Journey to Japan: Leaving Tokyo, Arriving in Osaka

Day 9

Waking up early to pack, we faced a rainy morning that set a calm but somewhat gloomy tone. After checking out at 10 a.m., L and I headed to Tokyo Station, still under a steady drizzle. We stopped for coffee and cake, warming up before meeting S for lunch. She brought along the pesto jar I’d given her the other day because she couldn’t open it at home, and this time, I managed to open it after having closed it way too tightly myself.

After lunch, we went on a little quest to find postcards. We first asked at the tourist information desk, then the staff at a nearby bookshop pointed us to the fourth floor, where the postcards were tucked away. Without S, I would have never found them. Why are postcards so hard to find? After all, fax machines are still widely used here, just like in Germany, so postcards shouldn’t have disappeared completely, especially in a city bustling with tourists.

Back at the hotel, we grabbed our luggage and made our way to Shinagawa Station for the Shinkansen. Pulling the luggage through the crowds was exhausting, and squeezing into the spacious Shinkansen seats with our bags was a bit of a challenge, but once seated, I dozed off as the train sped along.

We finally arrived in Osaka around 6 p.m., where we briefly met M and her sons at the station. M, a friend from Tübingen whom I met when she was an exchange student there, was a welcome, but too short sight after the long day. We made our way to the hotel, still feeling a bit drained, and ended the evening by refreshing ourselves in the hotel’s hot bath.