Day 10: Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan - CosmoTower - Umeda Sky Building - Kani Doraku - Dotonbori

We checked out early and bullet it to Osaka. No matter how many times we saw the bullet and got to ride on one we were always in awe of it. It was fast, punctual, cheaper and more comfortable in terms of space than flying. Plus there was no need to check in your luggage.

We were both excited to be back in the big city!! On top of that, we were even more delighted to discover our hotel had an excellent location. That is, less than a minute walk to the famous crab restaurant (Kani Doraku) and the takoyaki stand where we often saw queues for.

Our first stop for the day was Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan - one of the biggest aquariums in the world. My friend really enjoyed it here as it was her first time visiting an aquarium. The aquarium felt a bit like a spiral maze, it had sections dedicated to animals or fish found in that particular region like penguins for Antarctica and colourful reef fishes for the Great Barrier Reef. It was funny seeing all these reef fishes because I couldn't help thinking, "It wasn't this colourful when I was snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef!"

The CosmoTower was nearby, so we decided to check that out too. It was really quiet on this side of town. The views from the observation deck just reinforced Osaka as a port city because we could see PLENTY of container ships here.

Next was the Umeda Sky Building. By this time the sun had already set and finding it was a bit of an adventure. It was a 15 minute walk from the Umeda station and at this point any type of walking was a real big effort for us. The building itself was a formidable sight, you didn't have to be an architecture buff to gloss over the coolness of it. What was really memorable was the awesome looking escalators and the panoramic views of Osaka City.

We had already made dinner reservations for the crab restaurant for 8 that night. This was probably one of the best meals I had on the entire japan trip and a highlight of osaka!! It was an 8 course meal. The first crap dish to come out was cold crab, this was followed by sashimi crab, and then it was time to grill our own crab. In my opinion, and my friend would agree, this was by far the best way to enjoy these crabs. OISHII!! 

We really could have stopped there, but then more dishes kept rolling out like crab soup and crab sushi. All this was finished by a simple dessert of vanilla ice-cream with green tea matcha, which would be the Japanese version of affogato. 

After dinner, we decided to explore our neighbourhood. And what a neighbourhood Dotonbori made!! The place just came to life at night and was really buzzing. Being the red light district part of the town, there was really nothing unsafe about it. Instead, we found it really entertaining just people-watching and seeing all these interesting characters go about their nightly business.

Day 12:  Nara - Todaji Temple - Port of Kobe - Kobe Chinatown - Dotonbori

The chill crept back into the weather this morning as we headed out to Nara. The scenery that unfolded before me was slightly surreal with deers carelessly wandering in the parks and onto the sidewalks in an otherwise normal looking neighbourhood. There were little vendors selling deer crackers to tourists along the way and it was so funny watching the deers mob people with crackers.

After a gruelling day in Kyoto, it was nice to take a leisurely stroll from the station to the Todaji Temple - home to Japan's largest bronze Buddha statue. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom here. We didn't stay too long in Todaji Temple or Nara and decided to head back to Osaka to take the bullet to Kobe.

Arriving at Sannomiya Station, I really wanted my friend to try the famous Kobe beef, but after looking at the prices... the idea soon lost its appeal. The thing I remembered most about Kobe was strangely the SOGO department store (my favourite department store in Japan) and its salivating gourmet food hall which reminded me of the one David Jones has in Bondi Westfield but better! Plus it was here I got to try and buy some gorgeous tasting green tea.

We could of easily killed some time at SOGO, but the day was escaping away so we decided to head off in the direction of Kobe Port. When we arrived at the port it was far from that hustling and bustling port city that had been described to me. In reality, we were the only lone tourists on site, the area looked completely deserted.

After this, we decided to head to Motomachi, where Kobe's Chinatown is, hoping it would be livelier. It was a little better, but when my friend experiences bad pork bun here...at two different places, we both decided that we had had enough of Kobe and so we took the bullet back to Osaka. 

It was here, we decided to put the bullet train to the test. We timed its arrival and departure time. And what can I say, it delivered on its promise. The bullet arrived exactly on the minute it said it would arrive and brought us back to Osaka on the exact minute our feet touch the platform. AMAZING! I really can't praise the staff enough. They must be so chuff with themselves! I would be too if I worked on the bullet train.

We decided to extend our test further by timing how long it took for the local train station to get from shin-osaka to our namba station. The funny thing was it took longer to get around the different suburbs in Osaka than it was to bullet from Kobe to Osaka. 

That night, we finally decided to try Osaka's famous takoyaki (octopus balls) which we had been putting off. You can only purchase then in lots of 6 and 10, but we were really only after two! When it comes to takoyaki, there are some people who absolutely love it and there are others who don't. My friend and I are in the second camp.

Nightwalking was always interesting in Dotonbori. You can't help but notice all the wacky hairdos of the hosts and hostesses. It's like they are trying to outdo each other with who has the most outrageous hairstyle. The "most outrageous hairstyle" award for us went to a guy sporting a fascinator on his head and as a sidenote, he was also carrying a silver metallic "handbag".  My friend and I got a few giggles out of this and it was those kinds of moments I wish I had taken a photo of.

With tomorrow being our last full day in Osaka, we decided to scout our neighbourhood for shops that would be worth checking out. On our walk, we notice a pattern where each host group seemed to be designated to their own block from which they could carry out their hustling. How fascinating! But I think if you really wanted to see the heart of the action the best vantage point would be to wedge yourself on or near Ebisubashi bridge. I didn't do this, but what I did do a few years back was watch a documentary called The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief. This documentary is definitely worth checking out if you want an insight into the whole host business scene.

Day 13: Shopping in Osaka - Namba Station - Shinsaibashi - Umeda - Den Den - Kani Doraku - Dotonbori

This whole day was spent running around Osaka in a mad dash to do some last minute shopping and find gifts for family and friends. We first hit the closest station to us; Namba Station. This is a massive station filled with shops and two major department stores, Takashimya and O1O1. 

Next was Shinsaibashi which is Osaka's main shopping district then Umeda, the business district of Osaka, where we spotted even more department stores like Hankyu and Hanshin. Then it was off to Den Den, Osaka's equivalent to Tokyo's Akihabara. This was my last ditch to find cool Naruto or Bleach merchandise and I failed spectacularly!

By the time we arrived back at our Dotonbori neighbourhood, the day felt like it was almost gone. The crab meal we had on our first night in Osaka was so good we thought, "Why not do crab again?" This time we decided to check out the other crab restaurant (FYI: there are two crab restaurants, one on each end of the same strip). This crab restaurant had a bigger venue than the other one and offered much better views of Dotonbori at night. 

"OISHII!!" And so began our second love affair with crab. We started off with a cold crab dish. This was followed by sashimi crab, which we put aside because we wanted to grill it only to discover that their crab dish came out pre-grilled (....and to think we were so looking forward to grilling our own crabs again!)

Instead, we got hotpot crab which was still very good. After this, the waitress used the remaining stock in the hotpot to make a congee like dish with eggs. By this time, we were both so full and decided to save ourselves for dessert. For dessert, we got to watch the waiter artfully mix the green tea matcha into the water before pouring it over our vanilla ice-cream, this was such a delight in itself.

It was hard to believe our last night in Osaka and really our last night in Japan had finally come. It felt like we had been living in Japan for ages and not just holidaying for two weeks. This was also the last chance to explore our colourful neighbourhood and its equally colourful people. I really didn't want to go back to our hotel, I was trying to prolong it as much as I could because I knew I would really miss this place, the food, the friendly people and the energising atmosphere so prevalent in the night. Only a few places ever put a smile on your face when you recall them, Dotonbori is one of those places for me.