Arrived Osaka

Hi everyone,

The first photos are from our dinner last night. After being turned away by pretentious wait staff at a few places in Kyoto, we found a small dumpling bar. The food was fantastic! We then went back to 'In The Moon' bar for one last chocolate cake and drink, and one last view. The rooftop was dead as it had been raining, a very different vibe to Saturday night when it had been full.

We had a bit of a longer sleep today compared to the last two days, before checking out and catching the metro to Yamashina. We then changed to a 'Special Rapid' train that took us to Osaka in 30 minutes. We again noticed that people don't offer their seats here to the elderly or disabled which was very strange. An elderly lady who was very unsteady and had a walking stick stood for a few stops, and no one even blinked. Pretty disgusting, again I would like to think people at home would have given her a seat. Regardless, we arrived at Osaka Station. We had ended up getting an earlier train than we had planned as we were ready quickly, so we took the opportunity to have a coffee and a cake at a nearby cafe and take our time. Once we had sat for a while, we caught the metro and stored our luggage in the coin lockers at Yotsubashi Station. We bought a snack at 7-Eleven and then walked to the Apple Store Shinsaibashi to meet our walking tour.

We were part of a small group of six today: the three of us, Alex from Melbourne too, and a German couple from Bremen. Everyone was really friendly and our guide, Mayu, was great. We started in the Shinsaibashi area and the contrast was really weird. We went from a main road which had shops like Louis Vuitton etc, to Amerika-mura (a US influenced area) which was really grungy and dirty. As soon as we arrived in Osaka, we noticed it felt a lot more grungy and in your face than Kyoto, which we had expected and been told about. Apparently Amerika-mura came about because of the Americans that came here after the war and had an influence on culture. Mayu explained that despite Osaka and Kyoto only being 55km apart, the cultures of the two cities are distinctly different. People in Osaka are known to be a lot more talkative, outgoing and direct. The minimum wage in Osaka is also much lower than Kyoto and some other cities, so as a result things are cheaper in Osaka overall. You can even haggle in some shops! It is known as 'the city of merchants'.

We learned about a couple of signature dishes we will definitely try here, including takoyaki (a ball shaped snack typically made with octopus cooked in a pan) and okonomiyaki (a Japanese pancake, also famous in Hiroshima, but cooked slightly differently in Osaka). 'Yaki' means pan, which makes sense as both of these are cooked in a pan. Apparently okonomiyaki also came about after the war, when Americans brought flour to Japan and it started to be cooked. 'Okono' means whatever you like, as you put in whatever veggies etc you have lying around. Another western influence is the fact that people walk on the right here, and stand on the right on escalators. Typically in Japan people stand and walk on the left, which originated in samurai times due to samurais keeping their sword on their left side to withdraw it with their right hand. They walked on the left so it wouldn't bump into anyone. However, once more western influence came into Osaka after 'Expo' in 1970, people started to walk and stand more on the right. It's confusing as in Tokyo everyone was on the left!

We walked along the Dotonbori River for a while, and saw the 'Namba Hatch', a concert hall and radio station building that looks like a spaceship. We then reached Dotonbori Bridge, which people sometimes dive off despite not being allowed (yuck - the water looked feral!). That's another cultural difference here, people aren't phased by breaking the rules like jay walking or speeding along the footpath on their bike. In Tokyo, people would not do that. Regarding the diving, apparently when a baseball team here that had been terrible for years won the title, people watching the celebratory parade dived off the bridge, and even broke off and threw the KFC colonel into the river. He wasn't found again until 20 years later!!

Nearby to the bridge, we saw the famous 'Glico running man' billboard. Glico is a snack company, and apparently the running man is their logo because one of their original snacks, a caramel candy, was said to give you enough energy to run a marathon. We then arrived next at the artistic food street, which has 3D art sticking out of buildings advertising what food is sold. The pictures will do the talking here! You might notice an 'Expo 2025' sign in one of the photos of this street. It's on here next year and there's a lot of building work going on as a result.

The last portion of our tour saw us walking through Hozen-ji Temple which was nestled in amongst buildings and restaurants, and then Kuromon Market and ending up in Namba. Max, the German guy on our tour, tried some Kobe beef on a skewer here which cost him $30 Australian. Dad had a crab stick and Mum and I shared some strawberries. We saw some knife shops in a different area too that had samurai swords on display.

Then we went and got our luggage from the station and went up to our apartment, which is really nice and spacious with proper beds/mattresses for all of us - yay!!

After resting for a while, we went out for dinner along the river. It was absolutely mental with people everywhere, but we managed to find a restaurant off the well beaten path that served okonomiyaki, and it was DELICIOUS! They even drew cute pictures on top in mayonnaise. We then boarded a 20 minute boat cruise along the river. We couldn't understand our guide and he was very quirky, but the cool breeze was nice, as was the different perspective of the neon lights once the sun had set.

We finished off the night by heading to Bar Nayuta, a speakeasy bar behind a hidden door that someone through mum's work had recommended. It was really cool! Dad had a rum and coke, Mum a pina colada and me a non-alcoholic pina colada.

I started off the day thinking I wouldn't really like it here, but as the day has progressed I've really enjoyed the vibe!

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox