Fitzey and I were basically the only foreigners in the whole place; the populous was largely middle aged Japanese business men.
The toilet area only contained squat toilets. The showers were only communal seated shower areas much like those found in the onsen wash up area.
After checking in you were able to pay an extra 200 yen for checked baggage storage; no bags allowed in the capsule and they wouldn't fit in the provided locker. Every time I needed to get something from my bag I had to ask at reception.
The beds themselves weren't too bad, but the bean/rice pillows weren't the comfiest of this trip! I had to sleep with ear plugs for the first time due to the snoring of all the Japanese around me - oh well! At least it was long enough to fit in...
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Sunday was my visit to the Osaka Auto Messe .. wow.
It was a total overload - so many amazing cars and so many people. I managed to navigate there from the capsule hotel without too many dramas - it is hosted at INTEX Osaka.
Walking to the event was just a constant stream of incredibly modified street cars - Osaka has the best car scene in the country. Walking through the car park after definitely solidified this!
I could post a hundred photos right now but I'll try to restrain myself to show only a few to get my point across about how crazy the whole experience was.
That last car is a Honda Odyssey - a family van we have back home.
One of the most interesting things is walking through and seeing hordes of guys standing around taking photos. You think "oh what car must be getting this much attention?" Getting closer you see that it is just a promo girl standing in front of the car posing for photos. Men with their cameras flock and looking at their view finders, are only taking photos of the girls. Why bother?
That said, this phenomenon is not new to me. I experienced exactly the same thing at the Super GT race I saw on my last visit. As soon as a girl was on stage, men would flock to take photos - crazy culture indeed!
That night Fitzey and I walked through Dotonbori for a while after checking into our next hostel. The new hostel was a private room for the price of a dorm, a nice welcomed change of pace with peace and quiet!
Dotonbori is one of the popular night life areas in Osaka, close to the JR Namba station. We ended up not actually going in anywhere, just walking around and taking in the sites. Its a very cool area with a river running down the centre and lights everywhere - and plenty of photo opportunities!
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We jumped on the shinkansen bullet train to Toyko, an easy three hour trip that covers half the country!
The train ride was spent either reading or listening to an incredible podcast I have been told about earlier - Serial. It's a true story based around a murder that happened in 1999 and even after one episode I can highly recommend it!
Given the nature of a podcast story I was able to listen and take in what was being said, while staring out at the beautiful scenery as life flew by at 300kph. A great train ride indeed!
A snow capped Mount Fuji (above) was quite a treat to see!
This place is easily the most beautiful hostel I have ever seen - maybe even hotel for that matter!
Everything here is handmade from wood sourced in Hokkaido, with stunning accents used around wherever possible.
It was then time to jump on a local train to Akihabara Electric Town. It was not my first time visiting here but it was just as outrageous as I remember. Streets are covered in anime and video game signs, lights are everywhere at night and stores are nothing but electronics, video games, arcades and anime.
My time in Akihabara was spent wandering through the stores and surrounding streets, taking in all that this cultural hub of Japan has to offer.
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