OK, I’m going to do the same thing I did yesterday because I’m meeting my buddy for dinner and I’m not sure how late I’ll be out. Hopefully not too late, since I’m not sleeping very well during this trip.

I got up this morning and I have two things I needed to do. See the rolfer and visit my friend Moriwaki. The rolfer told me I should probably use heat to help my problem and it’s dropped about 20 degrees since the trip started, so that’s kind of rough. I wish I was at an onsen where I could take a nice soak but I’m in Osaka. I’m OK with pushing through the pain to see something really interesting but it’s cold (in the 40’s in the morning!) and rainy so that usually means it’s a day for shopping. And while I’m OK with shopping if I’m with my sister, I really don’t have anything in particular I’m still looking for. Maybe some more USB-C cables, but those are available on Amazon at home. I did make a quick trip through Tokyu Hands and the Minecraft popup and the Nintendo stores, but meh. I’m back in the hotel room. I took a nap and watched some YouTube. The important thing is to get on the train to go see Moriwaki.

For breakfast I went back to the Drip-X Cafe in the Hotel Vischio. I saw the bicyclist from the other day and I joined them and got so busy talking that I forgot to take a picture of my hot dog until they left.

It was one of the good Japanese sausages with cheese and I really enjoyed it. The coffee is growing on me too. It was CHILLY. I went back to the hotel to grab a pair of gym shorts in case the rolfer wanted me to wear them. In the US they usually just have me stand in my underpants to assess my body misalignment but I wasn’t sure how it worked in Japan.

I started off towards the rolfer and by the time I got to the taxi stand my leg hurt quite a bit. I didn’t think I’d make it in time if I walked with this pain in my leg so I took a taxi. Drivers here are either chatty or silent and I got a silent one today. It took no time at all to get to the apartment tower where the office was and he told me to go to the next tower over. After trying to figure out how to get into the tower, wandering around, it turns out he dropped me off right in front of the building I needed to be in. Sheesh.

The rolfer was great. She’s been doing massage therapy for at least a dozen years (I can’t remember exactly what she said) so I left it in her hands and I felt great afterwards. HOWEVER, I knew that as screwed up as I got it was going to take a bit to fix everything. Sure enough, walking back to the hotel it started to hurt again. Not like in the mornings, but why push it? That’s why I’m back in the hotel.

Oh, on the way home I went underground because it’s CHILLY as I mentioned earlier. I was right near the Daisan building which is full of businessmen and there’s all sorts of restaurants in the basement. I went to an Okinawan restaurant and tried to order goya champuru but they just ran out! I had taco rice instead, which was pretty good. Oh, if you ever do go down there keep in mind a lot of the restaurants allow smoking.

Sitting in the restaurant my leg started to hurt. I could’ve forced myself to keep shopping or wandering around Umeda, but I wasn’t excited enough to push myself. Anyway, the important thing is to meet Moriwaki tonight. I quite enjoy sitting and watching YouTube or Netflix and there’s no other way to eat all the things I’ve been eating besides coming to Japan so I’m OK with all this. It’s not ideal, but it’s still fun.

Update:

I met up with my old co-worker Moriwaki for dinner. As always it was fun to talk and he’s quite unique. He’s about three years older than me and about to fully retire and move to Beppu. But even now, in his semi-retirement at 62, he bought a second house in Wakayama and goes fishing all the time. Basically, it’s what I aspire to. He went to high school and college in North Carolina and has a unique perspective.

We went to an okonomiyaki place because that’s what I always tell him I want to eat. I don’t know of any decent places in Portland.

Moriwaki also said eat it only with the spatula – that’s the Osaka way. His was much smaller than my deluxe, so we also got yakisoba. This is after we’ve eaten some of it.

He drove us to a Starbucks for dessert.

Oh, I forgot to mention, he used to have a two seat Mercedes Benz convertible. I figured as a fisherman he’d have a new car, something more beat up. Well, he has a new car, a two-seat Jaguar with an incredibly aggressive cam that pops when he hits the accelerator. It’s always good to see the guy.