Osaka & Nara
There are many places on our want-to-go list before leaving Japan. The kids recently had a few days off from school, so we used this as an opportunity to knock a couple of cities off our list - Osaka and Nara, two cities located about 2 hours southwest of Yokohama.
Friday morning, we grabbed an early Shinkansen (新幹線) so that we could be in Osaka by lunch. Osaka is known as the kitchen of Japan, so a huge goal of our trip was to eat as much as possible and try all the Osaka specialties.
We arrived at the Doutonbori (道頓堀) area of Osaka around 11:30. If you google Osaka, many of the first pictures that return will probably be of Doutonbori. This famous area is known for its crazy amount restaurants and outdoor food stalls, as well as for its bright lights and over-the-top signage - each restaurant unabashedly trying to lure customers in. Here is just a small sampling of some of the crazy signage I am referring to.
We had to start our eating journey somewhere, so we chose Daruma Kushikatsu（串かつだるま), a famous restaurant that created and therefore specializes in Kushikatsu; or fried skewers.
We ordered two of their biggest assortment sets and got cracking. All of it was delicious but a couple of things that stood out were the huge shrimp skewers, as well as the quail eggs. Although if you asked Calvin, his favorite part was the huge bowl of edamame. (We forget everything we consumed, but the short-list: beef, asparagus, pork, cheese, lotus root, sweet potato, rice cake, fish cake, karaage (fried chicken), octopus, oyster, and probably a few others…) There was a delicious sauce for dipping (with strict rules about no double-dipping), and it wasn’t long before we entered our first of many food comas on this trip.
From the window of this restaurant, we overlooked the river that runs along the Doutonbori area. After finishing our skewers, we hopped on one of the short boat tours that go up and down the canal for a little fresh air. (It was a brisk weekend in Osaka.)
After our boat tour, we grabbed a cab and headed to our first sight-seeing destination; Osaka Castle (大阪城). This castle is one of Japan’s most famous landmarks and dates back to the 16th century. You can't help but take a second and stare at its beauty as you approach.
The inside is now a museum that goes into great detail about the history of the castle and the various leaders and battles from that time. It is the type of place a history buff could spend hours. With two kids, it was hard to spend too much time at each display reading paragraphs of text, but they had many animated dioramas that the boys actually were pretty fascinated in. (Calvin, of course, wanted to clearly understand who were the ‘bad guys’ trying to invade the castle.) All in all, it made us interested in finding a good documentary of the history of Japan from around that time to learn more later.
From the top floor of the castle you get fantastic views of Osaka.
When we returned to Doutonbori, we were ready to yet again put food in our stomachs. Before this trip, I had asked a friend from Osaka what to eat when we went. His biggest recommendation was kitsune udon (きつねうどん). Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox, but there is no fox present in the dish (that we know of). Instead, it is udon with fried tofu placed on top. We went to a restaurant in the Hozenji Yokochou area that specializes in it.
The hot udon and broth were delicious. It was a cold day and having some steaming hot udon with scrumptious tofu was just what we all wanted in that moment.
Now that it was night time, the entire Doutonbori area was lit up with huge screens and a million lights. Our bowls of udon weren't huge so we still had room left and decided to hit up some of the street vendors selling delicious goodies.
Another one of the famous foods of Osaka is Takoyaki (たこ焼き), which are savory balls of dough with squid inside.
There are many vendors that sell takoyaki, but one always had a huge line, so we went with that one. While the end result is very delicious, watching skilled takoyaki chefs may be equally as satisfying.
To top of our first day in Osaka in style, we hit up the Yakitate Melonpan (焼きたてメロンパン) stand for some freshly baked melon pan. Miles choose just the freshly baked melon pan, where Calvin and Elsa went for the ice cream stuffed melon pan.
With that, we retreated to our nearby AirBnb for some well fed rest.
Osaka is very close to another city on our want-to-visit list, Nara. If you've ever heard about Nara, you're probably aware it's famous for deer. Nearly as soon as you exit the train station, you'll be greeted by deer - and not necessarily warmly greeted. While they are Japanese deer, they don't have the same amount of respect and tact that the Japanese people do. They could do with a bit of a lesson in manners.
As you walk from the station to the park or a nearby temple, there are countless stands offering deer food for ¥200. For about two American dollars, you get a stack of deer crackers. As soon as you are handed those crackers, you are no longer a person with thoughts, feelings, or emotions. You are a marked target. You are a vessel that distributes deer food and will be treated as such. Deer will push, bite, kick or whatever they need to in order to get you to hand over your crackers.
I was not ready for this assault and panicked a bit upon purchase of my crackers. I threw a couple of crackers to the ground before eventually putting the rest in my pocket and making a break for it. As I made my escape, the deer followed and even shoved me from behind. At that point, I began contemplating the complexities of making my own jerky.
Calvin, on the other hand, is an animal-loving fiend. He could have spent hours upon hours wasting our money on deer food and handing out free treats to these aggressive freeloaders. The supposed best way to feed them is to bow and then when a bow is returned, you hand the deer a cracker. This is by no means a guarantee. It did appear to happen but we didn't get the greatest videos of it. There are only so many times you can take a video of Calvin feeding a deer before you stop caring and leave the phone in your pocket. Here is one of our attempts.
Nara isn't just known for deer, though. It was the capital city of Japan from AD 710 to 794 and so has lots of history and famous temples, shrines, etc. The most famous is Todaiji (東大寺). What Nara may lack in deer manners, it makes up for with Todaiji. This Buddhist temple is by far the coolest temple-y, shrine-y thing I've seen in Japan.
The sheer scale of it is impossible to describe. You buy the tickets from the counter where you cannot see the temple. When you emerge from the counter the temple simply engulfs you.
Honestly, when I first turned that corner, I thought I may be staring at a painting. It didn't seem like something of that size should exist. This is one of those times where pictures just do not do a place justice but we took a million of them anyway.
After a couple of hours in Nara, we decided to head back to Osaka and hit some of the remaining food items on our must-try list.
Perhaps the dish Osaka is most famous for is Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き), which is a savory pancake made with cabbage and various vegetables and then topped with sauce, mayo and assorted toppings.
We again went to the Hozenji Yokochou area to one of the best-reviewed Okonomiyaki restaurants we could find. Once seated, we ordered two variations; the classic with cabbage and pork; and one containing scallops and mushrooms. This was my first time eating real Okonomiyaki and it did not disappoint.
With night-time approaching, we headed for the tallest building in Japan, Osaka’s' Harukas 300. On the 60th floor was a viewing deck where you can grab some snacks and drinks and the kids can play around with some cool interactive light games. It was cold, as it was exposed to the outside, but the views were fantastic and the atmosphere was great.
For our very last meal, we split into two groups. Miles and I went out for ramen, and Mom and Calvin grabbed food from street vendors along Doutonbori. The ramen shop that Miles and I went to was called Kinryuu ramen and each location has a huge dragon sign out front.
There were only two choices; ramen and chashu ramen (or ramen with pork filet). We both went with the pork option and were not disappointed.
Meanwhile, Elsa and Calvin ate yakitori outside like common street rats.
With that, we retreated to our AirBNB and slept with full bellies. The next morning we made our return to Yokohama and were greeted with a wonderful view of Mt Fuji while on the Shinkansen.
