Saturday, December 6, 2008

23rd Nov 2008 (Sunday)

Today we planned to visit Osaka. A couple of friends wanted to go to Sportaka first at Shinsaibashi to purchase Gamba Osaka team jerseys and some baseball stuff. We took JR train to Osaka then took the subway to Shinsaibashi. You can find all the branded outlets such as LV, Dior, Bvlgari, Nike and Tiffany here. Fuhh...high class area laa. We walked to Sportaka. Nearby is a place called America Mura.

Amerikamura usually referred to by locals as "Ame-mura" is a sizable retail and entertainment area near Shinsaibashi. It is a well-known haunt of expatriate Westerners, and centres on Triangle Park, a concrete rest area surrounded by retail outlets of Western fashions, bars and nightclubs, some of which are run by Westerners.Its repute as a hangout for Western foreigners is a matter of degree. Much as Osaka's registered foreign population is a small fraction of the total population, the makeup of the crowds and retail space in Ame-mura is predominantly Japanese. Locally, Ame-mura is known for being a place for observing some of the more "fashion intense" manifestations of Japanese youth culture.