On Sunday I went to Uemura Parts, which is a great bicycle shop in south Osaka that I bought my bicycle from a year ago. They suffered a devastating fire in January and have since changed locations. Unfortunately I couldn’t figure the new address from the (Japanese-only) website. So I gave myself plenty of time to spare and just went hunting.
This shop is as far as I’ve ever cycled from my home in Nishinomiya, so considering I didn’t even know if it was still in the same place, this was an “adventure” of a bike ride. I relied on my iPhone Maps program and basically I got lost, riding around trying to figure out Japanese characters. This was a lot of fun.
I got lost for an hour or so between Tamade station, and Tanabe station, which are only about a mile apart. In between them, I got to see a really beautiful temple with a tall pagoda near JR Minamitanabe. I love happening upon a neighborhood shrine that I didn’t know about before, that is really old and quiet and nice. We just don’t have this kind of thing in the United States – or do we? I’m not sure.
Out of nothing but luck, I happened upon Uemura Parts’ new location at Tamade station on the Yotsubashi line. It was way easier to find than I expected (it’s literally right on top of the subway station), and fortunately they are still doing lots of business. I registered my bike (a year after I bought it) and checked out some sweet bikes and some parts, but didn’t buy anything.
Yesterday was also my one-year-anniversary with Sayaka, so finally I had to cycle back to Namba to change clothes in time for dinner. Unbelievably, I made it there before she did. We went shopping and ate Vietnamese food for dinner and had a very good ending to the day.