Osaka was a wonderful surprise in many ways, and it provided a great introduction to Japan. The night we arrived, we had had a long travel day, and we were hungry (bordering on hangry), roaming around our neighborhood looking for a good place to eat. We finally stumbled upon a small restaurant that initially seemed a little intimidating given that it was quite small, and at two of the three tables were Japanese businessmen who appeared to be ordering a lot of food and booze and seemed somewhat rowdy. But for whatever reason we both had a good feeling about it, and it ended up being fantastic. We ordered pan fried udon, fried chicken drumlets with succulent meat and perfectly crispy skin, and a savory grilled mackerel. It was a great foray into the delicious Japanese cuisine that awaited us for the next two weeks.
The next day, we went on a walking tour of the city, and we went to areas we may not have known to explore on our own. We visited the Osaka train station, its rooftop garden (with perfect little grapes and tomatoes). We stopped by Hozenji Temple, which has a statue of one of the five Wisdom Buddhas (and interestingly, instead of tossing coins in the fountain, locals splash water on the statue, and as a result it is covered in a soft green moss). We went to Shinsekai, aka Osaka's "New World", where we sampled one of Osaka's culinary specialties, kushikatsu, aka fried stuff on a stick (which, as you can probably guess, is delish). Later that day, we also toured around the Dotonburi District. It's a popular shopping and entertainment area in the city, and at night it has a sort of Las Vegas-y feel, as the whole area is illuminated with bright, neon lights (including the famous Glico Running Man sign, which we impersonated - nay, perfected -below).
After the tour, we decided to go to the Osaka Castle. We had originally planned to buy tickets to the top to see the view, but we found out that the ticket office did not accept credit cards and we did not have any cash on us. Back in SF, this happens frequently, so we figured, hey no problem, let's just find the nearest ATM. But here, it turns out the nearest bank was about a 20 minute walk away! It didn't seem too convenient, especially considering none of the other vendors accepted credit cards as well. To make matters worse, it was a particularly hot and humid day, and it seemed that everywhere around me, people were enjoying delicious vanilla and matcha-flavored soft serve. Michael can attest that it's really challenging for me when I see other people happily licking their ice cream cones when I don't have one of my own. What can I say? #firstworldproblems
A fun fact about Osaka: it is traditional a merchant city and flourished as one of the economic centers of Japan, and that history can be seen today even in the language. For example, in many parts of Japan, you greet someone by saying, Genki desu ka?, which means, How are you?. But in the Osakan dialect, you greet others with Mokkari maka?, which literally translates to, Are you making money? So fascinating!
