you could bring your dog. There were several rings next to the tables to tie the leashes (although no one seemed to tie their dogs up.) And, for $4.00 you could buy dog food for your dog while you could order coffee and a sandwich. Cool. We also went to a museum on the history of housing and living in Japan. I could imagine living in those cool little houses!

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