11/7 - Morning in the Market and an Hour in the Bookstore

After running around Kansai for the first few days since we arrived in Japan, it was finally time to have bit of down time and just hang around Osaka itself. We were back again at the Hearton Hotel Shinsaibashi which is very central and within steps of many major shopping areas.  Today was just a day to walk around and explore the areas around the hotel.

First of all, we slept in this morning.  That was a nice change of pace from our frantic scurrying around of the first few days.  Our first stop of the day was the Kuromon [黒門] Market.  There were lots of fish and veggie stands in this market.  We decided to wander, but my morning hunger was starting to make me "hangry".  So I grabbed a quick snack first.  A small doughnut vendor was making fresh doughnuts right in the market.  It was really fluffy tasting and not too sweet.  I really liked it.  I'd say I would prefer this doughnut over a really sweet Tim Horton's donut.

N's hunger finally started to kick in and we found ourselves in a little seafood place that catered to tourists who wanted to sit down and eat in the market.  From listening to all the guests seated around us, it became quickly obvious that everyone here was Chinese.  There was a quartet of Taiwanese tourists, a group of 8 really boisterous and excitable middle-aged Hong Kong ladies, and two younger Hong Kong women.  The two younger ladies vacated their seats for us.  The middle-aged Hong Kong ladies were definitely the loudest.  For every bit of seafood, they were loudly "oohing" and "awing".  It was pretty funny.  But most Japanese are not so loud, so they really stuck out like a sore thumb.

For our food, we had unagi and rice, sashimi and uni (sea urchin).  I don't think I've ever had so much seafood for breakfast.  First the Arima Onsen breakfast and now this one.  Decadent.

After finishing breakfast, we headed down to a shopping area known as Sennichimae　[千日前].  One small and tight shopping street in Sennichimae is not your usual tourist attraction.  However, it may be of interest to those who like something ordinary, yet different.  This street specializes in kitchen and restaurant supplies.  Some shops were wholesalers for giant grills and ovens.  Some shops sold tableware.  Some shops specialized in selling different sorts of restaurant uniforms.  It was especially interesting to see some of the traditional Japanese style restaurant clothing that they had for sale.

Further south past Senichimae, we came across a large bookstore.  The bookstore was directly across from a large comedy theatre.  Apparently, this theatre is famous to the locals and Japanese tourists, but it would be useless for us to make a visit to watch Japanese comedy - way over our heads.  The bookstore, on the other hand, kept us occupied for at least an hour.  N was looking at the manga of one Takagi Naoko [高木直子].  She spend quite a bit of time debating whether to buy a couple copies of her books or not.  I was over in the train section. Japanese bookstores literally have a whole bookshelf dedicated to books and mags about their trains.  It's pretty impressive if you're a train fan.

Today, however, what caught my eye was a magazine with a box attached to it.  At first I wasn't sure what this mag+box combo was.  Then I started to realize that there was a DIY camera inside the box.  It was an old style Twin Lens Reflex camera.  This was tres cool, I though.  I looked at the price and it was only ¥2500.  For about CAD$25-30, I thought this was worth the cost.  My only concern when I picked up the mag+box was how to fit it into my luggage.  But what a find!