So I'm testing a new format for organizing places I've eaten and food photos..! Nomnomnom, enjoy yes?

San Siro サンシーロ
Umeda, Osaka, Osaka, JP

Access:
〒530-0001
大阪府大阪市北区梅田1-11-4
大阪駅前第4ビルB1
TEL:050-5522-4031
 Hours: 11:00am til Midnight (last order is at 11pm)

The closest station to this lovely little hole in the wall is Higashi-Umeda on the Tanimachi Line. Of course, seeing as the whole of Umeda is connected by a myriad of underground tunnels, any of the other Umeda stations (JR Osaka, JR Kitashinchi, Hankyu Umeda, Hanshin Umeda, Nishi-Umeda on Yotsubashi Line, Umeda on Midosuji Line) will, as long as you can find your way to the Higashi-Umeda walkways. The hallways for the Tanimachi line should lead to a dead end of ticket gates, so from there you have to go up some stairs to your left, through some doors, and you'll find San Siro to your right.

 I'm not a real food enthusiast, so I won't go into any details about authenticity and such. I really don't care, as long as it tastes good and is CHEAP (I'm a simple person really).

San Siro, despite it's what-I-like-to-call-fancy trappings, is pretty reasonably price as far as bars go in Japan. It's definitely in the western-style, with large format TVs hanging about, but then there's usually opera music pouring from the speakers. To go with the whole "Italian" them I would suspect. :)

ALSO, one of the few places with Heineken. That itty-bitty one was 400 yen and the garlic bread-sticks were on the affordable side as well, and for those drinkers out there, they offer All-you-can-drink for an hour and a half.



But seeing as you can get alcohol literally everywhere, the biggest draw for me is the pizza. Hot DAMN is this pizza good. This one is the Margarita pizza which is only 780 yen and it's more than enough to enjoy all on it's lonesome. If I'm feeling particularly Hulky, I could be tricked into ordering two, but I would never make it through the second one~





Since everything was just so reasonable, we ordered this huge cream puff for desert. It was so goood ;w;...

This puff was probably 150 or 198 yen and so,so worth it.

On a separate trip, I also had their Ichiro Tart, 340yen, which was pretty good too!

Seems like a great place for throwing a party or going to each with a bunch of people. A shame it's not open later, but that might be connected to the fact that it is located within the bowels of some office building.

If you're in Umeda, and you really want some GOOD pizza, then go here. Unless you can find that place in Nakazaki-cho~ *mischievous giggle?*

No one told me you were here..! I was just off doing things, absolutely not in a effort to ignore you. Actually, I quite like you as far as months go, things have just been busy. Truly! How about we give it a retry next year??

Regards.

But seriously, September was an okay month..! A lot of learning, with bits of fun thrown in on the sides. :)

For starters, my band had it's first live on the 10th!!
And it was pretty okay! The only regret is not having a drummer in time for it :< So we had to do that part electronically. Also, we were sort of at odds with the genres of all the other bands there.

But the club's owner really dug us and wants us to come back for other shows, so that's a definite plus! :)

And we finally (this month) recruited a drummer (who is quite badass btw, I'm jealous of her mad skillz), so now we'll get serious or something.

Shota also snapped some nice photos of us..! Kudos to him seeing as he didn't really want to go (that's a whole other can of worms we won't open right now). My only grudge is that my arms look really.. gangly :<  I can't wait to get back into doing yoga every day so I can tone up a bit~

I told friends and fam back home I would share some video from it but.. I don't want toooo! Too shy/embarrassed/awkward?? I don't know, but I'm barely comfortable sharing my artwork, let alone things with me singing and moving around like some humanoid quad-o-pus. Someday *wistful sigh* :)

The rest of September has really just been working. Or rather, figuring out where I want to work until I take a small sojourn back to the States for Christmas. I applied for a billion jobs, went to 6 interviews and ended up giving it a go at 5 places (one place was a girls bar, which I wasn't aware until the end of the interview DD:).

But I'd like to do a separate post about that in detail, mostly talking about the dynamics of working at a shot bar (catch sales, which I hate or conversing with customers, which I sorta like), reactions from customers of a *GASP* married woman working in a bar (I guess bars just scream sleazy, when they really shouldn't, but that's also a different can of worms), and the overall kickass time I'm having at one place.

..When I was thinking about what to write, a billion and one things came to mind, but now that I've actually sat down to write, I've drawn a blank. How lame. :< Guess I better just end it here with a sunset photo! ♥

To a more proactive and interesting October! :)

★Peaces★

Fancy menu from an izakaya

And life was like 'OKAY, now do stuff.'
So I respectfully obliged, and got off my lazy bum. I've been to 3 successful interviews for part-time gigs, all of which I decided to take on, mostly because the first two were for English Conversation schools at an extremely part-time-type schedule. Which is good and bad. I won't lose my coveted and preciously held "time" however, I can't really make enough money to well.. anything. ;>

So I did the smart thing, and applied for some other stuff, mostly working late nights at bars, which is something I've always wanted to do (don't ask why, cuz I'm not really sure lol). This is, of course, impossible (the bar-tending part) stateside unless you are licensed/certified, however in Japan, you don't need one! You can just fumble around behind the bar and throw shit stuff into people's drinks. Not literally, obviously, because the Japanese take drinking very seriously because they do it all the time. Anyway, they'll be training me while I work, and there are no dress codes, bleached hair, piercings, whatever you want to wear (except for the shirt, which is black) are all fair game. I can choose my days as well, and how I get paid (daily or weekly). AND I lucked out, and applied to a Hip-hop & Reggae bar, so I get this weird feeling like this is the one time my ethnicity worked in my favor. I could get used to this ;)

Though I may have to get back into listening to hip-hip on a somewhat regular basis (the last new artist I picked up was Wale.. and he came out a few years back I think..).

The name of fancy menu izakaya.

So I get started this upcoming Monday night. I'm going to go into it with as much positivity as I can muster, because really, that's just the best way to go about things.

But then I also have an interview at another bar tomorrow!! I keep sort of forgetting. I should have canceled, but I feel really guilty about canceling after accepting the interview and all.. Besides! The guy in charge of recruiting was using emoticons in the e-mail. You can't cancel on that..!! :D

SO I just may be running around Umeda and Kyoubashi on late weeknights and weekends. I'll probably write about what a horrible idea that was around October or November (if I even make it that long).

One of many, many, many sunset photos.

I still want to apply for one more job though. JUST one more. Because this job is for working at events like concerts, festivals and the like, and I REALLY would like to try that. Though I don't know how good I would be at talking with the customers of those said events, I definitely think I could offer a lot of help in the background though.

And then I'm done, pinky swear. Damn, it is quite nice to have things to do. :3

I should have some decent posts coming up soon, some ancient burial grounds, the largest lake in Japan AAAND.. something else I can't quite remember. Bah, must not have been that important. ;)

Time to say goodbye to summer and .. nope, that's it, just summer. Bring it on autumn! >:D

★Peaces★

Check out Wale! PG County Represent!! ;D

Year number two!! And even though I really enjoyed last year's fest (watching KORN is something I'm not likely to forget for a few years), this year was an improvement..! I stayed until the end of that last show on the main stage, ate delicious food and somehow managed not to spend a buttload on merch (that was a bit of a challenge). AND I didn't get separated from my group (for long) which I was paranoid about this year.

Though I must admit the Sunday line-up was a bit sparse. The only bands I really wanted to see were Death Cab for Cutie (which was probably my fave live from that day), ONE OK ROCK, Franz Ferdinand, and Green Day. I watched a little of the HIATUS (and got to see a bunch of middle-aged women mosh?? it was weird and unexpected), and some odd electronica band called St. Vincent (methinks). Most of the time was spent lounging with friends, trying to fight off heat stroke as it was incredibly sweltering weather that day.
I'm not really into live reports, so I'll try to steer clear of that and just describe the pictures in the order I shot them throughout the day.

Photo op number one: A change in decor.
I noticed they tried to up the ante with these potato-sack banner. Nice :)
We showed up pretty early, around ten ante meridiem, to catch one of the early acts on the main stage, ONE OK ROCK.

They were really good! I love the singer's voice..!! ;w; And he's grown up a LOT since the last I saw them (via the internets with their video Naisho something-or-other. I'm a pro with titles). I like him with his natural hair (I think it's natural at least lol).



Providing drinks next to the main stage.

See if you can find Spiderman in this picture! He was lucky enough to make it on stage with Green Day :<







After ONE OK ROCK, we wandered over to the Mountain stage where Alexandra Stan was getting her set ready. We didn't stay through her first song, but she seems pretty well known/liked.








Prancing around the Mountain stage sign, trying to fend of the delirium and probably early signs of dehydration (though to my credit, I downed over 2 liters of liquids throughout the day).

A shot from the hill behind Oasis, which is where most of the food stalls are. Plus lots of water machines to spray the masses down with.

Note to attendees: Don't bother with any fancy hair-dos and extensive make-up. It'll just melt off/sweat off/get washed away.

Wandering near the arena area. Official merch is also sold here, along with this new and over-priced sweets cafe they started these year.

PRO TIP: If you need a bathroom break, I would definitely suggest using the bathrooms inside the arena. The wait isn't as long, you're indoors, and they bathrooms are pretty clean. There are washiki (Japanese toilets) though, so be prepared. *sumo stance*
Bathroom needs and hunger satiated, when headed back over to the Mountain stage for Death Cab for Cutie..!! I love them sooo ;w;

I was dancing and singing throughout the entire set. I even got to start my own slow clap. YEAH! :D


It rained, very sparaingly, but overall the weather was great. The clouds that did give up a respite from the sun were lovely too!! :D I love cloud~

Surprise festival bonus!! :DD


HARD GAY!
And his partner whose name I never remember.

But anyway, Hard Gay!! He's probably one of my favourite comedians/wrestlers in Japan. Plus he's hot and incredibly romantic. His wife is so lucky!! :<
LOOK! It's an optical and meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection of light in water droplets in the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky!!
  A bit of Franz Ferdinand because I only got to see the very last bit :<


It was either Hard Gay or FF and seeing as I was much, much closer to HG.. The choice was relatively easy. FO!

And then the sun got tired and decided to go to bed. Or the earth continued doing it's natural thing and rotating, forcing the sun to appear lower in the western sky until it was completely obscured by the curvature of the earth. Thank you The Universe :D (I'm secretly planning to one day get a degree in either Astrophysics or Theoretical physics, probably the former since I'm more familiar with those theories wishful thinking).

Blah blah, I type too much :>

And then Green Day was like BOOM. Music. And we all started dancing/head banging/moshing/hardcore dancing. Good times for all.

The festvivities were capped off with a lovely display of fireworks. Awesome day and evening. Although it did take us 2 hours to get home, it was totally, completely, and without a doubt worth it. I'm looking forward to next year!!

Also, I took video this time since I had my point-and-shoot. But I haven't strung them together yet cuuuz.. I'm lazy :> Soon, I will!! Plus I have lots of stuff from my trip to Lake Biwa with my family that I'm also eager to share.

Summer is almost over, and there's some relief and some sadness that comes with that knowledge. I'm getting read to trudge back into employment, still not doing exactly what I want, BUT my households has needs and I've been a bum long enough. :)

Hope everyone else had a spectacular August! ♥

★Peaces★

Way back in the day, I went to Shirahama. Well, technically it was in July. Not too far back in the day, but there isn't much of an excuse for such a delay but in my defense.. My house was at a constant 35-37 degrees Celsius everyday...? (That's in the mid to high 90s my Fahrenheit friends).

So yea, I've been limiting my activities to the cooler evening hours, but even then it's been 90 percent drawing, which is awesome for my portfolio but sad for my blog. Awww :(

But this post ain't about me sitting at home sweating..! It's about this awesome trip I took with my mother-in-law and her friends. They're all about going somewhere, eating, drinking, going into the onsen and then going home. Which is absolutely fine by me. :D

On our way to Shirahama (by car), we stopped at a seaside fish mart for some lunch, fresh from the water! That sashimi was sooo good, but raw squid... Never again. We don't go together. AT ALL. DD:


Shirahama is probably around 2.5 hours from Osaka (about 2 from where we left in Nara), and at the moment, the highway to Wakayama is without a toll, so it's a great idea for a short trip in the Kansai area.

After arriving in Shirahama, we immediately went off to Adventure World, which is like a zoo with a little amusement park thrown in on the side.

There's a safar park and even pandas, but when you first walk in, Disneyland's mainstreet immediately comes to mind. It's a bit weird. Not bad, just weird. :x

We were in Adventure World during a slow time because it was pretty empty. But it also feels like quite the relic from the bubble area and in desperate need of some sort of upgrade. Especially when my mother-in-law proceeded in telling me how everything is exactly the same as when she brought Shota here. When he was 5.

Check out this penguin parade though! How adorbs~~



We hopped on the safari bus for a tour through the African safari area (there are animals native to the Americas there though sooo...). You can take a walk through the park or rent a jeep as well. Prices for the various bike, car and jeep tours jump from 500 yen to 10,000 yen. Choose wisely. ;)

That day was also crazy hot, so you can see the bears keeping cool. The free bus tour drives through the two main areas, starting with the herbivores, then to carnivores.


One more safari picture! This tiger trying to cool off as well. I'm sure he'd kill for a real jungle with it's cool shade. Awww :(










We also checked out the pandas..! I love how these two were so relaxed looking. And they do have all the food they could possibly eat, absolutely no need to worry..!
Also, I think they're twins. Or the other pair sitting in the adjacent cage. I didn't read the signs :x







Next went to two of the three pools to check out some aquatic fun. The first one actually included a lot of non-water-related animals like dogs, chickens, and a miniature horse. It was incredibly cute though, parading around the front of the tank.

Does anyone ever feel any kind of guilt for watching these kinds of events?? It just seems so.. forced :< And I'm sure (or at least I hope) they're well taken care of. But still. :<



I'd heard of Adventure World from some of my former students and some friends. It seemed pretty magical in my mind, but I'm also a student of animation so my imagination is probably a hyper-extended version of any normal persons. Hence, I have to admit there was a bit of disappointment. It's just okay, not terrible, but not fantastic. I probably wouldn't make the 2 hour train ride from Osaka just for Adventure World. A trip to the beach (which wasn't included this time around D:) plus a hotel buffet would also be necessary.

But I would totally go here again with my niece and nephew. They would LOVE IT. And watching them freak out over animals is just tons of fun.


English pamphlets abound, but I don't suspect any staff speak any English. But maybe there's someone working there just waiting to surprise us all with their mack-daddy English skillz.

Bonus STAGE!
We stayed a nice Japanese style hotel/onsen for one night and gorged outselves on seafood, some Tandoori chicken (random, I know, but SO good), and BEER. Don't sleep on these old ladies, they can DRINK.

Here you can see.. yakiniku, some oyesters (methinks), veggies (pumpkin and broccoli), shrimp and giant crab.










And then delicious buffet foods! Sushi, spinach, fried chicken, potato salad, tempura and Tandoori chicken. NOM NOM.

I'm so hungry now ;w;..








Then we took the party to the karaoke bar..!! Technically, it's called a snack bar, but snack bars, seemingly as a rule, offer karaoke as well. Cue two hour nomihoudai and lots of enka (which I not-so-secretly love).

Karaoke with older Japanese people is actually one of my preferred methods of karaoke. They're way more into it than the younger people who always suffer from the "HOMG I'm too shy/cool/freaked out to do this!!" thing. It's a weird 180 from the way young people act out in the streets compared to the older crowd. This obviously isn't across the board, but just something that I noticed occurs pretty consistently. :)

I wanted to add our visit to an ancient tomb to the end, but this is seriously long enough. DD: Also, I'd love to do another one of these trips with some friends closer to my age (that way, I'll also get to put people in the pictures. how bout that?!). A lot of buses for these onsen hotels leave from Shin-Osaka as well, so it seems pretty easy to set up. The hard part is time, which no one ever really has :/ Damn..

OH, and I FINALLY got my visa. It's only took ohhh I don't know about 2 months. *BIGSIGH* So I'm going back into the work force, hopefully by the end of this month. I won't lie though, I was extremely pleased with my elongated summer vacation :D Let's do it again sometime immigration bureau~
Take care everyone!! Enjoy this last stretch of summer ;o;

★Peaces★

A few weeks back, I got a flyer in my post box for a local matsuri called Bucchigiri Matsuri.

Actually, the flyer appeared on my refrigerator one day, but I assume it came through the post box :0 Either way, I decided to check it out seeing as it was only a 6 or 7 minute walk from the apartment. Hence the 'super local' title. :D





 The festival was held at Horikoshi Shrine, in the Tennoji district of Osaka. It's a really small local spot, just a block north of the Tennoji Station.

From what I read on the official website, they've got a pretty long history, dating back to the 6th century CE. I think it was established by Japan's first empress regent Empress Suiko at the same time as Shitennoji (temple) which is right across the street (but the article was a bit difficult to read, so I could have gotten some bits wrong D:).  You can read it here.

I don't think this festival is to commemorate any particular Japanese holiday. Just a nice summer gathering of people in the area, which is a nice break from all the huge summer festival going on everywhere.

There were a couple local artisans selling shirts and crafts, then this guy ←←. I don't think he's selling those blocks, just playing with them. I wanted to play too, but I felt weird asking :<



They also had some performance arts..! :) This guy did some sumi-e, while his son preformed some songs from a CD he released last year.

There was also a magic/acrobat show, but I missed most of that. D:







Previously mentioned son, singing his songs. :3












And dancing girls! A local Japanese dancing school (I guess) doing traditional Indian dances. The little girl was super cute. :D










The following day, I headed out to Takatsuki City (still in Osaka)to visit the Osaka Prefecture Short-term Animal Shelter (大阪府動物一時保護センター).

From here, you can adopt rabbits, ferrets, cats and dogs. You do have to make an appointment in order to see any of the animals though. And you have to take a bus from Takatuki Station for about 40 minutes into the mountains.
It is located next to an onsen though, so you could make a nice day trip out of it :)

We were in the market for adopting a nice cat to live with us and keep me company as I start looking for more work from home (and also because Shota really wanted a pet, but a rabbit was out of the question).

Unfortunately for Shota, he had a severe allergic reaction to the cats there. I mean super itchy, rashy, red-eyed reaction. We couldn't stay in the room for more than 30 minutes. And so I knew a cat from the shelter might be out of the question, though I don't think they were particularly dirty or anything. They weren't quite as friendly but it's very likely they've been a little traumatized. They were all kittens though, none older than 6 months I think.

So after a long and sad ride back to the station, I tried to make peace with the fact that I wouldn't have a furry little friend to take home :(

But we decided to inquire about cat allergies at one of the pet shops near the station, and what do ya know.




We walked out with this little guy. He's a type of short-haired cat (an Ocicat, a breed from America :3) so Shota has an almost minimal reaction to him.

I still wish I could've adopted one though, because usually if they don't get adopted, they get put down. But it does make me wonder what happens to the cats in pet shops since they always seem to be under 6 months old, and I can't imagine they sell that quickly. But perhaps they do.. I really hope they do. And I really hope the cats from the center don't get put down too. They were uber cute ;3; Kitteh...

So now we sit at home together, entertaining one another when we're not dying from heat, watching episodes of The Big Bang Theory or The Universe.

He so cute :DD

I actually have a few more things and photos I'd like to share, but I'll have to save that for another post. Also, we're almost upon mid-summer (or a little past it), and I still haven't seen a beach. I'm getting antsy :< *random admission*

I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer!★





And I leave you with this video of Bingley jumping around to some Charlotte playing in the background~

I like to peg myself as an adventurer who enjoys a healthy leap into the unknown. And that was relatively true until I got a job and loss all sense of happy-fun-times in exchange for always sleepy-tired times. But since I've dropped that, I'm going back to being an explorer. Of sorts.

During the sleepy-times, Shota and I developed a pretty consistent schedule of visiting Namba on weekends until we knew it so well that.. well, we decided we knew it too well. We had a spot for Indian food, several karaoke sweet spots, a spot for desert buffet-ing, and ice cream spot, a spot for a little sports and rec, even a spot for ice skating (as rarely as we do that).

As a result of the monotony, we decided it was time to let go of Namba and branch out a bit. And by branching out I mean moving up 3 or 4 kilometers to Kita Osaka (Northern Osaka) or better known as Umeda. :)

It had never occurred to me that Umeda was the Osaka tourist hot spot until several visits and hearsays from friends and also the delayed realisation that all references to Osaka Station were actually references to the Umeda area (in my mind, Osaka station was Osaka-Uehonmachi station).

Oops.

Well actually no, not oops. I like my Osaka-Uehonmachi as my anchor point and until Umeda proves itself anchor point worthy in my high-and-mighty imagination, so things shall stay :P

But it's not bad either. :)

Umeda Sky Building(s)

For this visit, we started at a popular tourist spot for the Umeda area, the Umeda Sky Building. Actually, it's two buildings. Connected by those distant walkways (and another walkway closer to the ground). The buildings reach up to forty floors, and I hear they offer some of the best view in Osaka. You'll understand why I wrote "I hear" as opposed to "I think" or "I know that."

Despite what's pictured on the map on it's official website, the Umeda Sky Building is a bit of a walk from the JR, Hankyu and subway station. It took us about 15-20 minutes from the Higashi-Umeda Station, but that is probably the station farthest from the building :x
And we're sloooooow... So basically take our time with a grain of salt. ...:x

Tanabata

Located in one of  the walkways that leads you to the elevators that will take you to the observatory was a lovely display for Tanabata.

I did take photos of each one, but I won't bore you with them here. They'll all be uploaded to the We ♥ Kansai tumblr later on though..! :)

Elevator fare for the Observatory

Shota and I were fully prepared for the full-on awesome that would be the observatory until we saw this sign. →→

I really shouldn't be surprised about seeing signs like this. I mean, after all, if you want nice things (like snazzy observatories), you have to be willing to put down for it. Unfortunately (or fortunately? depending on how you see things), it wasn't in our budget for that day, so we just enjoyed our view from the third floor and headed back downstairs.

We're going to save all the gorgeousness for another empty Sunday (plenty to be had, I'm sure).

I am a little sad we didn't get to see the Tanabata decorations they had on the top floors. Ah well! :)

The smexy.

After the sky building, we decided to wander in search of a little cool-ness.

I think with a lot of Osakan people, Umeda has a very 'bouji' (click here for a definition if you're unfamiliar with the term ;) ) image so it's mostly devoid of the young and penniless (or the economically creative as I like to call them :D). It's definitely cleaner than Namba, with no hobo's to be found. But I figure even an uptight area like Umeda has it's own underground chill spots for the less monetarily endowed.

And I guess that's where Chayamachi is supposed to come in. According to Shota and what he's heard from other Osakan people, it's supposed to be Umeda's equivalent of Ame-mura.

Again, definitely not as dirty as it's southern counterpart, but I guess I could see it. It is close to where HEP5 is located, and that's a well-known youth hotspot, and also the location of Osaka's largest number of purikura machines in one game center. If that doesn't draw in the young folks, I don't know what will.

While I couldn't find any nice streetwear shops like the ones in Ame-mura, I DID find a ESP Custom Guitars shop. And across from that was a music shop selling that smexy Spider-Man guitar. I'd almost ninja gaiden someone for that guitar (I'd definitely ninja gaiden someone for a Batman guitar..).

NU Chayamachi shopping center

After a lot of circle walking, we eventually decided to enter NU Chayamachi, which is, as you have probably already guessed, a shopping center.

Nothing particularly new or exciting in here. HEP5 has a larger variety of shops and a gentler price range. And it can be seen that NU Chayamachi is for that OL/Salaryman group that isn't quite yet ready to retire to Daimaru's/Takashimaya's/Hankyu's/Kintetsu's.

There was a nice music shop with a decent price range for it's instruments, but nothing really outstanding (and really, it's hard to live up to a Spider-man guitar). There was also a Tower Records shop, but finding CDs isn't really a hard thing to do in Japan.

A sweater in summer!? Cray~

I wouldn't be in a rush to bring my friends out to this particular center, but I think Chayamachi still has more to offer.
I shall be back, in a better pair of walking/exploring shoes than ←← those.

I ain't done with you yet Chayamachi!! >:D

I was going to share another shopping center (actually outlet mall) that we checked out, but apparently I couldn't be bothered to photograph anything but the ferris wheel because that was all I found on my camera from that day. OOPS.

If anyone ever asks you to go to RINKU Premium Outlets, just say NO. Unless you really need some sportswear and are certain that they can't be purchased anywhere else for a similar price (and mostly likely, they can). Save yourself the trip and train fare..! Though I would recommend it for Non-Japanese girls who want some nicely fitting jeans for a good price :D

Anyway, hopefully the next post will be salutations from some place with lots of sand and sun..! ;] Take care♥

★Peaces★