I went to Osaka, Japan on Friday, October 1st with three Japanese teachers with whom I teach as well as with my co-AET at Rakuhohu, Cindy. Our leader, tour guide, and local expert was Matsuura-sensei, who grew up in Osaka, himself a sensei of English. He was excited to show us his hometown and the culture of the city, particularly the gustatory and culinary highlights. There is a saying in Osaka that typifies its obsession with food: "Dress (in kimonos) till you drop in Kyoto, eat till you drop in Osaka." (京の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ). And that's just what we did. We started our day getting a head-start on some calorie burning by climbing Osaka Tower. Err..., rather, we climbed three stories to the elevator that took us to the top. Oh well. Maybe later in the day we'd so some real climbing.
And at the top we rubbed the feet of Billiken, a strange, gnome-like creature conjured up by some American art teacher in 1908, which somehow made it to Japan decades later. Rubbing its feet gives the rubber good luck, so we stuck our fingers into the three inch-deep hollows on the bottom of his feet, left by so many rubbings.
And thinking I couldn't top some Billiken foot rubbing, I found that if you paid the Japanese tower operators ¥3,000, they'd even take you outside to walk on the small 2-foot wide platform of the tower with only a rope attached to you! I can't believe I missed that opportunity. Not. It seemed ludicrous. But as we were leaving, I spotted a foreigner couple double knotting some ropes around their waists in preparation for the walk of death.
Our next stop after the tower was a food shop where they deep fried skewered meats and vegetables. The name of the food escapes me now, but it's a local Osaka tradition. We had a whole egg (cooked first), asparagus, beef, and a few others.
The beef tendon was not deep fried, but it was delicious.
We then headed to Osaka Castle - this is not the Castle, but our walk toward it.
The Castle. It was burned down a good while back, and this happens to be a reconstruction, so the interior is actually full of elevators, escalators, modern toilets, video screens rotating historical films and so on. But it's impressive to look at and to imagine the power that once resided in its hallowed halls.
Shibutani-sensei, Iwata-sensei, and me at the top of Osaka Castle (took some escalators up this one).
Monopoly, Osaka Edition!
Sushi was next on the menu, so we did that for lunch. Matsuura-sensei knows the deals as a licensed Osaka tour guide and a once-resident, so he knew were to get good sushi for ¥550 a platter (8 negiri and miso soup).
Matsuura-sensei and Shibutani-sensei, two English teachers, at the sushi restaurant, post-meal.
After lunch, we hit a croquette stand. A typical Japanese croquette is fried, once again, like a lot of the fast food in Osaka. It resembles the oval-shaped hash brown slab that McDonald's sells or once sold, but is a little thicker. It might have a mashed potato, cheese, and butter mixture inside. It's pretty mean, and I image Americans would love it. According to Matsuura-sensei, this below is the "most famous croquette establishment in all Osaka." I would have never guessed.
Just when we thought we were slowing down on the food intake and cholesterol buildup (after fried skewers, sushi, and croquettes), we settled into a takoyaki place. Takoyaki is, according to Wikipedia, "a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter,
diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps (
tenkasu), pickled ginger, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, ponzu, mayonnaise, green laver, and katsuobushi (fish shavings), first popularized in Taisho-era Osaka, where a street vendor named Endo Tomekichi is credited with its invention in 1935." Oh yes, they are delicious.
Check out the skilled flipper of takoyaki rotating the batter balls as they fry on a metal mold street side. Quick hands. Imagine what he can do with a samurai sword!
In need of more calorie burning, we took the elevator to the top of another tower for a great view, this time of the bay area. Every Japanese city on the water seems to have a Ferris wheel. Check out the post a few back on Yokohama.
And that was Osaka.
From Osaka, I took the Shinkansen to Yokohama again to meet my beautiful wife for the weekend. And this is the first picture I decide to post from that trip. Go figure. I guess I just love to eat. After so much fried Japanese food, my veins were in need of some good ol' American fare. Luckily, and to no one's chagrin, I sated this urge with some Krispy Kremes. No, they do not taste any different in Japan that in the U S A.
Carly, eying my prize. But it was all mine.
Carly and I helped out one day at a Japanese fall festival, where one of Carly's friends from her program was hosting a "USA table" to educate Japanese kiddies about Halloween in the US. We put on some funny hats and handed out candies and Ginger Ale.
Northern Yokohama. Grabbed some Subway (sandwiches) at the train station and explored the neighborhood.
In a fancy food store I saw these iced coffees for sale. Maybe they were going for "Friendly Bird." Who knows? It just didn't sound awesome. Cafe Kaldi management, if you ever read this, please do change the name of your drink. Unless you really want to alert buyers to the agreeable nature of your coffee with the Aves class.
Cool Carly and I ran into the river and decided it was the place to recline and relax.
And then... a week later... Carly came to Kyoto (she just left this morning, Oct. 11)! We rode around downtown on bikes Sunday, and on Saturday walked around in the rain, visiting cute shops and having scrumptious brunches at diners called Royal Host. During our ride downtown, we happened across this ward-wide Sports Education Festival, which we thought would be fun for us! We were sad to see we were too old to participate : (
The night before Carly left, we decided to put to the test the baking capabilities of my rice cooker. Here is a pancake mix + sugar + banana + honey + chocolate chip cake that took two rice cooking cycles to complete. It turned out beautifully, for what we put in it. In need of icing for the top, Carly whipped together some granulated sugar, milk, and butter to make what looked like, in my words, some "butter oatmeal." But it worked, and we celebrated a fun weekend together nibbling on it and watching a movie, The Children of Huang Shi (look it up). Carly left this morning, and I miss her terribly already. See you in two weeks, honey!
Get thee to a nunn'ry! That foliage is divine!
We passed this car, who looked to be quite sad given the drowsy eye he is showing. He also looks like a whale. Sad Toyota whale. Carly and I got a laugh out of him.
Shrine.
Saw a real wedding going on in this shrine. You can make the bride out in the center background of the stage. "Do you know why she is wearing that big head covering?" Carly asked me. "To cover her horns."
Candy apple.
I got Carly's Christmas engines revving when I started singing the "two turtle doves" verse of The Twelve Days of Christmas. But these were probably just dirty, non-Christmas pigeons.
Nothing like a fall brew from Kamakura, swilled roadside under some leaf-giving fall trees.
