Iwa ni Hana

The theatre Shōchikuza (松竹座) in Osaka

(Continuing from the previous post.)

Day 4: Osaka

Of course I have read my share of books on the traits and characteristics of Osaka people. I was even warned by a Tokyo colleague to expect fastly-spoken Osaka dialect. However, for some reason I met with less authentic Osaka-ness than I anticipated. I heard standard Japanese spoken everywhere I went, and though the people I talked to here and there were as friendly and kind as Osaka people are said to be, when I asked them if they were Osaka locals, it turned out that their hometowns were actually elsewhere.

Where has the old, authentic Osaka of Tanizaki Junichirō [谷崎潤一郎] and Oda Sakunosuke [織田作之助] disappeared to? (Or is it just me reading too many novels for my own good?)

Downtown Osaka

My first stop was the Bookoff store in the Shinsaibashi [心斎橋] shopping arcade. There I picked up another dozen used books. Then I did some shopping around this shop-till-you-drop neighbourhood, and before I knew it I had already walked all the way to Shōchikuza (松竹座). I was in luck that they were staging a real kabuki play that evening (they sometimes stage musicals instead), and I bought a ticket for that evening.

Then I did more shopping. Just when I was wondering why I had not bumped into vans of political parties (the right-wing sort) during my trip so far, there it was, right before the department store Takashimaya near Nanba station:

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It is not infrequent that I think of the sky of Hong Kong as a witch’s cauldron; strange chemicals from the industrial zone across the border dye the heavens into strange shades of orange and purple, and rare is the day you can see with the human eye beyond 100 metres. The day I embarked on my travel was likewise shrouded in thick fogs of god-knows-what, except that the colour was white for once, probably because the factories in the Pearl River Delta area had not yet resumed production from the Chinese New Year break.

When I finally landed in Osaka’s Kansai Airport in the evening, I took several deep breathes of fresh air. It was civilizations ago since I last breathed in fresh air. With that, I took the JR Haruka line to Kyoto and called it a day.

Day 1: Kyoto

• Kyoto National Museum [京都国立博物館]

I originally intended to make my first stop at Sanjūsangendō, but no sooner had I seen this banner hanging at the Kyoto National Museum from just across the street, I knew my fate was sealed. Look at the stunning beauty of the four words bi mo jing shen [筆墨精神] (“spirit of brush and ink”) presented in such elegant and graceful font!

"Spirit of Brush and Ink: The World of Chinese Paintings and Calligraphies" at the Kyoto National Museum

And look at the mind-blowing beauty of the below leaflet designed for this exhibition!

Leaflet of "Spirit of Brush and Ink: The World of Chinese Paintings and Calligraphies" at Kyoto National Museum

I think my heart skipped a beat at the sheer joy of seeing such beauty.
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