The conference completed on Day 09/15 Sep, and we left Matsue the following day on the 16 Sep to make our way to Osaka for the last segment of this work trip. Mindful that the inbound journey to Matsue from Fukuoka several days back was awful – i.e. I suffered nausea – I got onto this journey this time better prepared by taking motion sickness pills before we left Matsue station. That helped a lot, and also that the journey this time took place at day time, which interestingly does help a fair bit as there’s outside scenery for me to fix my visual perspective at.
This is my third time to Osaka already: and coming out of a relatively sedate Fukuoka and an almost dead city in Matsue, Osaka felt hot, crowded, and very noisy! It was an assault of the senses and the kind of experience that I avoid wherever I can.
This last segment would see us in Osaka for five days, over which we’d be doing a series of business visits. I did get some free time in-between, including a full free day on Day 11 Sunday. Unfortunately, Japan as a country is experiencing a heat wave right now with daily temperatures going up to 34-35 degree celsius. Moreover, I’d already visited the nearby cities of Nara, Kyoto, Himeji, and Kobe in previous trips, so didn’t have any inclination to visit again in such humidity. The interesting spots for me in Osaka I’d also visited in the 2010 and 2022 trips. So, the free day I had yesterday I went by Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Street for a quick look. This is regarded as Japan’s longest shopping street at 2.6km, and I probably walked at least half of it. In a sense, the shops and establishments in this street aren’t different from what you’d see in other shopping streets in the country, and the argument could be made that once you’ve seen one, you’ve pretty much seen them all.
