Osaka
Lucinda here on day 4 of our Japanese adventures!
This morning we got up much later than planned as we were tired from the exploits of the past few days.
Today is the first official day of winter in Japan, but surprisingly to mark the occasion it's been warm with glorious sunshine. I've even managed to burn my scalp.
Last night we explored Osaka, known as being the party city of Japan - it certainly lived up to that title!
It's a bit like the Amsterdam of Japan. There's a canal, lots of people racing about frantically on pedal bikes, lively nightclubs and the people don't seem to be as disciplined as they are in the other parts of Japan that we have visited. Quite often you'll see people nipping across pedestrian crossings under a red light, whereas you'd rarely see that in Tokyo.
An interesting difference is that in Tokyo on a escalator you stand on the left side and walk on the right, but in Osaka it's the other way around.
We left the hotel at around noon and made our way to a Lawson convenience store to book tickets to a ramen expo that we had planned to go to. The machine wasn't the easiest to use and we could't find any tickets for the event. In the end, George looked up the dates, and it turns out that it doesn't actually start until next week so we had to make a swift change of plans. Sitting outside and looking at the itinerary, we decided on a trip back to Dotonbori for the afternoon for another feast.
By the time we arrived there it was around 1.30pm and were both starving as we hadn't had anything to eat yet so decided to try a restaurant called Kushikatsu Daruma.
Kushikatsu is one of the specialities of Osaka we wanted to try, along with takoyaki which we sampled last night and okonomiyaki which we are planning to eat later in the week.
Kushikatsu is a snack food which consists of crispy panko breaded and deep fried meats, fish and vegetables on skewers. You dip these into a sweet tonkatsu sauce and get a selection of side dishes with it. We opted for beef, large shrimp, pork cutlet, quail egg, fish and cheese sausage, asparagus, chicken meatball, rice ball and sausage, with sides of doteyaki (beef tendon stew) and kimchi (hot salted and fermented cabbage).
There is a communal pot of dipping sauce and a very strict rule that you cannot double dip anything. Daruma features a funny statue outside of a chef with two skewers crossed to represent no double dipping, and it's stated on the menu with the staff reinforcing this when taking your order.
To help wash all the skewered delights down, I ordered plum wine with soda which was delicious. George had sweet potato shochu spirit which has an accquired taste. He seemed to enjoy it but it wasn't for me!
Pleasantly full from lunch we then had a quick look around the shops in nearby Shinsaibashisuji but it didn't last long as the clothes are mostly smaller in Japan and I've definitely put on a few pounds since arriving here.
Last night I looked up the best coffee places to visit in Osaka and stumbled across the Streamer Coffee Company, so we popped in there for a caffeine boost. George ordered a revolver latte which was a strong coffee which seemed to have about three shots in it. I ordered a mocha along with a hot oreo cookie which delivered a massive sugar kick as well.
It was so nice to get a good coffee, especially in our tired state as it picked us both up and my aching feet appreciated the rest that we had there.
Beside the till they had some merchandise for sale, and George was interested in buying one of the long sleeve t-shirts with the slogan on the front. His mind changed when he enquired about the price and was told it would be £40!
With the sun setting, we walked towards the Osaka Dome which is a giant baseball stadium that also hosts a large shopping mall. Along the way, we met a lovely old Japanese couple who asked us where we were from. When we told them we were from Scotland, the old man said he'd climbed Ben Nevis many years ago.
We looked around the various shops picking up souvenirs and groceries, before returning to the apartment where George cooked us the most amazing intensely marbled Wagyu steak for dinner, all washed down with some delicious Kyoho giant mountain grape juice which we picked up cheap from the supermarket!
It's interesting that in Japan, people don't crowd the guy reducing the food with yellow stickers. If this was in the UK the customers would be hounding him to get first dibs.
We've got an early start tomorrow as we leave Osaka to go on to the historical former capital of Japan, Kyoto.
乾杯
This morning we got up much later than planned as we were tired from the exploits of the past few days.
Today is the first official day of winter in Japan, but surprisingly to mark the occasion it's been warm with glorious sunshine. I've even managed to burn my scalp.
Last night we explored Osaka, known as being the party city of Japan - it certainly lived up to that title!
It's a bit like the Amsterdam of Japan. There's a canal, lots of people racing about frantically on pedal bikes, lively nightclubs and the people don't seem to be as disciplined as they are in the other parts of Japan that we have visited. Quite often you'll see people nipping across pedestrian crossings under a red light, whereas you'd rarely see that in Tokyo.
An interesting difference is that in Tokyo on a escalator you stand on the left side and walk on the right, but in Osaka it's the other way around.
We left the hotel at around noon and made our way to a Lawson convenience store to book tickets to a ramen expo that we had planned to go to. The machine wasn't the easiest to use and we could't find any tickets for the event. In the end, George looked up the dates, and it turns out that it doesn't actually start until next week so we had to make a swift change of plans. Sitting outside and looking at the itinerary, we decided on a trip back to Dotonbori for the afternoon for another feast.
By the time we arrived there it was around 1.30pm and were both starving as we hadn't had anything to eat yet so decided to try a restaurant called Kushikatsu Daruma.
Kushikatsu is one of the specialities of Osaka we wanted to try, along with takoyaki which we sampled last night and okonomiyaki which we are planning to eat later in the week.
Kushikatsu is a snack food which consists of crispy panko breaded and deep fried meats, fish and vegetables on skewers. You dip these into a sweet tonkatsu sauce and get a selection of side dishes with it. We opted for beef, large shrimp, pork cutlet, quail egg, fish and cheese sausage, asparagus, chicken meatball, rice ball and sausage, with sides of doteyaki (beef tendon stew) and kimchi (hot salted and fermented cabbage).
There is a communal pot of dipping sauce and a very strict rule that you cannot double dip anything. Daruma features a funny statue outside of a chef with two skewers crossed to represent no double dipping, and it's stated on the menu with the staff reinforcing this when taking your order.
To help wash all the skewered delights down, I ordered plum wine with soda which was delicious. George had sweet potato shochu spirit which has an accquired taste. He seemed to enjoy it but it wasn't for me!
Pleasantly full from lunch we then had a quick look around the shops in nearby Shinsaibashisuji but it didn't last long as the clothes are mostly smaller in Japan and I've definitely put on a few pounds since arriving here.
Last night I looked up the best coffee places to visit in Osaka and stumbled across the Streamer Coffee Company, so we popped in there for a caffeine boost. George ordered a revolver latte which was a strong coffee which seemed to have about three shots in it. I ordered a mocha along with a hot oreo cookie which delivered a massive sugar kick as well.
It was so nice to get a good coffee, especially in our tired state as it picked us both up and my aching feet appreciated the rest that we had there.
Beside the till they had some merchandise for sale, and George was interested in buying one of the long sleeve t-shirts with the slogan on the front. His mind changed when he enquired about the price and was told it would be £40!
With the sun setting, we walked towards the Osaka Dome which is a giant baseball stadium that also hosts a large shopping mall. Along the way, we met a lovely old Japanese couple who asked us where we were from. When we told them we were from Scotland, the old man said he'd climbed Ben Nevis many years ago.
We looked around the various shops picking up souvenirs and groceries, before returning to the apartment where George cooked us the most amazing intensely marbled Wagyu steak for dinner, all washed down with some delicious Kyoho giant mountain grape juice which we picked up cheap from the supermarket!
It's interesting that in Japan, people don't crowd the guy reducing the food with yellow stickers. If this was in the UK the customers would be hounding him to get first dibs.
We've got an early start tomorrow as we leave Osaka to go on to the historical former capital of Japan, Kyoto.
乾杯
Lucinda
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