Japandrea & Oskotta: What seems to be the problem, Officer?... and kittens.

Scott and I were walking around near Namba, strolling down the street towards the arcade like usual. Then this plainly dressed Japanese man stops right in front of us and says something neither of us could understand. He motions downward and flashes his badge as he says, "Japanese Police." Another undercover officer appeared as they asked us if we understood Japanese, and we said our usual response, skoshi ... a little. After a few more words I understood that they wanted to see my passport so I handed it over. Scott didn't have his on him so that probably looked a little shady... but what neither of us had is our address in Japan, or proof of where we live (what would that be anyways?). Through a fairly large language barrier, they asked us when we got here, when we were going back, if we were going anywhere else before going back to the USA, how we had money to be here for 3 months (always hard to explain), and if we had taken any trains that day. In the end I'm not really sure what it was about. I would say it could be a random Visa check since many foreigners outstay their visas, and Japan is very strict about immigration. However the train question made me wonder if there had been a crime committed by a foreigner and they were looking for someone. Also I noticed we got a lot of blatant stares that day... like 75% of the eyes on the street were on us. Maybe it was the power of suggestion but it sure felt like something was up! I just wish I knew what it was!

Why post a blog without a photo- so here's a different day where we saw some kittens that were sitting on the street tied to someone's bike. Yes, they just sat there, all huddled. Of course they were super snuzzly when I went to bother them. When the owner came back, he piled them into the basket of his bike and rode away. Amazing.