Gulliver's Travels: Hully, Gully, and Ghibli Land

The final days in Japan flew by faster than you can say "Yabai Dabba Doo!" and suddenly we were out of time and on a plane to South Korea, reflecting on how many great memories we have and all the moments we created. And from the recent week, there are two very notable events to mention.

First, I found a fantastic art show by chance while talking to a gallery manager downtown. It just so happened that my last full day in Japan was also the start of a week-long exhibit called the Osaka Art Show at two different venues in the city. So I went directly to the waterfront exhibit, which was an outdoor-indoor combo. It occupied an old pier as well as the adjacent four-story abandoned industrial warehouse complex.

To summarize—it was wild!

Not at first, because the lower floor exhibited one installation only, which was anything but creative. It was Yoko Ono’s “Fly” installation, consisting of three old wooden ladders standing up next to one another in a dark room with one lightbulb hanging between them. That’s it. And when I saw that, I doubted whether I should even go upstairs. Not knowing what awaited me, I almost left. But the next three levels were a mix of really fantastic mixed art from locals and worldly artists.

Nuff said...

The second highlight of our last week in Japan was the goodbye dinner for Hulya. Her colleagues organized a special dinner at an izakaya restaurant in Umeda Station (yes, there’s amazing food in train stations! I must constantly remind myself that all major metro stations have a hidden basement bazaar for exquisite food—both street style and fine dining😋).

The izakaya spot was fine dining. And it was such a touching evening of heartfelt thanks and goodbye speeches. The chance to spend more time with Hulya’s colleagues was such a joy. Daiku was such an excellent host. And I got to meet Hulya’s new friends. And after a few drinks, everyone became very lively.

The izakaya spot was fine dining. And it was such a touching evening of heartfelt thanks. The chance to spend more time with Hulya’s colleagues was a real joy. I got to meet Hulya’s new friends and chatted about Murakami's literary work with Daiki in between The Chancellor's speeches. And after a few drinks, everyone became very lively.

Professor Ikeda was so jovial as he talked about “ayu fishing techniques”, obesity rates (Japan has one of the lowest obesity rates globally, with approximately 3.3%, while America is a whopping 40%), my personal natto preferences, and Shohei Ohtani: the best baseball player in Japanese history.

It seems he's greater than Babe Ruth

All in all, if I could sum up the Japan trip, I’d say that every day was a delicious battle between the room in my stomach and my hungry eyes, the limited space in my brain for mind-expanding insights, and the perpetual awe that living in Japan has filled my heart with.

Even though, each day we discovered something new about the culture and country, at the same time, we repeated certain themes like sushi, saké, okonomiyaki, and the incredible imagination of Miyazaki (seriously, when we take the monorail, which was built before Miyazaki’s Totoro film, it looks like we’re riding on the famous cat/catterpillar school bus).

Round Two!

What else can anyone want in life?

Oh right! Sea urchin potato stick! ✅ Delicious!

It's a very wabi-sabi culture (beauty in its imperfection) and hard to properly define. But a I've noticed that there’s no machismo showmanship, no advertising of THE BEST in town, and no superficial ego. They are progressive yet traditional. They love playing tennis, not pickleball. It's a highly refined culture with modest and humble people…not to mention all the inevitable repressed instincts and emotions, which would require a few more blog entries to discuss properly.

This is actually a rather famous band

But for every fantastic moment, there were at least three dull ones too. Stuck on the public transport, dodging hordes of people, and the usual travel fatigue. The downtime was not glamorous, and things didn’t always work out, but in the end, we tried to cherish as much of it as we could. The morning coffees, the onigiri from the corner store, meeting locals here and there and making them laugh with our Japanese pronunciation, finding my favorite neighborhoods to stroll through, getting IG followers from the MindHunter stickers I’ve slapped around Japan, the depth of common decency amongst the public, and the general bafflement that comes when witnessing the subtle human'ness of each city’s designs.

It's been such a joy, honor, and privilege to travel here and share the experiences with my sweetheart. And to close out this final chapter of my Nipponese travels, here are a few more moments that didn’t make it into the compressed storyline of Hully & Gully’s adventures in Ghibli Land.