Japan - Osaka

In Osaka, we stayed at a 'capsule hotel' - invented for business men too tired or otherwise unable (i.e. drunk) to make the trip home to the suburbs, you pay about $20 or so to sleep in the somewhat coffin-like 'capsule' for the night.

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The capsule hotel we stayed at was huge - 400 capsules on 4 floors. It had locker rooms, showers, steam rooms, reading rooms with newspapers and comic books and a cafeteria. They provided pajamas, towels and all toiletry. You can even buy new dress shirts and socks for work the next day. Women's capsules were in a separate area where an extra key was needed to get in.

Capsules:

Inside the capsule - there is a radio, an alarm clock and a coin-operated TV ($1 per 10 minutes!):

(sorry, that's my foot)

The capsule hotel was very clean (almost sterile) and the capsule was surprisingly spacious inside, but it was a bit claustrophobic and I woke up to everyone else's alarm at 6am.

This is America-mura, where the uber-trendy Japanese kids shop:

Shopping - the Kim family favorite pastime:

Neon signs at Shinsibashi area:

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Osaka is a very modern city. The only historical site is its castle, built from 1583:
We continued our eating spree in Osaka...

We had omurice (rice with tomato sauce inside an omelet) at a restaurant that claims to have invented it in 1925:

Conveyor belt sushi, where you pick whichever sushi plate you want from the moving conveyor belt. The faucet on the left is hot water for the tea:

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Ramen:
We had oden nabe (fish cake hot pot) and sake at an izakaya (Japanese style drinking establishment where they also serve food). You actually order stuff yourself on that computer screen on the table. We ordered 5 of something we didn't recognize by mistake and had to cancel:

And of course, sushi: