From Busan to Osaka

On to Japan!

By the time we checked in to our hotel in Busan it was after 3 am.  Continuing our trend of sleeping in, Andrew and I didn't get started until after noon the following day.  Busan is the second largest city in Korea, and although its beaches draw lots of domestic tourists during the summer, the city isn't known in the West as a tourist destination.  Well Korea in general isn't high on many Western tourists' radar, but those who do come tend to flock to Seoul.

We took a bus from Seoul, in the northwest, to Busan (sometimes
written Pusan) in the southeast.  South Korea is about the size of
Ohio, so a cross country trip is pretty quick.

When it comes to beach weather in Busan May is hit and miss; it was still the beginning of the month and the highs were stuck in the 60s, so the beaches were quiet.  I still want to see Busan in the summer - I wouldn't expect to relax so much as awe at the crowds.  In the summer months it gets so crowded that from above you might not be able to even see the sand!

Haeundae Beach, Busan's most popular, during the high season.
Not exactly my idea of some sand and serenity.

Aside from the beach Andrew and I checked out the Lotte Mall next to our hotel and searched for Korean cosmetics for Andrew's sister who lives in Dallas (she had asked him to bring a specific kind back, and of course we waited until the day before our flight to start looking).  We also did our laundry; there weren't any self-serve laundromats nearby so we had to take it to the cleaners.  That trip cost us $50 - we did need a few shirts dry cleaned, but other than that everything else was a simple wash!  I'm glad I did my laundry at the Airbnb place in Seoul and most of my clothes were still clean.

The next day, Thursday May 7th, we were scheduled to fly to Osaka.  Before our flight we took the subway to the Haeundae Beach; one of Andrew's friends had recommended a seafood restaurant in the area.  The meal was worth the trip, but by the time we got back to the hotel and picked up our laundry we only had 2 hours before departure.  With more time we could have taken the subway, but it involved two transfers and would have been close to an hour trip.  Instead we hailed a cab.  The trip still took over 20 minutes, but luckily the Busan airport is small and the security line was short.  We even had enough time for Andrew to get his last Sulbing dessert!

The flight took less than 90 minutes and by 5:30 we had landed in Osaka, Japan.  We finally made it to Japan, Andrew's most anticipated destination, and probably mine too.  It was Andrew's first time (aside from transiting at Narita Airport in Tokyo) and I was pretty close to a newbie as well.  I'd been there once before during Semester at Sea, but that was back in 2008 and only for six days.  Last time around I saw Kobe and Tokyo (here's the post) but missed out on Osaka.

map of the main islands of Japan; we flew to Osaka, the second
biggest city with a metro area of 19 million (which includes the
nearby cities of Kobe and Kyoto)

Osaka is smaller than Tokyo but still one of the 15 largest metro areas in 
the world (wiki).  7 of the top 10 are in Asia.

Andrew and I were staying at an Airbnb apartment near Tengachaya rail station.  Fortunately for us it was on the airport link route and we didn't need to transfer trains.  Over the next few days we learned that public transit in Japan is, at least for us, much more confusing than in Korea.  Don't get me wrong - Japan's subways and trains are a class (or several) above most other countries, especially America.  It's just that we got spoiled with the system in Seoul.  Andrew and I were both used to the Seoul subway, which may have skewed our judgement, but I have to say that it's the best transit system I've ever used.  So this isn't so much a knock on Japan as praise of Seoul.

Part of the reason why Japan's public transit (well we only experienced Osaka and Tokyo) isn't as nice is simply because Japan modernized earlier than Korea.  Trains have been updated, but many of the stations and ticket machines have been in operation for half a century.  In a sense modernizing more recently has helped; just look at New York City's subway: one of the oldest in the world and now outclassed by most major cities in East Asia.

The old ticket machines confused us; for a few minutes we just stood
there looking like idiots until we decided to learn by watching a local!

The public transport map is mind boggling (there are better city maps - this one's of the surrounding area too).

The city itself also reflected earlier modernization.  Many of the buildings were constructed in the 1960s and 70s as Japan's post WW2 economic miracle was in full swing.  When the massive real estate and stock market bubble burst in the early 1990s construction slowed and economic growth ground to a halt.  Japan now moves more like a mature European economy than it's booming Asian neighbors, but that's because the country is also much wealthier and developed than the likes of China and Vietnam.  Korea is also moving in that direction but another decade or so behind.

Japan is hard to summarize or define; if I had to pick only one word I'd go with unique.  Japan opened to the outside world nearly 150 years ago (starting with the Meiji restoration in 1868), but even before then the country had been influenced over the centuries by Chinese civilization, often via Korea.  In order avoid becoming a colony Japan attempted to borrow much from the Western powers that did the colonizing.  When the rush to Westernize (or more accurately to modernize) went too far too fast, there were push-backs and calls among conservatives to preserve traditional culture.

What's resulted over the years is a unique blend of foreign and domestic influences.  Take the writing system as an example; Japanese borrows many Chinese characters but also uses two alphabets of its own creation (these are all used simultaneously - as if the language wasn't hard enough!).  Or take the Japanese home: most people live in apartment complexes in urban areas, a far cry from traditional rural houses.  Japanese law even mandates a limited lifespan for housing, which is torn down and rebuilt every few decades.  Yet inside the home furniture is often portable, allowing for multipurpose rooms, which have existed for centuries.  Many Japanese still sleep on tatami mats which they roll up and store during the daytime (with such limited space it makes sense that a sleeping area can be converted into a living room by day).

Room with tatami mats and a portable table; since many cities are so
densely populated Japanese apartments utilize space very efficiently.

A famous 'capsule apartment' complex in Tokyo; yes, each window is for a
different apartment (more like a closet).  Now most apartments in
Japan are small, but not this tiny.  Residents voted to tear down the
building, which will be replaced with a new residential block.

Japan is unique (there goes that word again) but there are definite similarities with South Korea.  Space is limited, cities are compact, most people take public transport, and numerous restaurants and convenient stores are rarely more than a few minutes' walk away.  Our neighborhood was relatively quiet but still interesting enough to warrant exploration during our first couple days.  We also spent a lot of our time walking around Namba and Umeda, the downtown areas.  Osaka is a huge metropolitan area but most of the action took place in those two districts, so we concentrated there.

I'll save the rest on Osaka for my next post, which should be soon!