I've already reserved my hotel for Bethlehem. My first convention! I figured this one is close enough that I don't have to fly and get a rental car. So there's savings that way. My Osaka update is taking longer than expected. Things keep getting in the way due to the holidays but I promise you, you guys will be even more shocked than what you have seen already.
If things go as we hope, Colleen and I will be hosting the "Online Modelers Meet Up" in Bethlehem. We had fun hosting in Nashville in 2022.
Sorry for the long hiatus. Too many holiday activities going on and our club just had a holiday train show this past weekend. Back to the journey. We left Hiroshima and arrived at our final city before going home. Osaka has been described as a mini-Tokyo but it's claim to fame is the food, especially the street food. If you have been following along, you might have realized I visited many hobby stores but I haven't bought a single damn thing! Remember, I was delusional seeing all those trains and I couldn't even think straight on what I should buy. I said to myself, this is it buddy, the last stop before going back to the US. And this is the city known for it's food. Not for it's hobby stores! Ugh! Anxiety, depression, night sweats, the pressure was on! Arriving at Osaka Station, I see this monstrosity of the grand entrance. I was totally enthralled at it's grandeur. Every city showcases it's main train station! On the back side, you see all kinds of trains coming and going. This is the business end of things. Don't let the size of the place fool you. There's still 150% congestion! I stood at the location where I took this photograph for a few minutes just observing the controlled, organized, chaos! NOBODY bumps into anyone. No fights get started. No need for apologies. Being a former Manhattanite, I can see a whole lot of knife fights and shootings in a congested area like that! Here is one of their subway lines. It's interesting that they use steel cables to keep people from falling on to the tracks. Unlike all the other cities we've been to in Japan that use sliding doors left and right. I was like how the heck does this work? Ta Da! The answer. There is a hidden arm that raises the cables. Not only that, notice the cables also move within the arm else you would need very long arms (sub-platform) so the lowest cable is high enough to clear the people when raised. Japanese engineering! While waiting for our train, another one pulls in. Well, isn't this interesting???? They have women only cars during rush hours to prevent groping! We never encountered the white-gloved pushers that you often see in pictures where they push and pack as many passengers into a car. Can you imagine the potential issues? Perverts need not apply in these cars. BTW, I've heard during rush hours where white-gloved pushers are at work, those are the "romance cars" (not women only cars). Yikes! Finally, before we move on to the hobby stores in Osaka, another example of a train-centric society. Here is a poster advertising special or excursion trains. People seek them out to ride them and not just for taking the kids.
Odd Japan factoid, the platforms at major urban stations have gates or cables not so much because of crowding, but mostly the tendency of salarymen (and it's almost always men) to stumble off the platform after a night of post-work drinking. You might have noticed that some of the stations in Osaka that don't have gates have benches that face along the length of the platform, rather than towards the track. This apparently results in a noticeable reduction in drunken platform falls. Japanese trains often receive wraps for advertising and/or tourism promotion. The trains pictured are showing characters from the Anpanman series of children's superhero books and anime. This is a promotion for a museum dedicated to the author on Shikoku. Strangely enough, we just happened to get the yellow train (a JR Shikoku Series 2700 DMU) as the Ltd Express Nanpu from Okayama to Kotohira in May:
Ah yes! The salarymen! They are so stressed from working long hours and demanding work that they get s-faced after work, to the point where they pass out in public. I didn't witness any when we were there but we did notice so many Izakayas (small bars) every where. Plus you can drink in public in Japan!
The neighborhood (literally on just about every block) Izakayas are good, inexpensive places to eat (generally skewers of chicken parts, beef, and vegetables, grilled on a hibachi behind the bar) and drink. The owners tend to cut off customers who've had a bit too much. It's the bigger places that are often clustered around the downtown train stations where the heavy drinking takes place. They generally have a table time limit of 90 minutes to 2 hours, serve mostly fried food, and some have all you can eat or drink for a fixed price during your allotted time. You may have seen such places, they're often up a flight or two of stairs, with signs out front with pictures of the food and beer, and sometimes a couple of guys yelling at you (in English if you don't look Japanese) that they have the best food and cheapest drinks anywhere. They are an experience, usually you'll see a few people slip under the table by 9 or so.
< low whistle > Phenominal documentation / description / personalization. I just found this thread. I can't make out the pictures very wel, (low vision),l but the text is outstanding and makes me want to go to Japan.
Your description of crowding in Japan vs. Manhattan reminds me of an old Mad Magazine one-liner... "Did you know that if all the commuters in New York City were piled on top of each other, they'd be taking their usual trip home?"
Before arriving in Osaka, I knew there are 4 hobby stores that were in the touristy area that was on our list of places to visit. Lucky me! But I had no idea of their size or their quality. Interesting thing was all four were within a block of each other! Two blocks on one side of the street, two blocks on the other side of the street, 4 hobby stores. Convenient! As I said earlier, this was my last chance before going home and I better decide on SOMETHING to buy! The first shop was meh. Street level only, small in size, and it seems like they only sell used items. Nothing wrong with that but everything was in Japanese, including the bookcase sets. And the employees barely spoke English. There was no way I had the time and energy to Google translate everything in the store. After spending 10 mins walking around I gave up and left. I didn't even bother to take any pictures. Ugh! Down to 3 stores! The next one was in a upper level floor of a good size hobby store. There was hope! The lower levels had other hobby items like Anime, Manga, etc. The train floor was smallish but very neat and it was not just trains but shared with plastic kits, etc. The trains were in the back of the floor and the selection were just meh. Only the popular, fast moving items, seem to be stocked. Even track selection was limited so you can imagine rolling stock. But, as you can see, the place is immaculate and gives an aura of "high end". Ugh! No dice! Down to 2 stores! You can guess what I was feeling and you don't have to be a mathematician to figure out where the trend was heading! Store number 3. This was right next to a McDonald's and the entrance looked like this. What would be in your mind when you see a hobby store entrance like this? Yeah, me too. I didn't have much hope. As I went up the escalator I noticed the store name. Popondetta! If you have been following along, this is the same name as the 5 story store of N-scale only trains in Tokyo except this is only one floor. I was wondering if it's the same owner/chain. Getting of the escalator I was greeted with this. Ok, ok, now we're talking...a little. And to the right and behind me I see the store's layout. Looks very familiar and it turns out it is the same owner/chain as the one in Tokyo. But since this is only one floor, the selection wasn't like the store in Tokyo. You have the used section. They do have new stuff and here are some US trains. BTW, that Big Boy, if you are wondering, is about $275 converted from the Yen shown. Even less now as the dollar is stronger now than 3 months ago. Here is the elusive (in the US) N-scale ruler, a triangle ruler no less! Here are Kato and Tomix catalogs that I've never seen before. Nicely printed with thick glossy pages. Each weighed a ton! So tempting but the suitcase situation and everything was in Japanese prevented me from pulling the trigger. Wow! Train socks for the little ones! What a great way to start them young! Here's something that was SO tempting! It's a USB charger in the shape of a Shinkansen. It was a bit pricey at $21+ given how cheap these things are on Amazon and it only puts out 1A, so not really a high power charger. BUT, the cool part is that the headlights come on once you start charging something. In the end I decided it was not worth the price. People would steal it at a train show as I run trains anyway. While we were there a HUGE thunderstorm came rolling by so we stayed in the store for 30 minutes while it blew over. Gee how terrible. Remember I said earlier how the entire Japanese society revolves around trains, both 1:1 and models? While we were waiting, in came this mom and son. They came to run trains!!! I don't know if you can see it in this picture but mom has a throttle too and she was running trains together with her son! It really warmed my heart to see this! First, a FAMILY is running trains and it was mom! Usually we expect dad to be doing this. After a few minutes, now dad comes with his son (different family)! Look at the number of bookcase sets this kid has! He was running 3-4, 16-car Shinkansen sets! I wanted to be his brother so bad! I'm just so jealous that trains are so much more accepted in Japan than in the US. After the T-storm stopped we left. Yup, I didn't buy anything. This is a smaller version of the store in Tokyo so if nothing fancied me there, why would it be any different here? ONE store left! I was depressed. My stomach had butterflies as we road the escalator back down and walked, dejected, to the last and final hobby store. If I strike out on this store, it will be back to mail order in the US with tax and high shipping.
It is really enjoyable following this journey. Japan looks like a fascinating country. I love seeing families going to a train store to run trains. I’m hoping the last train store had lots of stuff that was just right for you.
I always brighten up when I see there is a new Train scene in Japan posting here. Thanks for bringing us with you! Btw, since those catalogs have both English and Japanese on the cover I'd expect the same on the inside.
Oh man! I never thought about leafing through the pages. All were plastic wrapped but they displayed an open copy for you to peruse. Ugh! But anyway, I didn't have room in my luggage. [SPOILER ALERT] If I get both copies, there would be no room for the two Shinkansen sets that I bought.
< Cue theme from Jaws. > The LAST hobby store before we get on an airplane back to the US. I was thrilled that it was such a huge building but a little disappointed on the name of the store (Kids Land???) and what the façade displayed. Am I going to find thousands of plastic Transformers kit? Then I spotted the partial name brands on the side of the building (look carefully). THERE IS HOPE! A lump formed in my throat and my pulse quickened as we approached the store. Waiting for the green light to cross the street seemed like an eternity. (NOBODY jay walks in Japan!) It felt like everything was happening in slow motion. We enter the ground floor and...there...was...nothing...but...plastic...Transformers...kit. My heart nearly stopped.....
After being gifted various N-gauge (1:150 scale, only Shinkansen models are N-scale) Osaka-area passenger trains over the years by a family we know there (it's a long story), on the last day of our most recent trip I walked from our hotel on the other side of Namba station to Den Den Town (hobby store land). I wandered into the Super Rajikon (which was rather intimidating, I didn't stay long) and Popondetta stores, before visiting the Super Kids Land Joshin store where I was somehow unable to find the model train section. I'm glad you found it I now have a collection of various JR West, Nankai, and Hankyu express trains, plus a collection of various 50s/60s era Boston and Main trains, with no layout to run them on other than some KATO track in boxes. I contemplate a sectional layout that somehow looks like Osaka on one side and Boston on the other
Now THAT would be cool! I'm tempting to do a Japan themed T-Trak module. That'll give me an any excuse to make another order to Plaza Japan. You couldn't find the model train section in Super Kids Land???? What??? Really???!!! Well, just hang on a little bit while I give you a tour!
Let me take one step back and show you what I saw once we were at the front of the store but on the other side of the street. It's a better angle to the previous picture. Now you can clearly see the Kato and Tomix brand on the side of the building. Once we were in the store, since I didn't see any trains at all, I frantically searched for a store directory and found it! Trains - 5th Floor. WHY does every hobby store put the train department on the top floor? Is it to teach us train guys patience???!!! Or just to annoy the hell out of us??? We took the escalator up as I couldn't find the elevators or maybe there were no elevators. I needed to get to the 5th Floor as fast as possible. Nope! Slowly(!), one floor by one floor by one floor the escalator went. It was torture I tell ya'!!! Then we reached the 5th Floor. And this was what I saw. Eyes widened! G-U-L-P! My goodness! The mother of all Japanese hobby stores!!!! I hit the Mother Load! I felt light headed and was wondering what my credit card limit was!!! Remember, Tomix is much more popular in Japan than in the US. To the right of the previous picture I see the Tomix selection. Even with a wide angle I had to do it in two shots to capture everything! Here's the right side of that wall. And here's the left side! Note the bookcase sets below the display. It's like being at a library! When I got to the end I said to myself, let's going down the aisles now one by one to cover the entire store. Now comes Micro Ace. People barely heard of Micro Ace in the US but it gets its own section in Japan. BTW, Micro Ace is actually a high end brand in Japan. Sort of like the Lexus/BMW/Mercedes/Cadillac of trains. Pricey too! When Micro Ace ended, up comes Greenmax. Greenmax? I thought Greenmax makes buildings and what not. Apparently not! They make locomotives and rolling stock! Again, look at those bookcases below!
If I remember correctly, I found the Plarail section (which seemed very appropriate to Super Kids Land) on one of the lower floors and assumed that was it. It's nice seeing how I screwed up
