Christmas in Japan

Christmas in Japan is for lovers. In Canada, people enjoy special time with their families, going to church and such. Here in Osaka, the streets are lined with couples going to movies, shopping for couture, and lined up to eat fried chicken. Yeah, apparently KFC has done such a good job at marketing in Japan that most Japanese people think it’s what North Americans do. Another point for capitalism (although it’s not like it’s difficult, here in Japan).

This holiday season, I decided to go in search of the famed Santa-themed Love Hotel, Hotel Chapel Christmas. Again I enlisted the help of a research partner to join me. First, we did one of my top 10 favorite things to do in Japan: Kaiten Sushi bar hopping (the restaurants where you pick your sushi from a revolving conveyor belt; each plate costs about a dollar). This is basically going a sushi place, eating two or three plates of their best/freshest sushi, then picking up and doing the same at the next three or four sushi restaurants.

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Adventures in Love Hotel Land

In keeping up with the accountability list I posted the other day, I decided to go in search of the “Gang Snowman” Love Hotel. This hotel is kind of underground-famous in Osaka for its Cadillac-converted spa on the roof (the headlights flash and horn honks when the car shakes…) and it’s extreme S&M themed rooms.

First step was to enlist a research assistant (who shall remain anonymous…) and then head to the love hotel district: Tanimachi 9-cho-me.

My research assistant and I came across a few strangely named love hotels, but no “Gang Snowman”…

We found this one for kinky Vegans:

And this one that was a little slightly more appropriately named.

We went and checked out the pictures of the rooms, but there wasn’t anything too exciting, so we kept on.

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Lists

I like lists, and I like being able to cross things off lists. I recently came across a list on my computer that I made last year in Vietnam entitled “100 things to do before I turn 35″, and although I had almost forgotten what was on the list, I got to cross off a few items (get a lebret piercing; eat that disgusting duck embryo thing; eat the beating heart of a snake in Vietnam).

This time, to hold myself accountable to doing things that I say I’m going to do (this is really important for me — my pet peeve is when people talk about doing awesome things and never do them), I decided to share my list of experiences/foods/crazy things I want to try while here in Japan — and to give myself a specific timeline so that I can’t cop out and say “but I’m still in Japan, so I’ve got time…”

Oh, and I’m very open to suggestions if anyone has them (comment below please!)

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