(I wrote this draft yesterday, but didn’t get around posting until today when I had pics)
Today Danny and I just bummed around the apartment again while Lucas went off and did other things (you can read it on his blog). Around 7 we went into Osaka for dinner and drinks at Zerro, which is in the Shinsaibashi district. The shopping district was freaking crazy – every building was completely and shamelessly lit and there were tons of people – a lot of other gaijin, too.
The bar was pretty sweet. The bartenders spoke English pretty well and the food was good. A little higher on the price scale, but $10 actually bought a good amount of food here. The drinks were ¥700, which is higher than the ¥500 that seems to be “standard”, but it was OK to splurge. I got a China Blue, but Danny stuck with Guinness. I talked with this Japanese business-man looking guy for a little while. He knew a little English and we were able to get along.
We exchanged cigarettes and clinked glasses and he had the bartender translate that I was a “handsome man” or something. There was some giggling… Anyway, he started off by asking if I was Canadian (there were a couple other Canadians in the bar), and then tried to guess my age (23). I think he said he was either 45 or 55 – he kept trying to use English to express numbers but I prolly could have understood better if he’s used Japanese >.< He met with some girl who he said was 23. Before she walked in he used my phrasebook to tell me about her. When she got there we didn't talk much anymore until he left, but said goodbye and such afterwards. He was pretty cool, but maybe a little drunk. He was also the shiftiest guy I think any of us has met so far - I won't print why, but it's an interesting story to tell later 
When we came back to Mukonoso, we stopped and got some tokoyaki from an older lady in the back of a tiny van. Tokoyaki are little fried bread balls with pieces of octopus inside. It was pretty good, but I don't really care for shrimp and, although octopus is better, it's still pretty similar, so I picked out the last few pieces of tentacle and gave them to Danny. Osaka is apparently famous for this dish.
In other news, my phone apparently works inside the apartment and along the route to the train station here in Mukonoso. Apparently someone has a CDMA tower up and a roaming agreement with Verizon… It also claimed to have roaming service at Narita, too, but no such luck in Osaka 
