Quote:
Originally Posted by Sapporo Guy
@125shifter
OSAKA!!!!
That is one crazy town. Different than Tokyo but way fun, especially if you like "noisy" people.
Osaka has some great drinking locations, even if you don't drink, I'd still recommend trying to go to a place in town, it is just so ... different. Don't do the hotel thingy, get out, eat at some of those wayside stand looking shops , try to see the concret castle, the TV tower, there is also "electronics town" NihonBashi which is almost as good as the one in Tokyo, the underground shopping complex in Umeda (get a map!!!), so much to do .... 
2 major drinking areas: ShinsaiBashi and Umeda. Umeda is higher end and you should be able to run across "real" geisha ... these are not the Kyoto type so you can save money and get an almost genuine experience. No diddling with the ladies. It's all onboard. ShinsaiBashi has a famous bridge with a neon light of guy running through the the finish -- get your picture taken by somebody walking.
Beware of the guys and ladies trying to pull you into bars. You get no action and pay for expensive drinks just to have a girl sit next to you. There are red light areas to do that and that service is excellent and a low fear factor ... much safer than other asian countries. Don't ask how I know  This is just part of being a "Japanese guy".
Have fun! |
Thanks for the tips.
I'm actually in Takasago which is very industrial. Hopefully I'll get into Osaka this weekend and maybe find my old boss who owns a motorcycle dealership there.
We just got back from our first night out. It was definently an adventure.
It's hard to tell what a bar or restaurant is since they're so small. First we went in a small karaoke bar that couldn't seat more than 15 people. We couldn't communicate but they were very friendly and even bought us a couple beers. They also gave us some seaweed candy and bananas!?!? As we were leaving they gave us a shot of Sake. They closed at 6pm so we left.
Then we went to a restaurant. It wasn't quite as easy as the train station which had samples to pick from. The menu in this place was all Japanese with no pictures. The waitress picked some things for us and we kept ordering the stuff we liked. The menu looked cheap with 150 yen appetisers and 800 yen entrees, but the bill was 13,000 yen so we either ate and drank more than we thought or we got the tourist price. Either way it was fun.