11/12 - The Runaround along Shinsaibashi

We woke up late this last full day in Osaka.  Our feet needed the extra rest.  Can you think of pulsing feet?  That's close to the feeling we had even with a night's rest.  The morning shower was welcome, even though it was extra cramped and it was hard to move around in.  There were no more passes to use today, so we would be on our feet again all day again.

We walked down the Senbai [船場] section of Shinsaibashi [心齋橋], south towards the main Shinsaibashi-suji [心齋橋筋] stretch with the major shops.  The Senbai section felt more like the local neighbourhood shopping arcade.  We walked 3 blocks south and realized that we weren't all that far away from the Hearton Hotel in Shinsaibashi.  We could have literally rolled our luggage with relative ease from the hotel to the guesthouse the day before.  That would have saved hundreds of dollars in post-Japan physio on H's back.

H's first order of the day was to find breakfast.  N just wanted to shop until lunchtime.  It wasn't early enough to qualify this meal as breakfast, but it was also obviously not late enough in the day to have all the shops open.  H was really getting "hangry" so N picked a McDonald's in Shinsaibashi-suji.  Unfortunately, we just missed the breakfast menu by 5 minutes.  H ordered a Ebi Filet burger.  Think Filet-o-Shrimp.  H took a coffee with his meal, but he felt the Canadian coffee tasted better.

After the quick meal, we walked out to the 24 hour Tsutaya bookstore just tucked behind all the famous, currently unlit, neon signs right on the other side of the Dontobori Bridge.  Just as in North America, this bookstore is complete with Starbucks.  Eat your heart out Chapters.

This is when H had a sudden No. 2 calling, if you know what I mean.  Don't you just hate it when you travel and you desperately need a toilet.  Grr.  N remained in the bookstore while H searched out an appropriate WC.  H remembered that there was a public toilet just by the Dotonbori [道噸堀] Bridge.  So he stepped out over there and was about to go in when he spotted a disgusting mess.  He didn't even have to get that close to the toilet to see it.  There was no way he was going in.  So he ran back to the McDonald's to see use their toilet.  The one toilet there was occupied.  Just wait a few minutes and it should become free, right?  The guy was in their for 10 minutes.  He must have reading the newspaper or the most recent copy of a "cream" mag.  10 friggin' minutes.  H was starting to hop up and down at this point.  He ran back to Tsutaya and realized that there was directory near the escalators that revealed a men's WC on the 3/F.  Relief!!  How do you say that in Japanese?!

from the room of Danny Choo

After this runaround Shinsaibashi-suji, H rejoined N in the Tsutaya bookstore.  H came across a copy of Otacool.  He follows a blog by Danny Choo, who was the brainchild behind this book on otaku and their otaku rooms from around the world.  Being in Japan, buying a Japanese book is over 50% cheaper than buying it back in Vancouver.  So H instantly lapped up the book.

We walked back up north to Nagahori-dori to the Tokyu Hands department store.  It's a very popular department store in Japan.  It has also a very large DIY and crafts section in the store that attracted N's interest.  We bought some items that would be very hard-to-find in Canada.  We figured that if you even found the same item in Canada, it would be 50% 100% more expensive back home.

After grabbing a few more souvenirs at various shops, it was time to go get some grub again.  There was sushi place that we had passed.  You can't miss the place because it has a giant dragon wrapped around a large red sphere hanging up as their logo.  We decided to partake in what they had to offer.  This place was one of those classic conveyor belt sushi places.  It was mid-afternoon and well after lunch, so we got a seat right away.

They had tea on tap in this place too.  Just get your cup and press it against the button.  Voila!  Hot tea pours right out on demand.  You've gotta love that cause you can never have enough tea in a restaurant.  No need to ask the server for a refill.  Awesome.

Used to think that conveyor belt sushi would only have sushi, but this place had their desserts, napkins and other stuff on the belt.  So if you wanted to take dessert early, there would be no issue.  Or if you needed extra napkins, just pick it off the belt.  There's even dessert spoons in a little cup that come around from time to time.  Just hope the people before don't pinch it before it gets to you.  Otherwise, you'd have to wait until the next round of goodies.

There was some more traditional sushi, but there were also some strange ones.  The one is black pepper meat was not my favourite.  Some things are best not served with rice and seaweed.  In the end, we did pretty well and demolished at least 20 tiny dishes of sushi and dessert.  The proof was in our stack of plates at the end.  Unlike most conveyor belt sushi places, this place did not charge by the plate.  It was all you can eat for under ¥1,000.  That was a deal in a major tourist and shopping district.  I wonder if that was the happy hour price?

Our feet were already pretty pooped from days and days of walking.  So we headed back to the guesthouse to rest and pack up our belongings.  Back there, we borrowed the guesthouse owner's one computer to look for a large onsen in Osaka that was recommended by one of N's Hong Kong friends.  Her friend had actually been there and posted her photos of the place on Facebook.  So we had to go check it out.  N found the name, address, and directions.  We had our evening plans laid out for some good old Japanese R & R.

11/11 - Umeda Sky Building and the Floating Garden

We left Namco City in search of the Umeda Sky Building.  We had to snake our way again past the massive department stores in this part of town, including the enormous Hankyu [阪急]department store/train station complex and Yodobashi Camera (huge electronics department store).  Then just past Yodobashi Camera, we had to follow the very long underground passageway to Shin Umeda City.  Who was the brilliant person who decided to put this huge complex on the other side of the railway tracks?

After walking for what seemed like forever on our already tired feet, we arrived at the foot of the Umeda Sky Building, a pair of towers connected at the top by a huge platform complete with observatory.  Again, we were fortunate to have the Osaka Unlimited Pass and gained free admission to the Floating Garden observatory 173m in the air.

The elevator didn't take us up all the way.  Part of the fun is to take the escalator that takes you up in the between the two towers.  This may be the world's highest suspended escalator.  Certainly, it seems like the scariest to any one with vertigo.

Not only was there the outdoor observatory, but there were other things on display up top.  There was one area where there were student projects on sustainable and healthy living.  There were some interesting, if not truly practical, concepts.

There was also a room with an interactive projected display in the middle of the room.  When you sat on the benches on the side, your motion on the benches could change the display on the floor in the middle of the room. 

Outside on the actual observatory platform, it was quite blustery.  However, the nighttime views of Osaka were beautiful.  I don't think our pictures can really capture the entire atmosphere.  In addition to the views, the whole platform was bathed in black light that lit up little parts of the floor in different shades of green and purple.

On one side of the platform was a special lovers' seat.  It was a simple red bench in the middle of an area with a lit up floor.  The light tiles would constantly change colours and form different patterns, like a heart.  All around the area were lovers locks hanging along the railings.  It seems to be a popular thing in Asia to buy a lock as a couple and lock it somewhere special.  H has also seen the same phenomenon in China at many tourist attractions.  However, the area was tightly guarded and was locked out to the general public.  It seems like you would need to reserve the bench and pay a fee for the right to snuggle at 173m in the air.

And, of course, there's the view.  Regular price is ¥700, which is almost half the price of Vancouver's Lookout at Harbour Centre's $15 admission.  So the view is well worth the regular price of admission.  You could see in all directions.  The city views to the south and east were beautiful.  Views to the west were of Osaka Bay, and to the north was the river and the lower lying northern burbs.

We came down off our 173m high back to the ground and back underneath the railway tracks to the main part of Umeda [梅田].  It was still early and H needed additional clothing because we had extended our stay, so we went to Uniqlo and bought some stuff.  Then on the way back to the subway station, we saw a Kinokuniya bookstore[紀伊國屋書店].  This is quite possibly Japan's largest bookstore company with stores overseas as well.  N couldn't resist picking up a few books here - 3 manga and 1 budget tracking book. 

By this time our feet were truly, truly done for.  We trudged our way back to the guesthouse from the subway.  Our feet kill!!!

11/11 - Gyoza Museum

Back on the subway to Umeda [梅田].  We went topside and it was now completely dark.  We snaked our way past a department store or two to find our way to the Namco City building.  If you're not familiar with Namco, they are a big video game producer.  Their most famous title would be Pac-Man.

Our destination, the Gyoza Museum, was atop several stories of a video game arcade.  Again, these food museums tend not to be actual museums, but really a food court that is dedicated to a specific dish or cuisine.  In this case, it is the common, but oh so varied gyoza.

Gyoza [餃子]is the Japanese name for what is essentially Chinese dumpling (known as jiaozi in Chinese).  There is a lot of variety in the way these dumplings are stuffed and cooked.  So we arrived at the Gyoza Museum with high expectations.  The very first stall was right at the top of the escalator.  We were greeted instantly by the worker there.

After a few exchanges between N and this worker, she asked us if we were Chinese.  It turns out that she is a Chinese international student studying Japanese in Osaka.  She said she was from Liaoning province in the Northeast of China.  She was very excited to meet other Chinese in Osaka.  So obviously, we had to order something from her.

The Chinese student gave us our number for our order and we found a table in the seating area.  N suggested we split duties and find some more gyoza.  So we both went to a couple of stalls and ordered a gyoza dish from each one.  Here's the very short skinny on each dish. 

Ironplate Pan fried gyoza from the Chinese girl's gyoza stall.  H thinks it was pork, but we don't remember now.

Here's fried gyoza covered in loads of green onions (aka. negi gyoza).  Plus, that was drenched in soya sauce.

Fried mayonnaise gyoza.  We're assuming that it was pork inside too.

A very oily pan fried gyoza.  This was too oily from what we remember.

What special gyoza is this?  N says it was a cheese gyoza garnished with broccoli on the side.

[All photos, especially of food, are courtesy of N ... naturally]

Overall the Gyoza Museum was worth the visit.  There was way more available than just these 5 dishes.  Now that our tummies were full, it was time for one last destination for the evening.  Our feet were tired, but we were pressing on.

11/11 - Tsutenkaku Tower & Shinseikai

We were out to squeeze the most out of our Osaka Unlimited Pass on this, the last day of its use.  We took the subway down to the Shinseikai area of Osaka.  We got out at Ebisucho [恵美須] station.  Shinseikai [新世界]literally means "new world" and was the buzz of Japanese modernization in the early 20th Century.  Nowadays, it's more of a older neighbourhood with a sketchy reputation.  However, there was one attraction that brought us this way - the Tsutenkaku [通天閣]Tower.

Now, I probably wouldn't have come to this tower if it weren't for the free admission.  And after having been up and down the tower, I probably wouldn't return again.  It was likely a great attraction back in the early 1900's when it was built, but the tower is not all that tall and gives a modest aerial view of the surrounding environs.

On the way up in the dark, dark elevator, you are greeted by elevator attendant and the starry night sky on the ceiling of the elevator.  Etched within the full moon in the starry sky is a strange image. As we would later discover, this is Billiken, the God of Happiness.

In one view, we can make out Spa World, a giant spa and hotel facility that claims to feature spas and onsens from around the world.  On the website, Spa World looks promising and fun.  However, the admission is quite pricy and we had decided not to bother going.  Besides, it wasn't the most unique spa in the world.  Our Taiwanese guesthouse lady mentioned to us that Spa World had become somewhat sketchy.  Sex workers knew that many foreigners would visit Spa World and she said that these workers could be found frequenting Spa World.  I don't know how true that rumour is, but the price alone kept me away.

On the other side of the tower, you could see the nearby Tennoji Zoo.  That was also free with our Unlimited Pass, but we weren't interested in seeing a zoo here in Japan.  The aquariums are much nicer :)  In another viewpoint, you could just see endless towers and buildings layout across southern Osaka.  I can see where Osaka's reputation of being a gray and bland concrete jungle comes from.

One of the big draws of Tsutenkaku Tower is the wooden idol of Billiken [ビリケン], the God of Happiness.  Many visitors apparently rub the soles of his feet for good luck.  Both soles were well worn and Billiken was in desperate and obvious need of a podiatrist, especially his right foot.  H, for one, refrained from touching the soles of idol.  He's just not into that kind of stuff.  Although he did go through that hole back at Todai-ji in Nara... oh and the caution tape is not there most of the time as far as I can tell.  There was a youth event going on in the tower that decorated the place in police tape.

[side note:  apparently Billiken has American origins that I discovered through a Wikipedia search]

The other thing we came across in the tower was a vending machine with a strawberry yogurt drink that N remembers having many years ago.  She couldn't resist popping a few hundred yen in the machine to sample this drink.  H bought one too of another flavour.  N really liked hers, but H thought his was really sour and bland.

Nightfall was upon the city and we were eager to get some food.  Tonight's dinner mission - The Gyoza Museum in Umeda.

11/11 - Osaka Museum of History

Pressing onward on our day of museums tour, we went back to the Osaka Castle area to the Osaka Museum of History.  We had passed by it on the previous day, but it did not fit well on our itinerary.  So here we were again.  The museum actually shares a common atrium with the local Osaka branch of NHK television.  So there were all these TV posters on one side of the atrium, then the more academic posters of the museum on the other.

As is the trend in a few of the attractions we've visited in Japan, the suggested route in the museum takes you straight to the top floor and then you snake your way down through the exhibits.  One of the first signs H looked for was a no photography sign.  Apparently it was fine to take photos in most of the exhibits unless there were true artifacts involved, which would be sensitive to light.

One of the first things we did in the museum was to, well, sit down.  We had been rushing around a lot this day and our feet were pretty tired.  But we also had something to watch as we sat down.  It was a large screening room with a short video on the history of Osaka and the surrounding region.  It was a good summary to familiarize us with the exhibits ahead. 

Also stamp mania was well and alive in the museum.  Each floor had a collection of rubber ink stamps to go to and collect the stampings onto a sheet of a paper.  It must be a great way to get some kids engaged in the museum itself.

The tenth floor on which we started housed the Naniwa Period (ca. 7th Century) exhibit.  There was a partial reconstruction of the Naniwa Palace that once stood literally across from the present-day Osaka Castle and kitty corner to the museum.  The ruins are actually visible when you look out the window from the escalator atrium.  There were life-size models of the entire royal court of the time.  You could walk right through and explore this re-creation.  A map in the exhibit showed the footprint of the original palace grounds were now mostly covered by modern buildings.

On the ninth floor was an exhibit about the middle ages and early modern history of Osaka.  It's sub heading is 'tour the water city'.  Even more so then, maps of the Osaka region reveals how many more rivers were prominent in the region's landscape.  Some places where there were rivers before have almost literally disappeared.  That explains why some place names with the character boat in their name are nowhere close to water in present day Osaka.  There were lots of maps that tickled H's fancy and giant walkthrough exhibits to showcase what life in Osaka was like.

On the eighth floor, we were greeted by the Archaeology Exhibit.  This floor was more for kids you could get hands on and try their hand at being Indiana Jones without the Nazis trying to kill you.  There wasn't much of interest to us, so we went down to the next floor almost immediately.

On the seventh floor, was the early modern and contemporary exhibit.  There is an entire scene recreated from Osaka before WWII when life was buzzing and the city was starting to modernize.  It was a night scene complete with streetside vegetable vendors, giant neon signs, and a local shrine lit up to the nines.

The remaining floors in between were all lecture halls and meant for school field trips to use when they visit.  So we bypassed all those and went straight down to the statutory gift shop.

Again, Japan has impressed us with their professional museums complete with giant reconstructions or detailed diorama miniatures.  For ¥600 (roughly $7 CAD), museums in Japan have been a good bang for your buck.  At a much less impressive local museum like the Museum of Vancouver, you'd be paying $12.  However, if you decide to use the Osaka Unlimited Pass on the same day as your visit to the Osaka Museum of History, then admission is free.  What a bargain!

11/11 - Tenjimbashisuji

Tenjimbashi-suji [天神橋筋], also known as Tenjinbashi-suji is a mouthful of a name.  Also, it's not something you would find in most travel books, except Asian ones perhaps.  Tenjimbashi-suji is not your popular tourist attraction.  It's a very much typical covered shopping arcade in the Kita ward of Osaka.  The Osaka Museum of Housing and Living is situated right in the middle of the shopping arcade and above the subway station that serves the area. 

One of the draws for N about Tenjimbashi was the opportunity to do the Tenjimbashi 2.6km walk.  They say that it's the longest covered shopping arcade in all of the Japan.  So we went north from the museum and subway station.  N's guide said there was a small pharmacy north of the subway station where we could pick up a piece of paper to prove that we were starting the walk.  H really thought we were walking in the wrong direction.  The pedestrian traffic was really thin in this area and there was no obvious sign pointing us to the start of this infamous walk. 

With the help of N's trusty Chinese-language travel guide, she found the extremely non-descript pharmacy that the book mentioned.  H thought to himself that he would never have found the place on his own.  It was a small, small Japanese pharmacy.  There wasn't even anyone at the pharmacist's window when we stepped in.  We had call out "sumimasen" to get the pharmacist to step out from the back.  He apologized Japanese-ly and N asked him about papers for the walk.  He promptly gave us a tiny sheet of paper for the walk.

Our goal then was to walk south 2.6km to find the other non-descript store.  There, we would hand over our tiny sheet of paper in exchange for a certificate proving we had walked the entire 2.6 km.  It's not exactly the same trial as walking the Great Wall, but we'll take it.

We made our back through the busier sections of Tenjimbashi-suji.  The other thing the shopping arcade is well-known for is the little food stands and restaurants along the way.  Speaking of restaurants, we were pretty hungry by this time.  Our McDonald's breakfast had long been digested and we were looking for sustenance again.  No better place than Tenjimbashi then.

We went into a restaurant called Jiyuken [自由軒].  Jiyuken is a restaurant chain whose specialty is their Japanese Curry Rice with a fresh uncooked egg on top.  Japanese curry is not hot by Indian nor Southeast Asian standards and seems more on the savoury side, but this one left us with a strange feeling.  Whatever the flavour it was meant to be, it seemed to be too strong for both of us.  No regrets in trying, though.

Even though the food wasn't particularly to our liking, the staff were quite friendly and interested in where we were from.  We had to go through the whole we are from Canada, but are Chinese in heritage spiel.  Especially for H, since he is born in Canada, that can be an interesting point in conversation.  N was very excited that she could carry out much of this conversation in Japanese.  Kudos to N.  H helped at one point in figuring out a fave Canadian artist for one of the staff.  He liked Sarah McLachlan.

We continued down the rest of Tenjimbashi-suji.  There were a lot of other food options to snack upon.  There was the ¥130 kyabetuyaki [キヤベツ焼] stall.  Kyabetuyaki appears to be a fried egg and fried noodle combo dish.  However, when we arrived at that stall, there was a TV crew occupying the whole food stand.  There was no way that we would bust in on a Japanese TV shoot.

Further down was a mini okonomiyaki [お好み焼き] stall that sold their food for ¥120.  Whoever said Japan was expensive to travel through?  No TV crew around, so it was safe to queue up and buy ourselves one to try.  Mmm...quite savoury and tasty.

Next on the foodie crawl was the mini potato croquette stall.  This one was in a small industrial style kiosk.  Easily missed if it were not for the obvious line up queuing up to partake in croquettes.  We really enjoyed this croquette.  We're very glad restaurants like Hi-Genki in Burnaby make croquettes locally that we can enjoy at any time.

We neared the end of the 2.6km walk and the level of activity really died down at this end too.  Thanks to N, she spotted which store was the end point of the walk.  We went in, handed over our papers, then he went to the back and printed out two certificates to prove that we had finished the infamous 2.6km Tenjimbashi-suji walk.

Okay, my feet are killing me now.  Where's the subway so I can sit for a while?

[all photos courtesy of N and her camera]

11/11 - Osaka Museum of Housing and Living

So continued our tour of museums in Osaka on the backs of our Osaka Unlimited Passes and the accompanying coupons.  We up and over to the north-central part of the city.  Just above Tenjinbashisuji 6-chome [天神橋筋 6 -丁目] subway station, there is a municipal office building.  It was the most unassuming building, but it houses a museum on it's top three stories.  [By the way, that must be one of the strangest subway station names, I have ever seen - H]

We took the elevator directly up to the top of the museum and gained admission with our coupons.  We rounded the corner just beyond the entrance and was instantly greeted with the faux sky canopy above a total re-creation of an Osaka street scene of the early 20th century.  On this top floor, we were level with the rooftops of the re-created buildings with the "indoor sun" shining brightly over the township below.  It all obviously looks quite staged from this perspective.

Down a set of stairs and we were right down at street level.  The museum wasn't all that busy because it's not a large attraction.  However, I would say that the whole street scene experience was very well done.  There are no vendors or actors in the street, but the stores and homes that line the street are very detailed and full of little nooks and corners to explore on your own.

The main street was relatively wide and open.  The indoor sun shone brightly from the floodlights above and filled the street with a natural glow.  All the homes and storefronts were illuminated by the "sun".  In one storefront, there was a whole shelf of small trinkets or toys.  In another, there were the drawers for traditional medicinal ingredients.  It reminded me of what traditional Chinese medicine shops are like, except I couldn't figure out what the labels said.  Actually, I don't know what half the labels in a Chinese medicine shop say anyway.

All the homes and shops in the middle of the exhibit were fully built with rooms in the back.  When you reach the back of the buildings, you reach a small alley in the back.  The alley was much narrower and you could even stumble across a little shrine in one of the corners if you took the time to explore.  Again, the detail of each room was much appreciated.  Careful exploration certainly paid off with pleasant surprises.

While exploring the back alley, the "weather" began to change.  The sky darkened and the sound of the wind picked up.  Pretty soon, the sound of rain pelting the rooftops was echoing throughout the street scene.  Then lightning and thunder rolled on through.  The storm went as quickly as it came and the sun started to shine again.  Rain drops could be heard dripping from the tiles above to the ground below.  Thankfully, the museum didn't go for the full 4D effect with water.

After finding some replica toilets, which were fortunately never used as toilets, night started to fall.  The sky turned a royal purple for the sunset, then an almost complete darkness for night.  The sounds of crickets and owls now took over the soundscape.  Even a tiny moon made it's way across the ceiling above.  We made our way back through another building to the main street.  All the shops and homes were now lit from within.  It was an old-time Osaka night scene.

We exited the exhibit and made our way to the next floor.  By now, you should expect there to be lots of dioramas and miniatures in a Japanese museum.  This floor was all dioramas and miniatures.  The delicate and detailed displays showed scenes to the beginning of Modern Japanese history.  The scene of tightly packed buildings with a large boulevard running down the middle was typical of early urban modernization.

There were also scenes of various activities that happened in Osaka.  One was a moving miniature display of life in Shinsaibashi [心齋橋] in the early day.  Another was another moving miniature of a festival that took place on the river.  If you like miniatures, you will love this part of the museum.

The regular price of admission to the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living is ¥600, but we got in for free with our Osaka Unlimited Pass.  But even at ¥600, I think this museum would have been well worth the small admission fee.  We were very happy that we visited this museum.  It would have been very easy to overlook this small attraction.