More on my day in Osaka.

Bikes are a very common form of transportation in Japan. As you can see here, there are always rows and rows of bikes near train stations, as people ride their bikes to the station, then commute to work/school by train from there.

Whenever I ask my students how long it takes for them to get to school, typically for the high school kids, they say anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.

For the college students, they usually say anywhere from an hour to two, sometimes even longer. When students sometimes tells me it takes two hours to get to school it astonishes me! TWO whole hours or more to get to school??? If it were in the States, I'm sure people would just MOVE closer to the school, but over here, commuting to school/work for up to 2 hours seems fairly typical. I've still yet to figure out what the reason behind this is, because it just doesn't seem economical to commute, when transportation costs in Japan are so expensive.

One reason might be, most parents in Japan financially support their kids throughout college, so having to pay extra for housing and food for their kids who have moved out of the house is too tough financially. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? WHY DON'T THE KIDS PAY THEIR OWN WAY THROUGH COLLEGE? Unlike the States, there doesn't seem to be much of a government supported student loan system over here, so I guess it makes it difficult or nearly impossible for students to pay for their own college education.

Another obstacle that gets in the way of college age kids moving out and living on their own probably has something to do with how expensive it is to rent a place in Japan. The rent itself doesn't seem so high, pretty decent actually. But they have all these so-called "deposits" in Japan that you have to make when renting a place. They have a "key deposit" that costs something like 2 to 3 times your monthly rent, then they have an "appreciation fee" for the landlord for letting you rent the place. Even though these expenses are called "deposits," they're one-time fees that don't get refunded, so it all adds up in the end. It all seems so complicated.

Here's a picture I took of one of the underground shopping centers right under the subway system and skyscrapers! I always feel somewhat clausterphobic when I'm walking through these places because there are so many people and the air just feels tight. I always prefer to walk outside rather than underground.

It's people, people, people, wherever you look. Where do they all come from? The underground shopping centers stretch for miles in every direction, and once again, I always get lost. Everything looks the same to me, and I can't handle feeling lost when I know the subways are right above me. I always start thinking what's going to happen if an earthquake hits while I'm underground? I need air! I'm probably just being paranoid.


So that was my day in Osaka. It's about 45 minutes from where I live. I never go there by myself because I'll probably never make it back home, but this time, my friend was with me so I just made sure I never lost sight of her. Had a good day.