Parents' trip to Japan - Part 1 (Osaka)

Thought I'd give you some idea of the stuff we got up to when our folks came to visit us. Rob had to make an impromptu trip to New York on the day our parents were to arrive in the Noto, so I had to take a couple of days off work. It was a good thing that we manage to schedule the flights so that Rob could spend at least half an hour at the airport with my parents and his mum after their arrival and before his departure.

Brief reunion at the airport before Rob's departure:


Around the Noto and Kanazawa

I planned for us to meet up with Rob in Osaka the following week, but for the moment I had to entertain our parents for a few days. I brought them to most of the places around the Noto and in Kanazawa that we brought Rob's aunt Chris to during her visit. Since time wasn't so much of a constraint in the itinerary like it was for Chris, we got to do more things like going to the Asaichi (morning market) in Wajima as well as show them around the local areas that we live in. And who can forget the earthquake that happened the day before taking them to Osaka, and the stress that followed post-earthquake as I was filled with anxiety over whether we could indeed continue with our travel plans.

Osaka

Come Monday arvo, we finally made it to Osaka and met Rob there. This is our fourth time in this city, and thankfully we like this city so much that we would still want to come here again. First stop was lunch at Kiji Honten, that great okonomiyaki place that I raved on about last time. A pretty long lunch queue was in place, and we waited a good 45 minutes before we got a seat in the tiny place. No one really minded the wait as it was opportunity for our folks to catch up with Rob. I had to take short walks during the wait because I was still suffering from motion sickness from having to do my Japanese studies on the train ride (I had to cram for a test that was due in a couple of days' time). Parents loved the food and was quite entertained by the kitchen action.



We spent a bit of time at the Yodobashi Centre (7 floors of electronic stuff) before heading off to the Umeda Sky Building, which they thought was more interesting than Tokyo Tower.

Riding the escalator up to the top of the Umeda Sky Building:


Before we knew it, it was already dinner time so we brought them to the other great place to eat in Osaka: Nawa Zushi Shiten. This place was crowded (like it was last time) when we arrived and we were brought to yet another building owned by the same guys. Due to the size of our group we couldn't get a seat at the counter, and were seated on the tatami table instead. Like it was before, menu was in Japanese and the staff's spoken English were somewhat limited, so some knowledge of at least hiragana and katakana would help when ordering from the menu. Food was fantastically fresh, and my mum in particular was much delighted at the variety of sushi and sashimi available to us. We ordered lots of food!

First photo: we started out with ama ebi (raw sweet prawn), uni (sea urchin roe), kani (crab), and ikura (salmon roe) sushi as well as sake (salmon) and maguro (tuna) sashimi. Second photo: unagi (eel), hotate (scallop) and the notoriously expensive toro (tuna belly) sushi.


Third photo: Rob was not quite full yet so we ordered the more ordinary (and cheaper) sushi like tamago (egg), hamachi (yellowtail), and two others that I've forgotten:


I was stuffed when we left this place. The bill came to around 9800yen, which is not that expensive considering the type of food we ordered. If we lived in Osaka, we'll be coming here quite often.

to be continued

Adventurous dining in Osaka (blowfish)

After a brief ride in the giant ferris wheel in Tempozan, we wandered around inside the Marketplace in search for dinner. The place offered many dining opportunities, but most of them were quite unappealing to us, serving fast-food types. The more decent restaurants were located on the second or third floors, and it was here we found a nice restaurant that served Japanese food ranging from sushi to nabemono (hotpot). It wasn't anything fancy, but we weren't looking for more than just good food and perhaps good service. It was a cold windy evening, and nabemono appealed very much to us.

Rob waiting for the water to boil:


We ordered Tecchiri, which, we were informed by the friendly waitress, was a nabemono specialty of Osaka. This dish contained fish, but we didn't know the type of fish used. Truth be told, I wasn't all that bothered by not knowing, since I am always eager to try out the regional specialties (dining in Japan for the past six months has taught me to "try now and find out later" because Q+A exchanges between us and the waiters isn't a simple affair due to the language barrier). So what is the fish in tecchiri? I only just (as in a few minutes ago) found out that the fish is fugu, a type of highly toxic puffer/blow fish. Hm, I wonder whether we would have ordered this, had we known that consuming the toxin found in some parts of the fugu results in paralysis and eventually death from asphyxiation. Haha, of course we would have!

How was it? Well, it was very bone-y. I remember that while I was eating it, I was actually thinking that the chefs must be cutting costs and using fish bones for this dish. Now I know better. There's a good reason why we don't keep any blowfish caught while fishing. The fishmeat had a mild taste and a somewhat delicate texture.

Tecchiri - yep, those are the deadly fugu pieces:


We also ordered Shabu shabu, since Rob had never tried it before. I thought this was quite nice for the price (I've had better slices of beef in shabu shabu, but then I did pay a lot more for it).

Shabu shabu:


As always, our meal wasn't complete without finishing off with something sweet. There were a few dessert options at this restaurant, including orange sorbet, tofu cheesecake and tofu icecream. We were curious about the tofu icecream, but it turned out that it was nothing more special than ice cream made with soy milk (which makes sense but I guess Rob was hoping that it was made with tofu).

Soy ice cream:


Although our first encounter with Haagen-Dazs was at least two years ago in Hong Kong, we never had a chance to try it. This time, despite already having had the tofu icecream, Rob held me to my promise that we will one day try it. And not just one scoop, but two scoops! One of each of hazelnut and chocolate which was an excellent combination of flavours. The icecream was nice, kinda similar to the type of icecream available at Gelare. I still prefer gelato - oh, how I miss Il Gelato and Gelatissimo.

Haagen-Dazs double scoop icecream - I was waiting eagerly to devour the wafer cone after Rob was done with the icecream:



There are still so much to see and experience in Osaka, and I can see us returning for a couple more short visits. It is unusual for us to visit the same place multiple times (my travelling motto is to experience new things as much as possible), but we really like Osaka and are willing to make an exception for it.

Hip 'n fashionable Osaka

The final chapter of the trip we took during the winter/New Year vacation brings us to Osaka. Although our third visit to this city, this was our first time to the Minami (south) district of this vast city. We stayed one night in Shinsaibashi, also known as the fashion/shopping district of Osaka. There were so many impeccably dressed people on the streets of Shinsaibashi, and of course many department stores and brand-name fashion stores like Chanel and Gucci. I just know my younger sister would love it here.

As it so happens, our hotel was smack bang in the midst of Amerika Mura (literally means America Village), named perhaps in tribute of the Japanese obsession with anything American. There are many trendy shops (presumably American brand names, or at least influenced by the American fashion industry) and the streets teemed with fashionable young things. I felt sorry for the girls who were victimised by the impractical fashion of super-short shorts and skirts.

One of the streets of Amerika Mura:


It was late afternoon by the time we'd checked into the hotel. After we umm-ed and ah-ed over where to spend the rest of the evening, and we decided to head to Osaka Bay, otherwise known as Tempozan. Here, a giant ferris wheel dominated the landscape. At 112.5m height, it is one of the largest ferris wheels in the world, and it promised us great views of Osaka, Osaka Bay and Kobe. After exploring the Tempozan Marketplace next door (three storeys of shops and restaurants), we paid 700yen each and hopped onto the wheel for a 15minute ride. We were awarded with breathtaking night views (unfortunately all the photos taken from a moving wheel through a window didn't turn out as well as I'd like so I ain't posting any photos up).

The giant ferris wheel from (slightly) afar:


After a lovely dinner at one of the (better) restaurants in the Marketplace, we headed back into downtown and wandered down Dotombori Strip which is a bright, loud and bustling nightlife area full of restaurants and theatres.

Somewhere in the middle of Dotombori Arcade, which was crowded with people but the photo doesn't show that:


We then headed back to our hotel late in the night, and enjoyed a lazy morning before heading off back home (not before experiencing a hectic moment with cancelled train services due to the crazy weather).

Crazy weather and cancelled trains (again)

We're back home from our Nara/Hiroshima/Osaka trip, but we almost could not return back home yesterday due to bad weather (again!). We were blessed with wonderful weather all throughout the five days of our trip, until the day we were scheduled to come home. Bad winds and snow yesterday on our train's route back home from Osaka meant that all morning and early arvo services were cancelled, and once again we had to deal with the headache of changing our tickets and booking accommodation for an extra night. Rob's first reaction was laughter. Mine wasn't.

So we hung around the Kita (north) district of Osaka city (the 'business' part) carrying our heavy backpacks for about two hours before we decided to head back into the Minami (south) area (the 'commercial/fashion/hip-young-people's' part of Osaka city a few kms south of Kita) where we were staying. Before buying our train fare for Shinsaibashi I thought we ought to check whether train services to home had resumed, and thankfully they had! Yay! So then we had to deal with the headache of changing our tickets again, cancelling our hotel's reservation and figuring out how we were going to get to our apartment from the train station. We finally got home late last night.

It seems like we really don't have much luck with weather whenever we go on trips around Japan! At least not on the last day anyway. Rob mentioned that we didn't have weather trouble last week in Nagano, but I pointed that Kim and Richie were travelling with us. In hindsight, aside from having to deal with the stress of not having much cash in our pockets (most ATMs are shut on weekends in Japan, and the ones that are open charge a fee) and the problem of the language barrier, it wasn't really that bad.

I have loads to show 'n tell about our trip, so keep your eyes on this journal!

Okonomiyaki @ Kiji Honten (Osaka)

Did I mention how much we love Osaka? We had the opportunity to spend the evening there once again during our Kyoto trip a couple of weeks ago. As mentioned previously, Osaka is the place to have okonomiyaki (a Japanese-style pancake) On our first trip to Osaka, we searched in vain for this okonomiyaki place that was highly recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide. Well, actually, we did find it the first time round, but being Sunday it was closed (the Guide did mention that the place was open Mon-Sat but we were determined to find it since we were in Osaka for only one day).

Okonomiyaki dinner

Kiji is located in a food arcade under the railtracks of the Umeda line near the Umeda Osaka train station. In this arcade, there are many eating bars, cafes and restaurants so it was a bit tricky finding it (no English signs - only hiragana). It is a pretty small place, and it was full when we walked in. We waited only for maybe 5 or 10 minutes before we were invited to seat by the teppan. It's a very informal place, and the atmosphere is very much like a bar which probably contributed a lot to the fun we had. We were seated between two very friendly Japanese guys who gave good recommendations on what to try. One of them was on very friendly terms with the cook and told the cook to let Rob try his hand at flipping over an okonomiyaki.



Modanyaki came with a high recommendation, as well as the mixed okonomiyaki. Modanyaki ('modern') is a mixture of yakisoba and okonomiyaki. And it was delicious! Even more so than the mixed okonomiyaki.

Modanyaki:


The mixed okonomiyaki included pork and various seafood and although it was very nice, the tastiness was overshadowed by the modanyaki. Don't get me wrong though - I thought it was still heaps better than the ones we had in Kanazawa and Suzu.

Okonomiyaki:


And of course, we thoroughly enjoyed the company we had during dinner. And the total price of a delicious dinner? 1650 yen (between AU$17 to $18).

Dessert

We headed across the street to Yodobashi Umeda, which is this huge multistorey-ed electronics department store selling all sorts of electronic goods (we went to their branch store in Tokyo too). Anyway, on the 11th floor, there is this area called 'Sweets Museum', and we settled on a desserts cafe called Konzert (German?). We've never had parfait before, and since it seems to be quite the craze amongst the Japanese people, we decided to give it a try. Apparently, when Japanese call a dessert 'parfait', they're actually referring to a sundae. Since we've never had 'authentic' parfait before, we can't say whether or not what we had qualifies as a real parfait. So what did this parfait have? Vanilla and chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, cornflakes (?!), various sponge cakes and fruits. Oh and that long spirally thing which tasted like butter biscuits. I thought this was pretty good, and could be improved if they'd used wafers or nuts instead of cornflakes to give the crunchiness. But then it would cost them more, wouldn't it? A dessert like this doesn't come cheap - about 850 yen (~AU$9 to $10).

Parfait:


Rob diggin' into it:

Sushi @ Nawa Zushi Shiten (Osaka)

During our day trip to Osaka, we spent a good hour in search of dinner at places that were recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide. It is not easy when the roads are not marked (not in English anyway) and it is so easy to get lost and disoriented in such a busy, sprawling and crowded city like Osaka. It was quite frustrating at the time, but oh our happiness when we succeeded!

Apparently Osaka is well known for its takoyaki (octopus balls) and okonomiyaki however for many reasons too boring to get into, we settled for a sushi-ya called Nawa Zushi Shiten. According to the Guide, it is one of the area's most popular sushi restaurants. The main part of the restaurant (which is quite large) was full when we entered, so we were directed across the alley to a smaller section of the restaurant. It was kinda empty when we entered, but was quite full when we left. We sat at the counter, and the chefs prepare our sushi as we order them. Not much English is spoken, and the menu is in Japanese so some knowledge of at least hiragana and katakana would help with the ordering. But the waitstaff and chefs do try to help with ordering. The chefs were pretty amused by us gaijins, particularly when I whipped out my camera to take photos of them and the food.

The chefs at work:


The food itself was great - the seafood was fresh, and eating the sushi as soon as they are assembled is the best way to eat sushi. We tried all sorts of weird and wonderful seafood like o-toro (the fatty belly flesh of tuna which is a delicacy), uni (sea urchin roe, which we've tried before but this was actually quite sweet and wasn't at all fishy - a good sign that it was fresh), cockles, and many others that I cannot remember off the top of my head. Due to my extreme hunger (and partly because it always feels odd taking photos of food in public), I didn't take much photos of the food. The food was good anyway, and wasn't all that expensive - we had at least 10 different types of sushi and the bill came to around 3000 yen (~AU$33). It was a good experience and I would recommend the place.

The salmon sashimi sushi


The exterior - the main part of the restaurant is on the right hand side and the extension is across the alleyway:

Trip to Kobe and Osaka Part II

Osaka

After the morning trip to Himeji, Rob and I took the train to Osaka - I think it took us over 1 hour to get there from Himeji eki (train station). Travel-weary and sick of trains by then, we began our exploration of Osaka. We'd initially planned to go to Shinbaishi area (which is the 'happening' part of Osaka) as well but we only had one afternoon in Osaka (and we were tired from hiking around and climbing the castle's stairs), so we decided to explore and stick around the Kita area (which is the business district of Osaka).

The eki is huge! I previously mentioned that train stations in Japan all have omiyage (souvenir) stores, and Osaka eki is no exception. There are departmental stores attached to the eki as well as the usual food court, bakeries and omiyage stores - there is even a fresh fruit and meat and seafood market within (all underground)! It was foodie heaven at the train station! I was so excited, I even took a photo! It was absolutely crowded, which is not at all surprising considering that Osaka is the second biggest city after Tokyo.

The 'market' in the underground station:


The Umeda Sky building is a twin-tower complex that is like a modern version of the Arc De Triomphe. You have a 360 degree view at the top of the tower. There are two observation galleries - an outdoor one on the roof, and an indoor one on the floor below. The ride to the top involves taking a see-thru elevator, and then a glassed-in escalator for the final five storeys to the top. We were blown away by the vastness of the city, which stretched out as far as the eye can see towards the horizon for the full 360 degree view from the tower.

The view of the tower from the ground:


In the elevator - the ride was fun, although Rob was slightly freaked out initially in the elevator due to his height phobia:


In the escalator:


The view of part of Osaka city:



Kobe Harbor Land and Meriken Park

We had a little time on Monday morning before our long trip back home to have a look around Kobe Harbor Land and Meriken Park. Harbor Land is full of shopping malls and all that, but I thought that Meriken Park (5mins east of Harbor Land and home to the Kobe Maritime Museum and the Port of Kobe Earthquake Memorial Park) was more interesting. The memorial park preserves a part of a concrete pier that was destroyed in the huge earthquake in 1995. It's amazing how well this city recovered after such a massive earthquake. I believe that Kobe's official symbol is that of a phoenix, to symbolise the city's recovery from the earthquake.

It was really windy and we got a bit wet from the rain - you can see the dark stormy clouds in the photos.. (My mum was worried about us because she'd heard about the typhoon that hit Kyushu that day.)

Us with the radio tower and maritime museum in the background:


A ship on display at Meriken Park:


The earthquake memorial park:


We then made our way to the train station to begin our 6-hour long journey back home to our little town. The trip was fun, but we were pretty travel-weary and were glad to be at home.

Trip to Kobe and Osaka Part I

We had a long weekend two weeks ago, so we decided to make a weekend trip to Kobe and Osaka. A fellow Perthie JET lives in the Hyogo prefecture, and she kindly put us up for two nights. (Holly, you're so kind!! I hope we can return the favour one day, although I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to come all the way up in inaka!) We had loads of fun, exploring the cities and a beautiful castle typically Rob-and-Jean style (i.e. on foot). Needless to say, by Monday we were exhausted and were glad to make our way back home (which is a 5-6 hour trip on the train and bus).

Kobe

Sannomiya, the happening part of Kobe, is like gaijin (foreigner) district - the first thing I said to Rob when we stepped out of the train station "I have never seen so many gaijins in one place since leaving Tokyo". Rob said that it didn't really feel like Japan at all. I think in a way I'm glad I wasn't placed in Kobe because there isn't much of a Japanese experience there. There is this odd feature at this square outside one of the entrances of the train station. According to Holly, the place is called 'Tits', but funnily enough, the statue is anything but. This square is a favourite meeting/hangout place for gaijins There were a few bands showcasing their music when we arrived in the afternoon.

'Tits' square:


Sannomiya has lots of department stores, western food restaurants and lots of gaijin expats. However, other than shopping, there really isn't much to do in Sannomiya. Initially I was puzzled as to why pedestrians in Kobe kept to the right hand side of footpaths, stairs and escalators - people in other parts of Japan heeded the 'keep left' rule. Then I realised that the city would probably have a LOT of influence from America.

Holly met us in Sannomiya and told us she hasn't really had much of a chance to explore Kobe and its surroundings yet. So first up we decided to walk 20minutes from Sannomiya to catch a cable car to Nunobiki Habu-koen, a 'Herb Hill' at the top of a mountain ridge. It's very pretty up there, and we spent a good half hour looking at the souvenir shop situated at the top (with a very bored Rob). We then walked our way down using a 'gardened' pathway to a glasshouse. The Herb Hill was very pretty with lots of flowers and herbs - and the cable car rides gave us a beautiful view of the city and harbour both during daytime and at dusk.

On our way up to Habu-koen:


With Holly and a nice backdrop:


A rose by any other name...:



Nankinmachi (Chinatown)

We descended down from Habu-Koen at sunset and made our way back into Sannomiya for dinner. We decided to walk to Nankinmachi to have a look-see and perhaps get some food there. There were plenty of food stalls set up along the Chinatown strip selling Chinese fast food like noodles, dumplings and steamed buns. We searched for this gyoza (dumplings) place to eat dinner, but it was all in vain. After eating some food, we made our way back into Sannomiya to meet up with another fellow Perthie JET, also named Hollie (with an 'ie'), also placed in Hyogo. Hollie is a serious shopaholic, and Kobe is her heaven.. We ended up at a kaitenzushi ('conveyor-belt-sushi') place for dinner. Both Holly and Hollie are tiny eaters!

Sannomiya, a shopper's dream - this is just one of many 'arcade/street' of shops, and it was absolutely crowded:


At the entrance to Kobe's own Chinatown:


At the kaitenzushi-ya:


With Hollie and Holly:



Himeji Castle and Koko-en

On Sunday morning, we took the train to Himeji. According to the Lonely Planet Guide to Japan, Himeji-jo (also known as Shirasagi, the 'White Egret') is the castle to visit in Japan (unfortunately, being the castle to see in Japan, there were lots of people). Built in 1580 (although there have been fortifications in Himeji since 1333), it is one of the very few Japanese castles to survive in their original form. The area and gardens surrounding the castle were beautiful, but the highlight was entering the castle - it's like you've stepped into another time (this is, of course, ignoring the other tourists and modern stuff in the castle designed to preserve and protect items. The castle tower is 6 storeys high, and I got a really good leg workout climbing those steep and high stairs. We also visited Koko-en, which is just across the moat on the western side of Himeji-jo. Koko-en is a reconstruction of the former samurai quarters of the castle, and it is really serene and beautiful.

The exterior of Himeji-jo:


In Koko-en:


Just outside the castle grounds, there was this elderly guy who'd brought two hamsters for show. I hate to sound like the other girls around, but the hamsters were so cute! Honestly, I didn't really want to encourage this kind of silly animal display, but I couldn't resist whipping out my camera to take a photo. And the cutest thing? The 'girl' hamster actually posed for the cameras!:



... journal entry to be continued...