When one lands in Osaka's airport, water surrounds one. It bursts in white-capped waves. A toll bridge passes dockyards and boats. We left Dallas at 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday. We landed at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Our ingress into the city took an hour. I went with another fellow for a casual meal at a hotel restaurant--my steamed fish proved delightful, if only mildly exotic. I asked the concierge if I could find any traditional or folk or classical Japanese music, but was told I could find jazz. I love jazz, and find Japanese jazz interesting, but I decided to go for a walk. I crossed the river to the
park near the Osaka Palace, passing kids in tunnelways with guitars, and pausing to examine the
street vendor stands where for 500 yen a piece, one can get fish or chicken or meat on a stick.
The chill weather finally caused me to return to my hotel, where I sit typing while CNN discusses
churches burning in Alabama and riots over cartoons.