Originally posted by ChaoS-GoD
hmmm see if i get any useful answers here:
as im going to osaka for a VERY short amount of time (2 days) after hsc on my way to china, i got a few questions regarding it
1. what's night safety like in japan? more specifically, whats it like at 1-2am for a small asian guy to walk around the main city area?
2. i hear there's no train/subway running at midnight, true? if so what transport would get me around. taxis are DAMN expensive (13000 yen from KIX to osaka city, +20% at night)
3. what things are there to do during daytime in ONE day? i got some budget, but not a lot, so cant really afford to go on a shopping spree. im planning on seeing osaka-jo and going through den-den town all in the timespan of about 8 hours. advice?
4. what clothing recommended for late november and early february?
thats all... hope the japan knowledge amongst you guys can help me out!
1. Night safety is very good. I used to hang around until all hours of the night with no problems. Local punks just say hi to me, mainly because they know my brother who plays in a band on top of the overpass outside Osaka station. His band was signed that way. For foreigners, WATCH OUT. You may not be violently attacked but you may feel uncomfortable as there have always been some problems. Maybe you won't have read this in the media, but that's because it has been kept very quiet. Also, stay away from so-called FOREIGNER BARS because you will just be looking for trouble. By the way, why do you plan to walk around at 1am-2am at night? Believe me, there is NOTHING to do unless you like to skateboard at night.
2. The lesson to learn from this is, don't walk out far at midnight! Trains stop at midnight, and taxis will be few and far between. Here's a tip for the foreigner with cash: Hold up 2 fingers to alert a taxi means you will pay twice the fare. Hold up 3 to alert you will pay thrice, etc... I have often seen people holding up fingers like madmen at auctions and I think they managed to go up to 5 fingers until the other businessman saw another taxi coming (and probably took it for normal fare too).
3. Plenty of things to see. Take the BIG FERRIS wheel at HEP 5 centre and find me kicking the machines at Joypolis! Another attraction at HEP 5 are foreigners who not only cannot speak Japanese, but cannot speak English either! What are they doing there?! Also, in the southern part there are many restaurants and places to hang out.
4. For Aussie guy, wear lots of clothes! I can survive in the cold in shorts and t-shirt, but when I went to Queensland for the first few days I found it hard to breathe due to the heat. They say you get used to it after a year, but for you, bring lots of clothes.
