Saturday, May 18, 2013

RTW Trip: Day 81-82 (5/15-/516) - Osaka & (a little bt of) Nara



Day 81-82: And I thought South African Meat was Strange

To be honest, I didn’t do too much on my first day in Osaka. Actually, that might be an overstatement. I got up around eleven thirty on my first day, still sleeping off a couple nights with little sleep. I had to first figure out quite a complex problem, which is the issue of how to organize my stay in Japan. I thought two weeks would be more than enough, but with the incredible amount of attractive day trips, coupled with the power of holding the JR Rail Pass… well, it’s as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. Luckily for me, Osaka doesn’t have too many things to see inside its city walls, and because of its proximity to Kyoto, and therefore to any day trips from Kyoto, any day trips I do now I won’t have to do later. So, with the fact that there aren’t too many things to see, and the fact that I was starving which would push my earliest possible leave time from Osaka to at least 12:30, I decided to spend my first day in Osaka.

For lunch, I wandered back over to Dotonbori Street, which was no less crowded at lunchtime than it was last night. Instead of going to one of the restaurants on the street, I ventured into one of the many alleys that branch off Dotonbori, all as busy as the mother street. I kept walking down this covered street until I saw a restaurant where the signs outside showing the food gave off an interesting vibe while also being at a reasonable price. I finally came across a place that was advertising some interesting sushi meals. It wasn’t a real sushi restaurant, but served a lot of seemingly authentic sushi (it looked like what real sushi should look like) in different sets. I had no idea what was what. You learn quickly in Japan that only knowing English is quite a precarious position to be in.

Whatever I did order turned out to be very good. All the different varieties of sushi were excellent, with just the right amount of wasabi put on the sushi itself. The meal wasn’t too heavy, and a good enough first experience with Sushi in Japan. Considering that actually finding restaurants in Osaka is basically a nightmare, it could easily have gone totally wrong, but the place was nice and the food nicer.

After I finished lunch I had quite a few options for what to do next, but I picked to roam around Osaka on my way to the Osaka castle, the main historical site in Osaka proper. The castle is up on a hill surrounded by a slight moat, as all good castles should be, and quite regal. It isn’t that big, but as I found out, it is one of the bigger castles so centrally located in a major city. The castle has a complex of shrines that open up to hallways that are mostly empty. Honestly, it wasn’t that special (at least compared to the ones I would see the next day in Nara), but it allowed a great view of Osaka below it, a sprawling city that extends in every direction. From up high, I can understand why people are relatively down on Osaka. It doesn’t have the charm of the smaller cities and doesn’t have the height of bustle of Tokyo, but it is still damn impressive from up high.

I continued to walk around the rest of Osaka, which means walking around open areas and tall buildings, like any other major city. They had some glistening malls that I went in to, but I was put off by the prices as much as the nearly tacky neon signs and moving statues littered around. Soon, I gave up on trying to see all of Osaka, and it was near time to return to get a ‘Irish Tea’ at one of the many bars and pubs near Dotonbori Street.

I had a lot of options of where to go for dinner, but I chickened out and went to the same place as yesterday, that Korean-Grill type place that served all those foods that had I not been in Japan I wouldn’t think twice about eating. I just wouldn’t have Achilles or heart or intestine or necktie. I had all of them, and they were all decent to great, chewy little morsels of meat. I don’t know if this type of meat beats out the animals I ate in South Africa, because it still is beef or pork, but it is the part of the cow or pig that I’ve never considered eating. Did this open my eyes? Am I now going to start eating Achilles and intestines all over the place? No, probably not. But next time in Osaka, I definitely will.


So, I deleted what I originally wrote about Nara, which is a shame. I didn’t do a lot more than the usual tourist fare, like go to the Deer Park (where cute little deer run free all over the place), and the Todai-ji temple. I ate meat. I’m too far behind to try to write this all again. Anyway, let’s move on to Tokyo…

About Me

I am a man who will go by the moniker dmstorm22, or StormyD, but not really StormyD. I'll talk about sports, mainly football, sometimes TV, sometimes other random things, sometimes even bring out some lists (a lot, lot, lot of lists). Enjoy.