Day 33
Hello everyone! This is Noah, a Din of the class of 2022 and brief interloper on the Osaka and Shenzhen legs of tour 2024. Only a few Dins (Lee, Ben, Ria, Mattheus, and Carolyn) know I’m coming, so I’ve been having fun the last few days telling Dins I know that I’m “heading to Detroit for vacation” (true–I have a layover there) or that “I think the Dins’ next stop is in Japan, right?” Heheheheh.
Anyway, my mini-tour started at the crack of dawn at the Newark airport, where I bought a neck pillow, hopped on a plane, and proceeded to pass out until we landed in Detroit. One flight down. I was less lucky on the flight from Detroit to Tokyo, however, as I found that I simply could not sleep no matter how hard I tried. WIth about nine hours left in the flight, the guy next to me woke up and asked if we were there yet. Oof. The guy–whose name I would later learn was Rabby–tried to fall asleep for the next hour or so, but to no avail. So, there we were–two insomniacs on a plane with a bunch of sleeping people. We talked (quietly!) about archaeology (which I studied while I was still at Harvard), commiserated about going to school during COVID, and shared stories from our respective adventures around the world.
After getting off my sleepless (but not unbearable–thanks Rabby!) flight a bit early, I headed to the Shinkansen station to meet Mattheus for our train ride to Osaka. It was a tight connection, and I was exceptionally lucky to have gotten off the plane early, because I boarded a train going in the wrong direction at the airport. Oops. I made it onto the train with less than a minute to spare, found Mattheus, and got his Sparknotes summary of tour through Italy. As an aside, I’d just like to say that the Don sounds like a pretty cool guy. Mattheus’s blog post doesn’t do him nearly enough justice.
Once we got to Osaka, Mattheus and I hung around in the train station waiting for the rest of the Dins. They showed up with long-time friend of the Dins and host nonpareil Nao-san, whose planning skills and immense generosity made Osaka my absolute favorite stop in 2022. Nao-san led us to the hotel, which was the exact same one we stayed in during tour 2022. Being there was like a blast from the past–strange, but absolutely in a good way. I was absolutely wiped by the time I had unpacked my bags, but exhaustion took a backseat to hunger, and we got some incredible udon near the hotel. Then…at long last, after over a full day of travel, I got to sleep.
Day 34
I woke up before my alarm today (note from future Noah–this was a running trend for the entire trip), had some of the snacks that I bought last night, and headed to rehearsal. After rehearsal, we headed to Kokoku High School, where we got a tour of the school (which absolutely put my high school to shame) and had a brief cultural exchange lunch with the students. It was here that I discovered that, for some reason, being aware of Shohei Ohtani makes me very cool to Japanese high school students. I’ll take it!
After lunch, we had another rehearsal before performing at Kokoku. While I think we gave a great show, my vote for the most memorable performance of the night goes to our emcee (who also happened to be Kokoku’s vice-principal), who gave the most rousing rendition of a school anthem I’ve ever heard. Seriously! The guy had real singing chops and infectious enthusiasm. We left with more desserts than we can possibly eat before we leave (another note from future Noah: we absolutely could and did eat all those desserts), Kokoku merch, and–stay with me here, folks–*self-heating beef and rice dinner boxes*--courtesy of Kokoku’s principal.
Day 35
Today, I walked to the Shinsaibashi-Suji shopping street to hang out with Carolyn. We went to the Peanuts store (where I learned that Carolyn loves Snoopy!), the Capcom store (where Carolyn convinced me to get a mystery souvenir box, the contents of which were very bulky and difficult to get home…but totally worth it), and many different clothing stores. We also looked for the Pokemon Cafe, as my brother has been begging me to get him a souvenir plush from there, but alas, despite my having been there in 2022, we couldn’t seem to find it. We got bored of the hunt and left to get coffee floats nearby as a treat before sitting down at an okonomiyaki shop. Unfortunately, we misjudged how long the okonomiyaki would take to make, had to rush back to the hotel without eating, threw the okonomiyaki in the fridge, and *still* almost missed the call time for tonight’s performance. But we made it! (I’d also like to note that once we DID get to eat the okonomiyaki, it was delicious. I bet it was even better hot…)
Tonight’s performance was at the Yamamoto Nohgakudo. The Dins performed here in 2022, and, like the hotel, I found it both strange and wonderful to be back. Like in 2022, we wore tabi (split-toe socks) without shoes, which was *quite* the look with our tails. After the show, we were treated to dinner by Nao-san and a few of her friends, among whom were some of our hosts from 2022! I personally had a great time catching up with Nori, who showed me around Osaka last time. The biggest development of the night, though, happened when one of Nao-san’s friends misheard “Ben” as “Benki” (toilet), leading to the emergence of “Benki Ben,” a nickname which will last either for the rest of time or for the rest of the week. Time will tell. Anyway, after dinner, Lee brought most of the group to karaoke, but I decided I was too tired and headed back to the hotel to get some shut-eye.
I stayed up until 5 AM talking to the other people who had the same idea. Oops.
Day 36
Today, we spent almost the entire day in transit to and from a performance at a concert hall in Kyoto. There, the Elio fanbase was out in full force–they filled an *entire Ikea bag* with gifts–and the performance itself went quite smoothly. The other group with which we performed was excellent, as well. We headed back to the hotel, and I passed out almost immediately.
Day 37
Today, we had a performance at Osaka International, another repeat venue from 2022. The welcome we received in 2022 was excellent, but our welcome this year blew it out of the water. Osaka International had a school mascot this time around–a blue penguin named Migaku, which Lee told us means “to refine”--and she was so adorable that Ria was literally moved to tears. We may have been the performers today, but Migaku truly stole the show. Once we were finally able to pry Ria from Migaku’s feathery embrace, we headed back to the hotel, where almost everyone–except myself, Lee, Mattheus, and Ben–took a nap. Lee, Mattheus, and Ben headed out to Kyoto, but I decided to go back to Shinsaibashi-Suji on a solo mission to find the Pokemon Cafe and get my brother some souvenirs. I succeeded this time, and with time to kill and a stomach to fill, I also got some excellent matcha soft serve nearby. After I finished up in Shinsaibashi-Suji, I met up with Ben, Mattheus, and Lee to try what Lee repeatedly referred to in our group chat as “pork-forward” ramen. I asked him what that meant, and he just repeated himself. So, dear reader, I tried the ramen, and let me tell you: it was indeed pork-forward. Anyway, after finishing the pork-forward ramen, our small group went to a spot Lee recommended called Bar K, where I had the absolute best mocktails I have ever had in my life. I got back to the hotel to find everyone (still) asleep. Good for them. They earned the rest.
Day 38
Today, we took a day trip out to Nara! I woke up EXTREMELY early (jetlag is a blessing and a curse) and went for a walk around the hotel before deciding to depart by myself to our meetup spot in Tennoji. There, I realized that I’d gotten up not only before the Dins but also before Tennoji–absolutely nothing was open. Oh well; Tennoji looked pretty cool, even if I couldn’t actually do anything there. Once the rest of the gang arrived, we headed to Nara, where we saw Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples side-by-side, a beautiful traditional garden owned by friends of Nao-san, and lots and lots of friendly deer. My favorite part of the day was the garden visit–the garden was closed to the public for the day, so we got a private tour of the grounds and adjoining museum, partook in an intimate tea ceremony, and sat outside to enjoy the weather without any distractions. All in all, it was an absolutely wonderful day.
Day 39
This morning, we had a fun performance at a radio station, after which I split off from the group with Ria and Sean to get lunch at a very fancy-looking sushi restaurant. There, I got the best sushi I’ve ever had for about 10 bucks. I love Japan. Ria and I then took a trip out to a nearby mall, where we explored Uniqlo and the Nintendo Store and got some souvenirs for friends. We then made a quick stop at the hotel to drop off our things before meeting one of Nao-san’s friends at his house to learn about the Tanabata festival and try some delicious tea and mochi.
Day 40, part I
Our last day in Osaka! We had an early train to the airport, so I woke up even earlier to explore. My main destination was Osaka Castle, but no sooner had I gotten through the gate than it started pouring. And wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t bring my umbrella. Or my rain jacket. Or a poncho. I showed up back at the hotel looking a bit like a wet cat. But! Not all was lost. I managed to dry off before meeting Nao-san at the train station so I could give her a hug and thank her for yet another amazing time in Osaka.
