No Love (That's a Good Thing)

I'm riding on someone else's network from the hotel work selected (and is paying for). The connection is not very good so I'm not going to upload the video report from the capsule hotel I stayed in last night. I will, however, relay the trauma of seeking housing on what turned out to be a holiday weekend in Osaka.

I got into Osaka in the early afternoon and mooched around Namba and then in Shinsaibashi (where the Korean consulate and a lot of shopping in Osaka is located). I figured that in my wanderings I would find some place to stay. The two hotels I inquired at were full. An employee at the first hotel directed me on how to find another hotel but, because my Japanese isn't very good, I did not hear the part where he said that it is invisible to the human eye.

Like Korea, places are crammed on top of each other and in every nook and cranny imaginable meaning that the thousands of stores, bars, restaurants, ramen-yas, and hotels all crowd your field of vision. It is really difficult to find something you are specifically seeking because approximately three businesses will be squeezed into a space where in America only one might exist. I had a wonderful time looking around the area but with the burden of a hefty backpack and only five hours of sleep I faded in the early evening and found the troubles of finding someplace to sleep overwhelming.

I had a map, given to me by one of the hotels that had no rooms, with various hotels in the area marked on it. Sadly, this was of minimal help and at one point I looked down a street that was not marked on the map and found a half dozen places with "hotel" in their name. Now, I know Japan and I know about "love hotels" but my utter exhaustion left following my heart rather than my head and I walked down the street thinking, "well, dammit, this isn't on the map! There are a ton of hotels here!" Hotels with names like Blanc de Blanc and Love the Dolls that list two rates: One for a "rest" and another, for the more ambitious, for overnight. I might have tried my luck if they hadn't listed the prices based on a membership.

Finally, I asked a police officer for help and we discussed the options and he told me about a hotel in the area and I said I had no luck and showed him the map. I also said, "not a love hotel" during the conversation. He eventually flagged me a cab and discussed my predicament with the cabbie. He said, among other things,"A female foreigner here alone...A business hotel, not a love hotel...A normal hotel."