A LOST WALLET AND OTHER ADVENTURES

An unforgettable day in Osaka

There is no way in the world I am ever going to find it, I thought to myself as I stifled a sob rising in my throat, hopelessly scanning the streets of Umeda for a hot pink wallet (brandless, nameless, no distinguishing features, no ID, but all my monies inside it. I was majorly screwed.)

In Tokyo, barely a year ago, I geared up like a tita and evenly distributed my worldly possessions in three different pouches, strategically located in different bags. When I packed for Osaka, I thought, yey, small, charming, cultural, little city. What could possibly go wrong? I had mentally beaten myself up with a spiked leather whip by the time I reached the Umeda Sky Building.

I pressed the button up to the 39th floor and found myself in a breathtaking open-air deck that is the Floating Garden Observatory. As the biting cold wind seeped into the marrow of my bones—I was way up 173 meters high, cosseted only by a thin cardigan and insides that had frozen with fear and regret—I dejectedly surveyed the city of Osaka laid bare beneath me. If you’re going to need a great vantage point in all of the city, you’ll be hard pressed to find one with better perspective. (Not that I ever hoped to spot a wallet from my perch.)

Being in the Observatory lifted my spirits a little bit. The Umeda Sky Building is a piece of work, built in an unusual architectural form that’s not seen any place in the world. Made up of two towers, and connected at the top floors, the atrium extends from the ground to the sky, lending a graceful, solemn, Cathedral vibe. The building is wrapped in glass all around, so that it reflects the vivid blue of the sky, which then makes it look as if the garden is floating on itself. Yeah, Japan and all its mind-melding/melting beauty.

I looked down from my vertigoinducing spot and saw Osaka in all its glory: Why did I ever think that Japan’s third largest city, with a population of 2.5 million people, was Tokyo’s younger, chiller, more cultured, more laidback sibling?

I went around the perimeter and