We had only two days available for Osaka which we spent wandering around the shopping and entertainment districts of Shinsaibashi, Dotombori and Namba. The area is packed with shopping malls that stretch forever, and traditional small Japanese eateries, each with their own unique identity. A novel sight for us was the numerous pachinko parlours; crowded and extremely noisy gaming arcades containing hundreds of machines that appeared to be a cross between a slot poker machine and video game. It looked and sounded like pokies on LSD. The combination of gambling, the incredible din and the flashing lights must be mesmerizing, and addictive. At opening time early in the morning we saw long queues of people waiting to get in. We couldn’t believe the noise level inside and we wondered how the patrons, many of them older people, could tolerate such a din for more than a minute or two. But many seemed to be in there for hours. Pachinko parlours must create a lot of work for Japanese audiologists and ENT doctors (and no doubt gambling therapists too).
On Sunday we took a subway to Yodoyabashi to see the fabulous Museum of Oriental Ceramics near the Osaka Central Public Hall, the latter a handsome building being sketched by numerous artists seated in the park across the road. The oriental ceramics museum houses a large collection of Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Persian ceramic objects varying in age between 300 and 2,000 years. There were some fantastic pieces, including two small objects officially declared as National Treasures of Japan. Unfortunately, by the time I came to these, I had seen a No photography sign and felt compelled to put the camera away. So all I have to show you is an 11th century Song Dynasty celadon ewer.
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