April 6th, 2017!
Time to get moving...! Today we hopped on a shinkansen and headed over to Osaka. I was really excited because this is a city I have never been to before. When we were first planning our trip we tossed around the idea of going down to Okinawa or up to Hokkaido, but in the end didn't want to devote as much time as they would require. I had heard Osaka was nice, the food was good, and they had an aquarium I wanted to go to that is one of the largest public ones in the world (nurse sharks!) so it was an easy choice for us.
We got up obnoxiously early once again and got to Tully's before they opened at 7:30am. Did I mention everything felt like it opened really late in the morning before..? Donut shops often didn't open until later and lets just say I am used to coffee shops here in the Pacific Northwest opening around 5am! We wandered a little and came back to a looong line about 15 minutes later when they opened. Note for anyone going during ACTUAL cherry blossom time - while Starbucks ends their promo hillariously early in March, Tully's continues their campaign until later in April. I had what I thought would be one last sakura matcha latte but they were still serving them when we returned to Tokyo - right up until we left. That might have been the last week for them though. Another side note - the default was to go find a table first and set your items on it or use a little placard like I have on the table to reserve it and then go get your drinks and food. I get why its the opposite in America but here I never saw people loitering so it totally works to do it this way (the better way IMO).
Sufficiently caffeinated we went back to the apartment to finish packing and take out the garbage and said goodbye to our first home in Japan. I really enjoyed the apartment but I don't think we will stay where we did again. At night there were many sketchy (for Japan) guys who stood in the pedestrian intersections just looking for... I don't know. I saw them trying to chat up single ladies who clearly wanted to be left alone and pulling single guys aside but I am not sure what their game was... my imagination can get pretty wild. Seeing the leftover drunks in the morning wasn't much fun either, even though once again it was a thousand times better than seeing the same people in the US. They were obnoxious but not sloppy if that makes sense. I never felt unsafe, but we aren't party people so we would have done far better not to stay so close to the red light district.
OK, side note over! On to Osaka!
We used the subway this time from the Higashi-Shinjuku station to the main Shinjuku station having learned our lesson on the way in. We then tried to buy our tickets at the machine that said in bold letters CREDIT CARD ONLY but it didn't work. It's the only place the entire trip we ran into that used CCs but wouldn't take any of ours. So we went over to a ticket desk and bought them there using the card that was rejected with no issues. He did put us on a later train than the next one saying there were more seats open but we didn't mind much - it was only an extra 20 min wait which gave us plenty of time to buy ekiben from the large assortment of shops there. Since our train was at 11:20 or so we went ahead and split a festive beer also. :3
We took the nozomi since my husband was intent on taking the fastest train we could speed-wise. He even kept an app open on his phone that showed our speed. I was glad we went to kawaguchiko earlier since it was very cloudy today and so we weren't able to get a view of Fuji from the train. Rather than get another Airbnb in Osaka I decided we would stay at a hotel. I was a little worried about the ones we had already because I know Airbnb isn't officially running in Japan yet. The only issue we had with them is our first host in Shinjuku did cancel our reservation in mid January. He refunded our money and everything, so we aren't sure why he did but we easily stayed elsewhere and it wasn't that big a deal.
Anyway, to make sure there was minimal chance of something going awry for half the trip we booked at hotels and in Osaka I chose the Namba Oriental Hotel. We knew nothing about the area but we had read Namba was a nice area to stay in as there was a lot of markets, arcades, food stalls and such around in the area so there would always be something to do at night. They weren't kidding... the areas go for blocks and blocks, blending into each other. One of the first things we realized when we got off the shinkansen is that instead of standing on the left and walking on escalators on the right Osaka is flipped - people stood on the right and walked on the left. We had just gotten used to the other way so we started blundering again... sorry everyone! We were surprised how large the underground mall attached to the station is.. it seemed to go on forever and the GPS on my phone was NOT working down there, so we went up into the rain to get a signal and get to our hotel.
Finding the hotel is easy... once you know where to look. Here is what you see as you approach the entrance to give you an idea of what I mean:
If you look at the windows covering the street at the first banner there is another just under it that says the name of our hotel. You go left and through some revolving doors into a hallway with a couple elevators up to the hotel and ahead is a food court. The area smelled mildly of smoke... I crossed my fingers that it was like that only due to the temporary shelter that served as a smoking box just a little ways from the entrance but.. the elevator reeked. Uhoh.
The check in is on the 3rd floor and when you step out of the elevator there is a humidifier blowing out as much mist as it can handle 24/7 which we thought was odd. It also STILL smelled very smokey - the whole lobby area did. I inwardly started panicking. I knew I had booked a nonsmoking room but I didn't know how the hotel handled it so I was really eager to get into the room and see if I needed to abort from here at this point.
Sadly it was not to be... our room was not ready. The person checking us in then announced Osaka had begun an 'accommodation tax' and we would need to pay them 1000 yen. My husband immediately bristled as Expedia said the rate we paid them would be the rate period. We started at him, at each other, and he repeated himself. Begrudgingly my husband pulled out his wallet and paid him but we're still a little angry about being put on the spot like that. It was such a small amount that it just seemed like a prank of some sort. Thankfully it was not a game of any kind - I looked it up and found an article saying this started on January 1st, 2017.
http://faq.japanican.com/177/184/187/190/f5264.html Obviously $10 or so doesn't even begin to break the bank, it was just frustrating knowing it was all paid in advance only find surprise! Its not! Cash now plz, I won't check you in without it! Oh well. They also took our passports away and took photocopies of them, which was the first time I had that happen anywhere. Disney does the same thing, so they must do something with it, I'm just not sure what. They had a ton of luggage in the lobby as well and soon added our bags to it. I dislike when luggage sits out as it can be a problem where I am from, but what can you do? Its probably safe, right?
Since our room was not ready we needed to go do something else. We knew we wanted to go to the Aquarium and to see Osaka Castle - both were close by. Since it was raining I chose to head down to the aquarium so we started the trek back to the station, taking some pictures as we went. One thing we had also seen in Shinjuku was some pet shops with kittens and puppies. There was another one on our way, so we stopped and took some pictures there too. Pets in Japan are apparently REALLY expensive...! The cheapest kitten we saw was 130000 yen! They were all in tiny little boxes as well... I hope they tend to get adopted very soon.
We got to the aquarium before it started really raining and yes, this place is HUGE. I am sure many people do not like seeing large aquatic animals in captivity and there were indeed some exhibits that tested my patience as well. Compared to some other places I have been though I'd say this was very good if overstocked and once again the entrance fee was pretty reasonable at 2300 yen per adult. We spent a LOT more time here than I had thought we would but then it was so much larger than I had thought too!
A little over halfway through there was a little cafe - we split a 'whale shark' ice cream. It's ramune flavor mixed with vanilla and then they sprinkle little white round sprinkles on it so it looks like a whale sharks' spots. It was pretty good! I liked it better than the apple flavored ice cream we'd had back at the Ghibli museum. While we were there they were feeding the whale shark, and also were doing a talk on their sea lions. At the end there is a touching area where kids can pet stingrays, starfish and even some little sharks. Overall there is a huge number of different fish and I definitely saw critters that I have never seen here in the US from their waters. We bought some more treats for our coworkers and headed back to the station.
There was a cute takoyaki stand before we entered so we decided to have another snack and split a small order. They were really good! The octopus wasn't even slightly rubbery - I bit through it more like it was a piece of chicken. I never thought the stuff we can get in my city as bad, but this was just better cooked I guess? Maybe its fresher or a different type of octopus? Either way I ate a lot of takoyaki over the next few days. I hope Im not disappointed when we go back to the place that has them here.
It was now 5 or 6 when we got back to the hotel and we were able to pick up our luggage and get our room keys. They brought out the luggage from the back so they must move it at some point? There is a gate in the lobby that blocks off the elevator to the rooms - you can't get to them from the first set from the street. We were up on the 7th floor and thankfully there was no smoke smell in the hallway at all! I started to relax a little bit. The room was similarly clean and tidy... compared to the futon we had been sleeping on the bed was a luxurious king sized bit of heaven and there were all kinds of plugs in the headrest. they also had a bluetooth stereo but I didn't use it at all. The view was of roofs but I didn't mind - we had a clean room and a TV... I love Japanese TV.
They have a style of show where 3 or more hosts talk about different subjects with tons of bright graphics and texts and close ups of their reactions to things thats fun to watch even when you aren't quite sure what they are going on about. One of the mornings they were talking about toast. They started by going to various places that serve toast or sandwiches on bread and critique (very positively) their bread techniques. Then it kind of morphed when the lady host went to talk to a 'scientist' in an empty lab room where he espoused the benefits of using a tray meant for fish to toast your bread over using a toaster oven because the moisture does something. They spend a crazy amount of time on this showing lots of diagrams and example videos - also going on about how great induction heat is. Finally, my favorite part, she brings two pieces of toast out - one done in the fish oven and the other in a toaster oven. She has the older guy host try it and is pleased when he says how good the fish one is. Then he tries the other piece and he says... its also good! What can he say, he likes toast!
The rest of the trip anytime we saw induction we'd excitedly show each other the item. We even saw it on a rice cooker at our Uwajimaya the other day... they REALLY like induction!
Man I digressed.... sorry! Its little things like this, the inane weird things that make me laugh and happy, that make me love going to Japan.
Since we had a few snacks we weren't crazy hungry but we were both eager to go find a good Okonomiyaki place. My husband's coworker who had lived in Osaka for 9 years had recommended one but all the reviews were saying it was no good now due to the popularity. It also would have taken awhile to get to so we just went to one around the corner called Fukutaro Honten that had good reviews.
We did end up having to wait, but it was REALLY good. Every okonomiyaki is cooked by the owner who also managed the list of names and calls you in from the front of the restaurant where the grill is. Thats him in the green towel. We did end up waiting 20 min or so but it was worth it. When they poured the sake they did it into a cup set inside a saucer until it was spilling over the sides which my husband appreciated.
I had tea and once again it was never filled a second time... I am not sure if thats how it is there - I'm used to endless tea places but the only place I got refills was at the conveyer sushi places where I got it myself. We ended up splitting one but really should have gotten two because it was soooo good... they also had another guy who made yakisoba on a different grill - I can't remember what else was on the menu.
I was still a little bit hungry so I looked up desserts. We walked down the Namba market area over the bridges and gawking at HUGE decorative signs.
The crowds were immense and in some places it was hard to stay together, especially once the umbrellas came out. Much of the area is undercover thankfully but at intersections and such you are on your own.
Its a good thing we don't have a little place called Pablo here in the states because if we did I would be quite fat. Also broke. I'm not big on cheesecake but man, I would eat a little cheese tart every day if I could. They have mini ones that are 250-300 yen in various flavors. Chocolate, strawberry, matcha and regular plus some seasonal ones. I am not kidding when I say flat out we went here every single night we were in Osaka and had one as dessert.
They also had a sign warning not to eat while walking here.... we found in Osaka that it was much more common to walk and eat, possibly a side effect of having so many snacking options all over. In the market area there were signs requesting you not use their trash cans unless you were a customer also. I feel like there are many more foreigners here... not only did we see a lot of walking and munching but there were also way more couples holding hands and a lot of different languages being spoken. I realized how much more relaxed I felt than I had in Tokyo... I guess it took more energy than I thought to be 'on guard' against a faux pas this whole time. I still tried to not be 'that guy' in general but I did end up drinking my drink on the escalator and a few other naughty things like tossing my eel stick in with the paper tray for my takoyaki in the same trash even though they were from two different shops.
We went back to the hotel, tried to hold our nose through the lobby, and had a very quiet and relaxing evening at the hotel.
Seems like the only other thing *might* be soup... and bread. >_<
