Up early today, at 6am, no jetlag. Warm, Sunny day; our all-Japanese TV reports 27 degrees today.

We are staying at the Best Western Joytel Osaka. The hotel is on the 9-19th floor of the Oskar Dream Building. Our hotel room is very basic, but we selected a simple room as we are out most of the time or asleep anyways, so no use spending a ton of $$$. Our one requirement was to be close to a train station, its on the same block as the Shinoekoen Station. We are in the southern part Osaka, but subways and trains link the city very efficiently.

Greg looks like s giant next to our room door! We noticed 2 things about our bathroom, (1) it has the toilet bidet combo which was so "cool" the first time we came to Japan (though this one doesn't have a remote control!) and (2) no chaulking around the tub. We figure the tub has some sort of drain tray under it (front tub panel is plastic) leading to the drain under the sink. Different, nonetheless.

This hotel offers a complimentary breakfast buffet - it was a mix of western and Japanese foods: fruit, salads, vegetables, various kinds of fish, meats and eggs as well as rice, soups, yogurts, cereals, bread and pastries - an excellent breakfast to start the day.

After breakfast we explored our immediate neighbourhood in the daylight first before heading out. We must have picked the right hotel as not only is the train station on the same block, but so is a Mr. Donut and Mosburger. Its also great that there are numerous restaurants within a block or two, as well as various small markets and convenience stores (which all sell beer, wine and liquor). Many shops don't open until 0900 - 1100, but everything is open late or 24/7 so we are set!

We ventured to central Osaka to explore the Shinsaibashi - Osaka's main shopping area - basically just a ton of stores "covered street shopping". A LOT of walking! We spent a good chunk of the day here - not hard as the shops and restaurants on the main street and the surrounding arteries went on and on!

While there we stopped for lunch at a "Sushi Train" type restaurant. Its a sushi restaurant where the patrons sit around the food preparation area - all the sushi dishes are set out on a moving conveyor around the area the 2 chefs are preparing the dishes - you just pick the dishes you want - all dishes are the same price and when lunch is over, they count the plates (130 yen each) to charge you. You might ask how we chose this particular restaurant in a sea of so many.... the poster outside advertising Asahi beer for 100 Yen (about $1.05 CDN).

On the way back to the hotel, we took a detour to check out the Kyocera Dome Osaka, as we are planning on taking in a baseball game, and wanted to scout the place out.

We discovered a large grocery store in the subway station earlier today, but stopped in and bought some drinks (much cheaper than our corner store). The store is fully stocked meat, bakery, dairy, produce, groceries and a full range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. :-) Some items are priced on par with what we get at home, but meat was the biggest price difference with some cuts of beef $32.98 per 100g or about $150 pound.

After coming back to the hotel for a quick stop we set out to find supper - somehow it was evening already. Lots of restaurants in Japan are known for their plastic food displayed in their windows or outside their doors (very helpful as sometimes we come across servers who do not speak English or its very limited!) Though tonight, we walked about a block from the hotel and decided on a restaurant which showed what looked like beef on the barbeque on its sign. Turned out this was a new experience. We were sat at a table with a sunken grill in the middle of the table - we picked out a beef selection for two and the server brought us a plate with 5 different cuts of beef and a few vegetables. Add 2 bowls of rice and we were good to go! Greg got to grill away from home! Flavours were excellent and all was very fresh!