We chose to leave Koyasan on an earlier train than that recommended and get to Osaka over an hour before the suggested time – after all we only had one day in Osaka and the place sounded like fun by all accounts.
The cunning plan worked brilliantly until we got to JR Osaka station, where Mr Googlemap’s walking instructions wanted to take us through a building site and where the taxi driver (when I decided to solve the problem that time-honoured way) was incredulous at my request to take us to the Ritz-Carlton.
Whether the taxi dude simply couldn’t believe that we were Ritz-Carlton material (we probably looked a bit back-packerish on our way back from our “pilgrimage”) or whether his vexation was the ludicrous proximity of the hotel by foot (about 500-600 meters as the crow flies) compared with the loop he had to drive in order to drive us there for a fairly meagre fee, I have no idea. But for less than a Lady Godiva we got to the Ritz-Carlton, at which point the taxi driver seemed to be apologising profusely to the doormen for our intrusion.
Conversely, the doorman and then the receptionist, Seri Lee, looked after us with great charm. Yet Seri displayed far more inquisitiveness and front than we have been used to in Japan, enquiring about our trip to the mountains and questioning what it was like up there at this time of year. It turns out that she is from South Korea and has only been in Osaka a short while.
As luck would have it, despite us being so early, Seri did have a room available for us straight away which, although not exactly the specification we had requested, was on the top floor (37th) with magnificent views and was absolutely suitable for our sole night in Osaka.
So we were able to freshen up and get out around Osaka a good hour or more earlier than suggested…
…which was a good thing, because we really did use that hour and indeed all our other hours in Osaka to great effect.
We set off through the maze of subways underneath the Osaka Station/Umeyda area, seeking and finding the M line. It is far easier to find your way to railway and subway stations down there than it is to find your way to the right exit for anything else.
A helpful member of staff at the subway station made me question whether subway day passes was really the right answer for us, as there are so many choices, before I decided that my original thought (to buy the simple day passes) was correct – so I parted with £10-£12 for the two of us – the helper seemed delighted – and we had “the freedom of Osaka”…just for one day.
To Namba, which is a short walk from Dotonburi and Shinsaibashi, where we wanted to check out the eating and also the American Mura (American Village) area which is sort-of Osaka’s second hand fashion / Carnaby Street-type area. Dotonburi looked great fun and we resolved to return.
We has a good stroll and look around Shinsaibashi and even did a bit of gift shopping there.
We were quite hungry, but it was only about quarter-past-three by the time we were dunshoppin and we realised that all the best restaurants don’t open until 17:00-18:00. Anyway we just about had enough time to leg it to the Castle/Park area to see Osaka Castle, which was the next thing on our reserve list.
In truth the Castle was probably a hike too far for us in our state of tiredness – especially given what was yet to come, but we’re pleased we’ve been there and seen it. The park is pleasant, but the Castle area was heaving with people and the Osaka Castle Museum exhibition inside was only of limited interest to us. Osaka’s history is explained in detail with wall panels, pictures and models, but there are few genuine exhibits in the Castle Museum itself. The other museum (across the way in a modern building) might be better for those with the time and interest in the historic relics. The views from the viewing gallery at the top of the Castle are quite stunning, though.
Then we planned dinner. After much debate (about five minutes-worth), we chose a highly recommended restaurant near Namba/ Dotonburi, named Tsuki no Odori.
On the way, we walked past the Osaka Dome and saw a young baseball team at practice.
Hungry, we took the very front carriage of the subway…
…and we hastened our step as we started to see the lights of Dotonburi again and Mr Googlemap said we were close…only to find the place closed. Whether it had simply chosen to close for Halloween night or whether this is a more permanent closure it was hard to tell. Google said the place was open…but it was closed. How can such a thing happen?
Still, part of our reason for choosing that place over one or two other highly recommended yakitori/teppanyaki restaurants was that “Sucki no Dooropeni” was very close to other well-received places.
A quick request to Mr Google for “best yakitori restaurant near me” yielded Teppanjinja Dotomburi a full 150 meters away, a little deeper into Dotonburi and also highly recommended.
What a great place. The staff were really friendly and helpful – not brilliant English but more than enough for our purposes, as they have a menu with pictures and a choosing card in English. Highlights were the pork on ginger sticks, the giant shrimp sticks and the eel omelette ones.
The shittake mushroom, chicken neck and pork with leek ones came a very close second. In fact everything we ate there was terrific. Washed down with sake (in my case) and a mixture of beer and plum wine (in Daisy’s case).
Daisy felt that yakitori/teppanyaki chef Yukinaga deserves a named mention.
Then out onto the streets of Dotomburi around 19:30 as the Halloween celebrations really were starting to hot up. What fun we had, illustrated far better by pictures than by me waffling on about it.
Eventually we realised that we were both exhausted and set off for home…
…which worked absolutely fine until we got to the Y-line Umeda station and got confused by the subway system again. In no mood for over-extending my analogue GPS skills in an environment where the electronic one seems to get confused along with us, we surfaced and grabbed a cab which again solved our problem for a small fee.
That night my brain went into total overdrive with the contrasting sensory effects of the last 2-3 days and the over-stimulation of the previous few hours…
…what a contrast with the previous, monastic day…
…so I woke up in the night with the mother of all quicky-migraines, which mercifully had passed, almost as rapidly as it arrived, by the morning.
All the pictures from Day Twelve (trigger warning: there are more than 200 of them) can be seen by clicking the Flickr link here or below:
