Walking around with a big Salmon in Osaka

My salmon (the angle makes it look smaller than it actually is)

On my way from my hotel looking for something to eat, I happened to pass by a Village Vanguard store. They sell funny t-shirts and funny props you can use for magic tricks, though they claim to be a book store (and they do sell books too). I did not find any funny t-shirts to buy, but I did find a huge rubber salmon that looked pretty real.

I do a magic trick where salmon sushi comes out of my t-shirt that has a picture of a salmon eating salmon sushi, with a sad face. People sometimes ask me to produce the fish too. This salmon could possibly be used for that, so I though I should buy it. But since it was big and my suitcase was already full, getting it back to Sapporo might be bothersome.

Turkish food. For some reason, Japanese people believe the that Turkish cuisine is the third most famous/popular/best cuisine in the world (after French and Chinese). I have never heard anyone outside Japan say that.

I figured I will just have to suffer for the art, and bought the salmon. Then I went looking for somewhere to eat. I found a nice looking Turkish restaurant and ate there. The food was very good, though a little expensive. When I was leaving the restaurant the waitress asked why I was carrying around a huge salmon. I did not know what to say, so I said that it might be useful to have one.

The next day when I checked in at the airport I could not fit the salmon into my suitcase so I had it sticking out of my carry on luggage. The girl at the check in counter asked me a lot about my ("I am not Japanese") t-shirt, but no one, not even the people X-raying my rubber salmon at the security check, commented on the fish. I guess they see a lot of strange things at the airport.