We left Kyoto for Osaka this morning in the rain. A short train ride (30 minutes on a local train) and a short walk and we found our hotel in Osaka.
Osaka is the 2nd biggest city in Japan
. On first appearances, it doesn't seem nearly as hectic as Tokyo but peak hour may be a different story! We are staying in Namba, just near Dotonbori, the city's most famous entertainment district.
Our room wasn't ready when we arrived so we went for a walk to Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi, the city's premiere shopping district. It's a huge undercover outdoor shopping centre with lengths as far as the eye can see. We saw a pizza shop and thought a lunch of pizza and pasta would be good so Dylan ordered a spicy pork pasta and I got a margarita pizza. The shopping is interesting - we still haven't bought anything - firstly because it's not cheap and secondly because the fashion is a little different to what we are used to!
We looked up somewhere for okonimiyaki for dinner. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake, made with a variety of ingredients but based on a batter with flour, yam, water, egg and
. cabbage - we found a goodone nearby on TripAdvisor and headed there for some dinner.
The line was out the door and down the stairs so we contemplated waiting but then decided to give somewhere else a go. Okonomiyaki originated in Osaka so surely everywhere would be pretty good! We found another place with an English menu and even though it didn't look very busy, and only had 9 reviews on TripAdvisor, we decided to give it a go. What a great decision! We were led upstairs to a busy little room with tables with BBQ plates on them. Our waiter was awesome and when we said we didn't know what to do he said he would do it for us. I ordered the beef, pork and chicken one and Dylan ordered one that looked like it had a combination of meat and seafood.
The raw ingredients came out in a bowl and our lovely waiter mixed them and then poured them onto the BBQ plate and made a neat round shape (the people behind us were doing it themselves and there's didn't look nearly as neat as ours)!!
After a few flips and pats and "You wait 5 minute" we were told it was ready
. Our waiter topped them with a special sauce, like BBQ sauce but different, and some Japanese mayonnaise, then sprinkled some herb stuff (apparently seaweed flakes) and some flavouring stuff and it was ready! No wonder it's so popular here! It was delicious!
Dylan got a very large beer but I had to suffice with coke, the only wine they had was sake and I don't drink whiskey highballs which is also very popular here!
Our nightcap from 7-11 included Dylan's regular chic chip cookies. I thought I'd give the snickers a miss and have a little tub of strawberry ice cream instead!
We are staying only a 5-10 minute walk from Dotonbori here in Osaka which is handy. We are also above a subway station (but we are on the 28th floor so noise is not an issue).
A few more noticings:
* Japan is very clean. Even though it's hard to find a bin, no one litters! You still get the odd "Asia sewerage smell" but not nearly as bad as Thailand!
* Most people carry around big umbrellas when it's raining, not the compact type
. And thy are mostly clear plastic. I guess it helps to see through the umbrellas in big crowds!
* In Tokyo and Kyoto, people stand on the left of escalators while people can walk up the right hand side. However, in Osaka, it's the opposite! We have no idea why!!!
* Pachinko and slot machines are HUGE! Tokyo was crazy for them and there are still lots here in Osaka. Pachinko is like a pinball machine that's vertical and the aim of the game is to collect the little balls by getting them to go into a certain hole. Gambling for cash is illegal here in Japan so they win balls that can be exchanged for special prizes, that can then be exchanged for cash at a different venue! In Tokyo, we saw people lined up for these parlors early in the morning waiting for them to open!
* Displaying examples of the food served in restaurants is also very popular here. "Fake food" is displayed in windows and looks remarkably like the real thing! Very helpful when trying to decide what to eat! The colours and sizes are very realistic!
Off to Miyajima and Hiroshima tomorrow!
Love Lisa and Dylan x
Osaka
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Ōsaka-shi, Ōsaka-fu, Japan
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