From a small quiet town on an island (Niihama/Nyguawa) to one of the largest cities in Japan, known for its food culture, Osaka. We boarded the Ltd Shiozake train to Shin-Osaka, travelling back to main land Japan. With stomachs rumbling we grabbed some ramen for breakfast from Kurama Soup in the station (700y) before boarding the local train to take us into Osaka. Osaka is a huge city with lots of options for public transport so we got on the loop line (like the circle line in London) to Shin-imamiya where we checked in at Hotel Zipang for the night, this was a very basic hotel so we didn’t plan to spend much time in it. After getting back onto the loop line we headed to Osaka-jojen where we wandered around the tranquil Osaka park admiring the views of the beautifl Japanese castle standing tall surrounded by its moat where some tourists where having golden boat rides. Some of this area was also quite modern with a lot of young people hanging around enjoying the park. From here we took the subway chuo line to Osaka-ko so we could see the bay, the Temponzan Ferris wheel and the Temponzan marketplace. We had a cheeky few goes on a couple of grab machines and in one of the shops we also found and tried Rakuten? A sweet fruit drink where you have to pop the metal ball at the top of it satisfyingly into the drink to open it.
Ducking out of the rain briefly we got the subway to Shinbashi area where we mooched around the trendy Amerika Mura fashion area and Shinbashi shopping streets in the dark with it all lit up by lights and signs, looking at the local artwork adorning some of the walls. For dinner we headed down to Dontonburi area, renowned for its many different types of foods/restaurants as well as being neon-laden, with famous moving signs such as the glico man and the crab. It was very busy but had that bustling, exciting buzz about it, helped by it being dark which displayed the lights and signs well. We walked around looking at all the different types of food, seeing what we fancied. We ended up at Kaiten, filling our face with sushi.
After a jam packed day before we packed our bags and took them to Osaka station, leaving them in lockers so we could explore and eat some more before we went to meet one of Dave’s dads colleagues in the evening. We wandered around Shinbashi shopping street in the day before again making our way down to Dontonburi area for food. We found a place serving okonomyaki, Osaka, as well as Hiroshima is also famous for this dish and it is cooked a bit differently in Osaka having its own style. We chose a pork version, which was cooked on the grill in front of us for us to dish out to ourselves (700y). It was still very tasty but my preference was definitely Hiroshima style. Very full, we made our way to explore Amerika Mura in the light and looking around the Grand mall and all its shops by the station, stopping by to look at the pokemon store. In Grand South we had coffee and cookies at Komin Café, which were very much needed by that point (600y) after lots of walking. We enjoyed taking a break in this chilled out coffee shop, that was part of a home store with nice furnishings and plants all around the wooden benches and tables.
Leaving our bags in the lockers so that we did not have too much stuff with us, we took the JR Takarazuka line to Takarazuka in order to meet Hiro (Dave’s dads work colleague and friend) who had offered to host us in his family home for the evening. We met Hiro at the train station and after introductions we stopped to grab some items from the local supermarket before taking a taxi to pick up his children from school. They were initially very shy but after an hour or so when we were back at their house they were very playful. We had a lovely evening chatting to Hiro and his wife and playing with their adorable children (5years and 3 years old). We helped to make salad and then we made Takoyaki (fried octopus balls) in a special Takoyaki grill, which was fun to try out and accompanied by a wide spread of other foods. It was lovely to see inside a modern Japanese residential home and to see how Hiro and his family lived, even down to traditional bathrooms and sleeping arrangements. Hiro and his wife were amazingly kind and showed us incredibly hospitality, which we are very grateful for.
In the morning we said goodbye to the family before having breakfast and walking to the station. We made the half an hour journey back into Osaka where we picked up our bags and boarded the Thunderbird to Kyoto. This only took 30 minutes; Japanese trains are amazing so we had basically all that day ready to spend in Kyoto! Very much a whistle stop tour of Osaka but still enjoyable and we got to experience some of its highlights as well as have a fantastic experience with Hiro and his family so you couldn’t really ask for more.
Alex
Comments