Octopus sign at the Atchichi Honpo Nishinari restaurant in Osaka, which sells takoyaki, a popular Osaka snack consisting of octopus bits in fried batter balls. (Isabel Shen/YJI)
– Osaka –
Street scenes
(Isabel Shen/YJI)(Isabel Shen/YJI)
Above left:The Dotonbori Canal. Dotonbori is an entertainment district in Osaka often linked to the term kuidaore, which, in Japanese, means to bankrupt oneself through eating and drinking. Such temptations were not discreet – colossal (and sometimes moving) seafood sculptures dangled above restaurant doors, and digital ads and ambient lights flashed neon in the same fashion as an anglerfish’s glowing lure.
Above right: A hidden alley in Namba, a district of Osaka. The brash graffiti, illicitly placed stickers, and mildly messy sidewalk are uncharacteristic of superficially neat and conformist Japanese society.
Osaka Castle is an iconic castle tower built in 1583 and reconstructed multiple times, most recently in 1931. Immense stone walls surround it and, at the time of year the author visited, its moat was coated in a snow of fallen cherry blossoms. (Isabel Shen/YJI)
Let’s eat!
A tuna head at the Kuromon Market (a.k.a “Osaka’s Kitchen”). The size and height of an ice chest, the tuna’s toothy mug was a prime example of Japanese seafood plenty. As a slim set of islands, Japan has ample access to marine life, which is apparent in local cuisine. (Isabel Shen/YJI)The Isomarusuisan Dotombori restaurant in Dotonbori. (Isabel Shen/YJI)
Convenience
Kansai International Airport’s Family Mart (Japan’s second-largest convenience store chain). Family Mart, with its (comparatively) cheap, quality products ranging from icy Gatsby face wipes to boxed lunches, held tight to the tenets of convenience. To an American accustomed to convenience stores stocked with Red Dye 40 spiked drinks and oily carbs of dubious quality and provenance, Family Mart was akin to the infamous Japanese toilet: an optimized version of the mundane. (Isabel Shen/YJI)(Isabel Shen/YJI)
Above left:Daiko Now is a convenience store in an Osaka subway station, where snacks and toiletries are readily accessible; it’s easy for an office worker to grab a few necessities after a long day at work.
The Okoppe Milk Stand in a department store in Osaka. It serves desserts using milk sourced from Hokkaido, where most Japanese dairy products come from. Milk was popularized in Japan by the West in the 1800s. (Isabel Shen/YJI)
– Kyoto –
Night life
The KING Kawaramachi Parlor, a pachinko parlor. Pachinko is similar to pinball and is often used for gambling. (Isabel Shen/YJI)
Out and about
A food display in Nishiki Market, a dense marketplace in Kyoto overflowing with seafood, pickled vegetables, culinary items, and more. (Isabel Shen/YJI)
A holy place
The Yasui Kompira-gu Shrine is coated with papers holding peoples’ hopes for creating and cutting connections. Participants enter the rock, bow, and then enter again to return to the original side before attaching the paper with their wish to the rock. (Isabel Shen/YJI)
Nature
Cherry blossoms over a stream in the Gion district of Kyoto. The delicate cherry blossom connotes spring and life’s evanescence in Japan, and locals flock to view them in spring. However, thanks to climate change, cherry blossom season has been coming sooner and sooner, and it was mere luck that the author visited Japan in time to view the flowers. (Isabel Shen/YJI)(Isabel Shen/YJI)(Isabel Shen/YJI)
Above left:The Arashiyama Bamboo Forest is a much sought-after tourist attraction in Kyoto. The vegetal majesty of the bamboo forest endured, even while packed with tourists. Light streamed through the bamboo stalks, birds chirped, and the rumble of several thousand other tourists also looking for calm rattled the ground for a meditative experience.
Above right:A drink vending machine near the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. Purveying a diverse assortment of soft drinks, fruit-flavored beverages, and caffeine, drink vending machines and their protean offerings seemed present every few steps.
Cherry blossoms in the Gion district of Kyoto. (Isabel Shen/YJI)
Isabel Shen is a Junior Reporter and Senior Illustrator with Youth Journalism International.
Never thought i’d see such a beautiful vending machine in my life. But the more i see of japan the more i want to visit it, such a truly neat and cultured nation.
Never thought i’d see such a beautiful vending machine in my life. But the more i see of japan the more i want to visit it, such a truly neat and cultured nation.