Kyoto: Wednesday 2 to Friday 4 October 2019
Osaka and Kyoto could be the Birmingham and Wolverhampton of Japan!
Solely because of their location, 45km apart, in the 'Midlands' of Japan.
But like the Birmingham and Black Country accents, they are a world apart....!!
Osaka is a modern metropolis, while Kyoto keeps an old worldy charm of traditional Japanese buildings and keeping the neon signage to a minimum. They are both in the 'Kinki' region of Japan.
See my photo diary below!
This area of Osaka (Namba) is very vibrant and likely the equivalent of Picadilly Circus / Leicester Square with its bright lights and food places.
There are gigantic plastic things hanging on the buildings such as this giant Octopus. Other items hanging including a huge plastic cow, clam shells, crab. Essentially advertisement for what is served inside the restaurant.
The Octopus is popular because of an Osaka dish called Takoyaki. Aka, Octopus Balls.
Cooked in an pancake mix, the octopus pieces are rolled in a shaped skillet with lots of unknown savoury items added to give it a salty, soft, gooey texture and pinkish hue.
The balls were steaming hot but I knocked a few back without exercising any caution to the temperature. They were topped with mayo, a sweet sauce and rock salt. I don't think I will eat them again but they weren't hideous.
Restaurant: Kushikatsu Daruma - famous for kushikatsu which is battered fish, meat and veg dipped in a tangy sauce. This guy is quite popular....
Tray of Kushikatsu variety, the veggies were the best! (Or maybe I was craving vegetables at the time? Vegetables deep-fried are a good way to force them down me!)
The restaurant has struck rules on double-dipping. Not allowed! But instead you take a piece of cabbage and drizzle sauce onto your stick, to keep the sauce bowl clean for the next customer (still super gross).
The cabbage and my boozy Calpis bevvie!
The entire meal was excellent with Kimchi, which is Korean pickled vegetables with spice.
A giant but very dead blue fin tuna outside a restaurant that was holding classes on how to prepare tuna.
Osaka sightseeing including a trip to the Sky Building in Umeda. Also know as the Kuchu Teien Observatory, two towers are connected by a 'moon pool' with an open air 360' viewing deck up top. The architect called the moon pool a 'Leo Ring' but it looked like a moon pool to me (#FPSO, #shealwaysfindsaboatreference).
The architect also banged on a little bit about the design being similar to a vessel to carry tourists to space - but he kinda lost me there. Maybe I should check the architect isn't Elon Musk, hmmm.
There are two escalators towards the top of the building, this is the view from the ascending escalator. No filter!
The two escalators as seen from above.
A city / river view of Osaka.
The rest of my day in Osaka including a few hours in a cute cafe updating this blog, before heading to a pub to watch Japan v Ireland. The atmosphere was great, standing room only and (spoiler alert) Japan won! I did eat Taco Bell twice, either side of the match.
An area of Osaka is called Hankyu. I kept walking around saying Hankyu to myself like a mad woman, just because it sounds like 'thank you' with food in your mouth! These are the ways I entertain myself....
And I liked this rugby guy!
On to Kyoto!
I really like Kyoto, it has a very traditional vibe mixed with a lot of European influence (such as having Italian trattorias and French bistros), it was a very easy city to navigate and the pace was laid back. Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan way back when Shoguns and the Samurai were an active thing. I think it was one of the few cities that did not get obliterated during the WWII so it has been able to keep its history standing.
The first night we watched New Zealand v Canada in an Irish pub. Had some Welsh sitting next to us, who eventually descended into singing Welsh anthems. Very loudly. Very annoyingly. During a quiet moment, I sweetly asked them if they were singing Irish songs. That pissed them off, haha.
We walked through the traditional but also slightly seedy Gion district nearby. The shop facades are kept old school, so brands like Starbucks or Hublot keep their branding to a minimum, in line with traditional Japanese design. Along the way, we passed bars and clubs rising over many storeys. There were ladies outside, likely 'ladies of the night' but it wasn't so easy to tell if they were waiting on the street for clients, for a taxi, or for puberty.
(Partial joke credit: Paul)
The next day, after a lovely sleep in a capsule hotel, I went to the Nijo Castle, home to a Shogun between 1600s to 1867, but I didn't go inside. I enjoyed seeing this type of slanted castle wall next to the moat.
Then I popped into the Imperial Palace complex and walked through a massive park, I had to take rest stops it was so vast passing through it! I ended up visiting a traditional tea house tucked away in a corner.
I also saw this tree, propped up with a brace due to the way it has curved as it grew. I like that the tree wasn't removed to protect the public, and instead they propped him up!
Later in the afternoon I visited an area south of the main hubbub to see the Fushina Inari Shrine, which is recognisable for its orange (vermilion!) Torii gates. The gates straddle a pathway up the Inari mountain to the shrine, with the walk taking 2-3 hours return. It was very busy, so I found myself a hidden pathway to Torii gates leading to another shrine and was able to see the site without the crowds and take my photos.
It is quite impressive overall to see.
That particular day was a foodie day actually!
Thick fluffy pancakes with cream cheese and blackberry compote for breakfast.
I picked up Marumochiya from a street vendor, which is red bean paste wrapped in rice and fried until the outer layer is a crisp, ball. Sweet and crunchy, yet with soft dough inbetween (actually the rice part).
Then, a few meters later I bought a fresh black pepper rice cracker. Which blew my mind because it was the first time I had considered how rice crackers are made (aka Snack-a-Jacks!). The rice is heated to a high temperature (in oil or air) and popped!
A little later I ate a sweet baked potato fresh out of the oven, standing by the roadside sheltering from the rain (it started raining, after almost two weeks of dry heat!)
For dinner I went to a cute Italian restaurant for pizza (with pork belly on, amazing) and the obligatory glass of red.
The next day, Paul woke up early to climb the Inari mountain for sunrise (crazy), then we left Kyoto at 9am for the 500km drive back to Tokyo. We stopped along the way, including at a service station with a hot springs footbath! It also had signs for a tsunami evacuation route, causing me to look wearily at the sea.
And on this day, we were lucky to see Mt Fuji as we drove up. I spotted it whilst I was driving, then had to slow down to 100km/h to rubberneck. Paul took the photos on my phone, I never drive and snap! It was quite exciting, we were yelling all of our known Japanese greetings at the mountain and also said (quite hopefully) 'see you later' as we will spend two days in the Fuji area after this weekend!
We made a short bypass to the View-O observatory which looks out at the Izu peninsula and the Pacific Ocean. The observatory's actual purpose is to house the flood gate to prevent flooding in the event of a tsunami. The gate is 40m wide and 9m high, weighing 406 tonnes, and it looks it!
The views were spectacular, with blazing hot sunshine pouring into the observatory deck and gale winds whipping around, scaring us a little bit. Of course you can see Mt Fuji and the Hakone mountain range from the building, which is 9 storeys high. I really liked it there, it is not an attraction most people will visit as you do need a car so it was quite peaceful. And of course, I always love a sea view, especially the majestic Pacific...to which I bowed deeply to as we left, as a sign of respect.
The peninsula bay houses the trough created by the tectonic subduction of the Philippines Sea Plate, which is 2,500m deep. That is insane! The trough is a rich fishing ground, contributing to all the lovely prawns I have been eating in Japan! (Note to self: eat good tuna before leaving Japan).
We made it to the greater suburbs of Tokyo, to camp over the weekend close to Tokyo Stadium.
DiStar Consumption Index: See all of the above!
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