December 18th, 2023

Day 15

Today, I planned on roaming around Osaka and do some Rolex shopping for my brother in law. If I still have time, I will go pay a visit to Toyo again. You can’t take dirty pictures at Toyo, plus there’s no early entrance fee, so there’s no drive for me to be there at 11:30 sharp in the morning. First up, breakfast.

Bought this at the Lawson store near my hotel. It wasn’t bad, it was just, not enough to fill my stomach. I eat a lot at breakfast.

After breakfast, I cleaned up, grabbed all my stuff, and headed back to Osaka. I booked my next hotel because it was described as “close to the subway station”.

Hotel name: DEL style Osaka Shin Umeda by ROYNET

Address: Fukushima 6-16-1

Price: 478.21 RMB (68 USD) [Breakfast Included]

Verdict: ★★★☆☆

It was not close to Namba Station at all. It was far away. I needed to walk for 15 minutes before I could even get my foot onto Namba Station itself. After the horrifying 15 minute walk that got me to the hotel, I dropped off my stuff, and experienced the thing again where once the hotel staff looked at my passport, they start to speak English to me.

It’s not that it’s not nice when they try their best when speaking English, it is just frustrating that this is exactly the reason why I learned Japanese in the first place, so they don’t need to use their English with me. I just told him that I speak Japanese and that was it.

It was another 15 minutes before I could walk back to the train station. This is a picture of a Santa Claus doll hung on a construction site that’s right across the street from the station, which looked quite cute. I took a picture and posted it as a story on instagram, and my friend Flora focused on the Kanji that’s written underneath the Santa Claus. It reads 大林組, or Obayashi Kumi. Obayashi is a kind of last name, while the Kumi part means that it is an organization. Kumi is often used by Japanese gangs, notably used by 山口組, Yamaguchi Kumi, or “Ya-ku-za”. Flora asked that if Obayashi Kumi is also an organized crime family, to which I really don’t know; but I have seen time and time that Kumi being used by construction companies. I have also read that as the Japanese government reins in on the Yakuzas, the gangsters needed another source of revenue, so many of them turned into construction companies. This is also shown in the Yakuza games, as Majima’s crime family turned into a construction company.

That’s a nice little tangent, but up next, is something I will remember for life; not as something I wish to remember, but as something that I hated so much that I wanted to burn down everything related to it. I won’t bore you with the details, I’ll just report the results. I went to 5 different Rolex stores in total, with 7 visits in total. Four out of five stores all had the same routine: me telling them what I am interested in, they went behind the scenes to “check”, and after some waiting time, they come back and telling me that what I want is not in stock, and when I asked them what is in stock, they told me that nothing is in stock. Only one store told me that there is something in stock, and it is a 15,000,000 Yen ladies’ watch laced with diamonds.

So yes, how do I know that this is a routine? Well, they all used the same way of talking and the same way of sending me off. What a bunch of fucking bastards. Why don’t you just tell me that nothing is in stock and I’ll be on my way? Why waste your time, and most importantly, why waste my time, which is much more precious than your petty little time, when you don’t want to sell it to me in the first place?

I read a few reviews online, and some said that it’s because they don’t sell it to foreigners, but I doubt it’s that. I think the main reason is that I don’t look like someone who is a potential customer of Rolex watches. I look like a student, let’s face it, and with one look, people can say that I am one of those scalpers that will sell these watches for far more than what I got it for in the grey markets. I don’t blame them for that, what I am angry for is that they still wasted my time to pretend that they had something in stock just to fuck with me. What a bunch of fucking losers.

It’s not that they have nothing in stock. Rolex produces about a million watches a year, so all that rarity is completely artificial. After my brother in law told me about the actual routine of getting a Rolex watch, it became clear to me — they really just wanted to fuck with me.

You first need to build a connection with the particular salesperson, tell them your story, why you want one, and they will decide if they want to sell it to you. They have everything in stock, and they will get everyone’s salary by selling a watch a week. They don’t need to be in a rush, because they need to build a brand, a brand that’s based on artificial rarity.

This is what enrages me. They fucked with the wrong person. Assholes.

Rolex stores were a bust, so I went back to the Parco department store near Shinsaibashi to buy some Ultraman souvenir for both my nephew and for myself. By then, I have already decided that I would be going back to China on the 20th. I don’t remember when I purchased the ticket, but it couldn’t be earlier than today. I’ve also decided that I would be spending the entire day at Kosei tomorrow as a last hoorah of my Japan trip in 2023, so I must do all the shopping today.

So, with the anger that the idiotic Rolex store clerks gave me, I arrived by the Ultraman M78 store. It was the same girl staff that helped me checkout on Day 10. She recognized me, and for that day, she was the only staff in store, and I was the only customer, so we had some decent convo. I told her that I am from China/America, and how Ultraman changed my life blah blah blah, and how my nephew loves Ultraman as well. I also shared with her my frustrating and yes, failed crusade of trying to buy a Rolex. I told her their routine and how it makes me angry, and she asked me to wait, ran to the counter, and ran back with the store iPad.

She actually used the store iPad to look up Rolex stores for me and was like did you go to this one, did you go to this one, maybe they have it here. I’ve been to all of the stores near by, but I was touched by how she was willing to search it up for me using the store iPad. She is so nice. People working at the Ultraman store must have the same big heart as Ultraman himself.

But yeah, after chatting with her, I loaded up a shopping basket full of souvenirs for both myself and for my nephew. For me, I got myself a red Ultraman tie, a pair of Ultraman Tiga chopsticks, and an Ultraman tie clip. For my nephew, I bought him a ceramic bowl and two ceramic plates. One of the ceramic plates broke to a million pieces when I took them out of the bag to inspect them after I got back home in China, but that’s probably because of the fact that I dropped the entire bag onto the airport floor a few days later. At the Ultraman store, though, the store clerks purposefully open the box and let you check it out yourself.

Bought a lot of stuff, and it was past lunch time, so I’ve decided to just get some food at the department store. Last time, I had the deep fried pork cutlets at the same building before I went to Toyo for the first time and changed my life; this time, I’ll have some food at the same building before traveling to Toyo for the last time in 2023. How romantic.

When I got to the top floor, there were many food options, and I started to walk around. Finally, I set my eyes on a Japanese sushi place that looked promising and wasn’t too expensive. I got in, was lead to a counter seat that’s sits right in front of an aquarium that has abalone in it, which brought some unpleasant memories that I had with that one abalone at the Kobe Teppanyaki place on Day 3. I ordered a set, and it didn’t take long for the food to arrive.

The first food item to arrive is a platter in a bamboo basket. It has an assortment of sashimi, Japanese side dishes, and a rolled up sushi. It didn’t taste out of the ordinary, which is good in this case. If it tasted out of the ordinary, then I would doubt that this place doesn’t serve its raw food fresh. It didn’t surprise me, but it also didn’t make me disappointed.

Dish Verdict: ★★★★☆

The next dish is the Chawanmushi, or steamed egg paste. I’ve had it plenty of times here in Japan before, for example, at the Kani Doraku on Day 2 and at the Morizuya Ryokan on Day 4. The Chawanmushi I had today is similar to the one I had at Kani Doraku, as there is some dense soup on top of the normal egg paste. Again, it didn’t surprise me, but it wasn’t bad either.

Dish Verdict: ★★★★☆

Up next, vegetable tempura. This one did surprise me, because I’ve never had deep fried egg plants before. I don’t remember the taste, which must mean that it didn’t leave a strong impression on me; but that’s still some weird combination for Tempura that I’ve never had before. This was a fun, surprising dish.

Dish Verdict: ★★★★☆

After I was done with the basket, a waitress came up to me and asked for what kind of soup I want, something white and something red. I didn’t know what those were, so I just asked for the most popular one, and she recommended the red one. This is the red one. It’s just miso soup, but since it’s redder, I guess that’s why they called it something red. It’s just miso soup, though.

Dish Verdict: ★★★★☆

Lastly, it was a sushi platter, albeit it’s a very tiny sushi platter with only 4 sushis on a stone plate. It tasted okay, so I wasn’t too impressed.

Dish Verdict: ★★★☆☆

Overall, this restaurant is just, that, a normal restaurant. Didn’t surprise me, food didn’t taste weird, so it gets a pass from me. I would recommend it to people who just want some normal Japanese food that is served in a basket. Lol.

Restaurant Verdict:

★★★★☆

After lunch, though, it was about 2 PM, so I headed for Toyo. I was going to catch the third and fourth show. When I got to the theater, it was close to the ending of the second show, and since I know the rules now, I just waited by the theater hall entrance so I would be the first one to enter the third show when they clear out the audience at the end of the second show. Sly. It’s also then that I learned that like at Kosei, you can get the pictures signed. You just have to ask the guy who stands next to the girl that you would want the picture signed.

So I waited til when they let the audience in, and I finally got a seat in the very front that faces the stage directly. It was the first time that I’ve ever sat in a seat that’s so close to the stage. I started to chat with the guy sitting on the left of me, who evidently seemed like a weirdo to start with. He told me that it’s the first time he’s been to Toyo, but somehow he knew the rules to wait by the entrance to enter early.

Either way, the third show started, and it was same old same old. Except, at picture time, when I asked for them to sign two pictures, it was a no. Turns out, you can only get one signed picture from each girl each day. That was not fun, because at Kosei, they sign every picture and write a message on the back every time. Also, the guy told me that there’s no guarantee that the pictures will be signed by the end of the day. That’s rather unpleasant, because I kinda need to get it before I fly back to China. Still, I had confidence that if I ask them to sign it at the third show, it should be done by the end of the day.

After the third show, it was the fourth show. During the first picture time (of the first three girls), I gave Marika, the second girl, a necklace that was meant for someone else. There’s actually a story to that. The thing is, before my trip to Japan, my Uncle John, the one I’ve met in Korea the month before this current trip, wanted to set me up with this one Japanese girl based in Atami, Shizuoka. She was very receptive and told me that she would give me a tour of Japan. Her birthday was around the time we started chatting, so I bought a jade rabbit necklace online, with the necklace being silver but painted in gold. Thought that would be a nice meet up present.

After a while tho, she has gone completely MIA and stopped responding to messages, and after another while, her account was deleted. I have no idea what happened, but that still means that the necklace that I bought for her have gone to complete waste, even though it wasn’t expensive. On the box, it did write “Chinese Gold”, but it’s not really gold.

The reason why I decided to give this to Marika, is that she’s not the most popular dancer. When it’s picture time, she is always the first one to leave the stage out of all the first three girls. It happened all three times that I was at Toyo, and I felt bad for her. Plus, I really don’t want to carry the necklace back with me to China, so I might as well unload it here now. So I just gave her the necklace at the fourth show. I wanted to explain the situation to her, but next to her was this staff guy in a full head of white hair who was really unfriendly, so I didn’t want to really do it. I just gave it to her, and that’s it.

Plus, she remembered me, even though it’s because of the gourd necklace that I wore everyday I was in Japan. She was the only person that noticed the gourd necklace, so I might as well give her something necklace related, even though it was the gourd part of gourd necklace that she remembered me by.

I also told Nijiho, the first dancer, that she is the first woman that I’ve ever seen naked, and how thankful I was. She was surprised, I believe part of the reason was because I didn’t look like someone who’s never seen a woman naked, at least physically. She asked where I’m from, I told her America, and when I received my signed picture from her, she wrote her messages half Japanese and half English. That was a nice touch. Even though I already took a picture of her that day, when the guy next to her announced that she would be going backstage because no one is lining up anymore, I ran back to snap one last picture of her. It is my way of saying thanks. I know it’s a creepy thing to do, but that’s just me.

I forgot to say that at the end of the third show, there’s a special picture time featuring the last three dancers, Nonoka, Oto, and Rabu (Love). You can take a picture of all three of them, or you can join in and be taken a photo with them, but they remain fully clothed. There’s this friendly staff member, who I later learned to be called Oda, explained the situation to me, and asked if I wanted to get one. After some thought, I said yes, and I lined up to get my picture taken. It was a nice way to seal an end to my Toyo trip. It was only later that I learned that all three of them are pornstars. Well, can’t call them stars, just porn actresses.

How did I know that? Well, I’ve always seen a woman patron at Toyo. She is very short and is quite chubby, so she was quite memorable. I’ve seen her on my second trip to Toyo, my trip to DX Tohji, and today. I went up to her and started to chat, and I told her that I would be going to Kosei tomorrow and if she wanted to come with. She told me no, because she likes Nonoka a lot. At first, I didn’t understand her fandom of this one dancer. She just dances, after all. That’s when I realized maybe she’s a porn actress, and started to dig on the internet. Turns out, yes, she is a porn actress. Her full porn name was 河合ののか, or “Kawai Nonoka”. She removed her porn last name from the equation, maybe so people would’t associate her as a dancer with her as a porn actress. With good reasons, too, because with her being to control her own makeup as a dancer, she looked infinitely better compared to her as a porn star. It’s only then that I realized that I’ve seen her work before, I just never remembered her because she didn’t look that good. How makeup can change a person.

As to Oto and Rabu, I thought that since Nonoka is a porn actress, maybe all of them are. Nijiho and Marika aren’t porn stars, they’re just dancers. Oto and Rabu are, with Oto only film hardcore S&M that doesn’t involve penile penetration and Rabu only doing soft-core porn. This information came only after I’ve gone back to China, and in hindsight, I really couldn’t tell that Oto was such a hardcore S&M enthusiast. It looked really painful, she must really enjoy it to take part in that kind of porn; but she looked nothing like a masochist on stage. Wow.

At the fourth show’s picture time, I went up to both Oto and Rabu, took a picture, and thanked them for letting me see their bodies. I really mean it, I am thankful. I told them that I would be leaving Japan soon and will be looking for them if I come back. Oto’s reaction was to be expected, she said thank you, and something like please come again. Rabu, though, asked me where I’m from, and she noticed the gourd necklace that I wore. No one has noticed it other than Marika before. Rabu also used her porn voice while talking, something that Japanese guys like? A real sharp voice coming out of her nose to mimic “cuteness”. I really don’t like that, I would hope that she uses her real voice, but I didn’t have the balls to tell her to cut the crap. Though, she was nice and actually invited conversation.

When the show ended, I went up to the picture counter to retrieve my pictures. All of the non-signed pictures were done printing and were given to me, only Nijiho’s signed picture was done and was given to me. Normally there are girls at the counter who are much friendlier, this time, it was that guy with white hair that was behind the counter, who was quite rude. I mean, there’s nothing he could do about the pictures that were not being signed, but he was still rude. He just told me to come back the next day at 11:30, when the theater opens, and check to see if they’re done. I told them that my plane leaves on the 20th and I would need it before then, and one of the guys replied that it must be done before the 20th. So I left with the pictures that I took for the day, hoping that they would be done tomorrow.

Toyo Show Theater (Dec. 18) Verdict:

★★★★☆

After I got to the hotel and grabbed my stuff, I went into my hotel room. Holy fuck the smell of cigarettes was so fucking bad. I feel like I would come out smelling like smoked salmon by staying there for one night. This hotel purported to be a fancy hotel, yet, it smelled like shit. After I got back to China and posted a review saying that this hotel had rooms that smelled bad, the hotel replied that I booked a smoking room. I’m not sure that I did, but that’s not the excuse for the room smelling so bad. It’s like the cleaning ladies never even opened the window to let the air out.

Either way, I had to stay there for the night, so I sucked it up (literally), and went to sleep.

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