thefinaltouches

We had a deadline for getting to Osaka. The game started at 6:00pm. We had to have our bags put away in a train station locker (as we had no accommodation for the evening) and be on the Kobe subway line enroute to Koshi-en. We arrived amidst a sea of people, some in business suits, some in more casual attire, but all with the same purpose and expectations: to watch the Hanshin Tigers crush the Hiroshima Toyo Carp! The atmosphere was electric as we walked into the stadium and the crowd was already deafening us with their chanting and banging of small plastic baseball bats together giving their team as much support as humanly possible. I've never seen a more enduring effort by a crowd in my life, there was not a single point during the entire baseball game in which there was silence from the crowd, constant cheering and singing and banging and chanting... It was amazing and, as I said, the atmosphere was simply electric because of it.. I couldn't help but join in. The Tigers? They won by a mile.
Back in Osaka, we found a Manga cafe tucked away in a small alleyway and stayed there for the night. In fact, both of our nights in Osaka were spent updating blogs, writing emails and sleeping in the reclinable, yet squeaky seats of this internet cafe. During our last two days we pretty much wandered aimlessly about the city.. We even went to see an IMAX film - the same one about deep sea life as I saw a few years ago in Sydney, just in a slightly different language :) We took our last tour through the biggest electronics store I've ever seen, Yodobashi camera, before exchanging some currency, Yen for Yuan, and our final dinner in Japan.
The following morning we made our way to the Osaka Nanko international ferry terminal to check in for our 48-hour ferry across the Sea of Japan to another, completely different country.. China!
So that's it... Our time in Japan has come to an end! Time seems to be going so fast it's scary..

I'll not forget this country, it has taken a place in my heart!

Photos:

off to school

Manga-style.. so many comics..

a team before the match moves alcohol from cans to cups

Baseball!!

someone did something exciting!

as the Tigers won.. so many condoms!

waiting for the subway

Looking sexy at the IMAX