Tennoji Shopping

I had a pretty mellow day today. I was still pretty low energy and though I woke up at 11, after showering, eating, spilling my juice + cleaning it up, watching some Mentalist... it was 4pm by the time I left. My only plan for the day was to go to Tennoji area for some shopping and eating. There are a few big malls and department stores right near the station there so it's very convenient. It's a 15-20 minute walk but it was really hot so I took the train for 1 stop haha. I picked a random train station exit (there are always so many... so confusing) and was lucky enough to walk right into Mio, a fancy department store/mall! It's 11 stories tall and is definitely on the higher-end price-wise, but had a couple floors aimed at younger women which were more reasonably priced. I walked around looking at all the cute clothes and tried very hard to resist temptation, telling myself "there is no more room!" I walked into one store and after looking around a bit, the adorable sales girl started chatting me up. Soo cute. Dyed brown bob haircut with peachy cheeks, all fresh-faced and smiley. She asked me where I was from, where I was staying, etc. Eventually I told her about studying abroad, and studying Japanese culture. She said thank you (for studying Japanese culture?) which is kind of a weird reaction and yet not the first time I've gotten it... Then she was fawning over me and my height and my "long legs." She said she thought I was a model lol. So it was fun today to be the celebrity Gaijin and get my ego stroked by the adorable sales girl. I asked to try on a skirt, though I told her I wasn't sure if it would fit in the hips (she assured me noo I was so skinny! I need to keep this girl around.) I wanted a simple black skirt that I could wear with my tops to give me more options besides jeans and my shorts. Usually I have a hard time buying skirts because I feel like they make my hips look wide. But the skirt fit comfortably and looked good, so I bought it!

Girly, but easy to wear!

After that I looked around some more, especially at the makeup/skincare stuff, then went to the top floors for food. The restaurants were on the 10th and 11th floor. Lot's of delicious looking food! Some Japanese style, a few Western style. I was in the mood for more familiar food again, so I went to a grill place and got a "hamburger steak" with some veggies and potatoes and a big fat slice of soft white bread. Lol. Pretty stereotypical western food. But it was good! The sauce was tasty and it was filling. The best part of the restaurant was the view though!

Osaka skyline from the restaurant

Then, I went back to the station and wandered around finding my way to Tsutenkaku Tower. I didn't get too lost. I had a nice night at the bar, although I ran into a bitsies of trouble again... I got a mission to go buy ice from "Lawson 100" but went to a regular Lawson which was more expensive... Oops. Should've realized the 100 was for 100 yen. Luckily, I was able to return all the ice (lol) and the store clerk was really nice about it. After that, talked to Noco, and later some other foreigners arrived! Two guys from France who are living in Japan came in to see Gandhi. The funny part was that the one who spoke better Japanese wasn't used to speaking English so we were speaking in Japanese. lol. Then, I bought a cute little dugong charm for my phone!

Noco sells dugong stuff at the bar to support the efforts to save the Okinawan dugongs. However, she told me there are already only TWO dugongs left in the population, and they are the same gender so they can't breed. :( Seems like it might be too late for the Okinawan dugongs... What a sad thought. She told me about an aquarium in Mie where I could see a dugong in captivity, so I'm looking forward to that in the future. Finally, I didn't get lost coming home! Hurray! Victory! Haha. Tomorrow I'm going to try to go to Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine and the Umeda Sky Tower for my last day in Osaka!