Walking Osaka History - May14

Osaka Castle

We have seen some posters about Osaka Castle in Osaka and just like Castles in Europe, I usually tried to visit one if I knew there was one in the city we travelled.  The Fukuoka Castle was rather small and under restoration, and we went to Osaka Castle with "slight" reluctance.  The ride to the Castle was smooth, passing by an suburban train station with "daiso"equivalent and the favourable Jap Cake and Sweet shop we liked at Vivo. We saw a couple carrying a huge luggage. They have difficulty depositing it in lockers at the station and they went to the station master for assistance. Not sure if they could leave it there or not. 

The walk to Osaka Castle was serene. We passed by a park and decided to munch our cheese cake. Well, this fabio brand cheese cake appeared to be very famous and  I queued blindly to buy. My dear said the cake was as big as her face and we finished it before going to the Castle. 

It was an interesting castle. It talked about a great conqueror in Osaka. A sad thing was the empire didn't survive after his death and there were warlords attacking his descendants and subjects all over. A painting illustrated the different points of attack and it was there that I spent more time understanding the history. My dear said it was the first time that I spent more time than her in a castle. 

http://www.osakacastle.net/english/history/index.html

We stayed quite near Shinsaibashi - a very long stretch of shopping streets. There was a Daimaru which attracted my dear flocking there. When she spent her time in Daimaru, I would walk around the streets. I saw one Sushi shop - a quite traditional looking one - and wanted to try. First day, we were too late as it closed. On the second day, we purposely visited it and tried. 

本福寿司 

Wow, the feel of Tokyo Sushi Market and the Hokkaido Sushi Market came back. It was juicy again. One thing very different was the "cake-like" sushis. I found it very innovative and nice. We were served by two taiwanese students and they were pursuing studies in Osaka. If I rem correctly, one of them wanted to open bakery once graduated. This cute little sushi shop is very easy to spot and quite near Daimairu.  

http://w3.shinsaibashi.or.jp/tenpodb/profile_e.php?tenpono=48

有点感动。

Coming to Osaka means to see the big "Glico" guy. I have seen it many times on lonely planet and posters. Gotta find it. 

Initially, we walked by the river side trying to trace the road to Dotonbori. There were crossings here and there with long stretches of shopping streets. Very colourful and noisy. We were distracted by the octopus balls - many of them and decided to join one queue to try. "So So" only. Becos of the queue, we have unintentionally detoured and ended up back to the other end of our Shinsaibashi shopping street. Well, my wife went back to Daimaru. For me, I went to find a camera shop to complete a mission. Then, I decided to try my luck to go find the "Glico" guy. It was actually a short 10 minutes walk from Daimaru and I knew I have reached when  I caught a glimpse of the "loud" and "large" lights.  As I wanted to share the surprise moment with my wife, I decided to bring her and watched the "Glico" guy with her. Wanted to surprise her so she just followed blur blur with me.

At last, the "Glico" guy. In a way, it ended our trip in Osaka - like a finishing line and we have just reached the line - this leg of journey. We decided not to rush for early flight tomorrow so we checked out to Airport Hotel to rest. It was a smart move and it was our first tactical move. 

Walking Osaka History - May 14

Okonomiyaki

Osaka - To me, it seems to be another modern city like Tokyo. Tall buildings, busy and crowded trains. Noisy too. Besides the Octopus balls, my dear introduced to me another Osaka delicacy - a pancake called "Okonomiyaki".  Just read that "okonomi" means "to one's liking", and there are two types of Okonomiyaki - Kansai (Osaka) one and Hiroshima one. Hmm, wonder what's the difference. The chef will cook in front of you and you will carry on to slice the pancake for sharing. Quite nice and yummy. Sticky, heaty pancakes. I wonder how did my wife know about this? She seemed to be "well-prepared" for Osaka.

Where did we get to eat this Okonomiyaki?  On an underground food alley.  We actually chanced upon an underground "gem" - it was a food alley. Not too crowded but it was frequented by locals. My wife likes to "mingle" in local stalls. This way, it felt that we could taste the real daily lives of local Osaka people. We met an old man - a soldier we thought - who kept talking to my wife. His English was limited. He called our country in old Japanese term which we weren't quite pleased. He was also travelling and asked us where we were heading and putting up. Well, it was a standing restaurant and quite difficult not to talk to the ones besides you especially if there were the friendly type.

A small episode that we have with this food alley. We passed by this food alley on our night outing to see the "flyer". It was 9 plus and the shops were closed so we wanted to try our luck to locate it again. Well, we lost our way. A bit of pinpointing fault too, haha. Well well, lucky we still found it and thanks to my wife. I have to admit it that she was good in remembering the location though I claimed that both of us were "right" about the way to this food alley. Come to think about it, she remembers places that she wants to visit well.  Other places, she count on her "GPS" who gets lost at times.