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| Japan 2017 - Days 5 & 6 - Osaka |
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I arrived in Osaka on Friday afternoon. My hotel, the Sonroute Osaka Namba, was just a short walk from a subway station and basically at the east end of the tourist section of Dotonbori. I have to mention that while it was in a great location, and was a nice place staffed by very nice people, it had the worst bed i've ever had to sleep in. It was harder than the thin futons laying on the floor that i'd sleep on in the Ryokans. But at least I was greeted in the lobby by a dancing robot. (video below) I arrived at lunch time so asked the Hotel to stow my bags until check in time and headed out in search of lunch, which was going to be the Takoyaki that Osaka is famous for. I had no idea what it was at the time, I just knew it was what you eat in Osaka. Turns out it's a sort of batter made into a ball with a peice of octopus inside it. It's then topped with .... stuff and sauce. It was pretty good, but i'm just not a fan of octopus. Much like Calimari, I find it tuff and don't think it really has much of a flavor to contribute. It serves as something to hold breading/batter and sauce. I don't know really how to describe Dotonbori. Bourbon Street in New Orleans is the closest thing I can think to compare it too. Except it's lined with restaurants, game parlors, and shops, not bars. Many of the restaurants have very large, and often animated, 3D signs. And at night the entire place is an orgy of neon and giant screens. I tried to make it to the Umeda Sky building for sunset but didn't quite make it on time. Mainly because the Umeda train station is inside a large shopping mall and the exits weren't easy to find. I ended up on the wrong side so had to go back in and find my way through. But it was all worth it. I got to the top just after the sun went down. And it was so hazy that the sky glowed orange for quite a while. Then later when I came down I discovered a Mexican festival was going on. It was a bit surreal actually. All sorts of Mexican food smells and everyone walking around with a Tecate. But I passed on the Mexican food and headed back to Dotonbori for my first Sushi meal of the trip. I had seen a little joint off the main street that afternoon and was determined to eat there. I'm always drawn to small hole in the wall restaurants when I travel and on this trip it never failed me. The place I choose, purely by site mind you, had a very friendly staff behind the sushi bar and I seemed to be the only tourist there. Which is a bit surprising given it's location. But the employees seemed to know everyone else that walked in and greated them by name. And the Sushi was great, of course. On Saturday I had booked a tour with Akiba Kart Tours. It was a 2 hour tour driving 30cc go karts on the streets of Osaka. It was me, the owner, and a couple from Australia. It was great fun and a good introduction to driving in Japan. All 4 of us hit it off really well so after the tour we all went to lunch together. The owner new a great little mom and pop place near by. The conversations were great and we all asked each other questions and compared aspects of our home countries on different topics. It turned out that the restaurant was at the edge of the area known for it's Anime shops and culture which was going to be my afternoon destination anyway. Then I worked my way over to the Osaka tower and went up to it's observation deck. After that I decided to walk to a park nearby and wait for them to light the tower up after it got dark. Along the way I stumbled onto Tower Knives and ended up buying a hand made Damascus style steel Gyuto. Basically a Japanese chef's knife. It's really beautiful and quite fantastic to use. |
 Here is a video of the robot that roams the Lobby of the Hotel Sonroute Osaka Namba. If you speak and read Japanese this Robot can get you checked into your room. But when he's not checking a guest in he roams around and dances. |
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