For our first full day in Osaka we decided to have a slow morning and hang around the apartment. The weather forecast looks really good for the week, with clear, twenty degree days after yesterdays rain. The boys spend some time on school work and catch up on their classroom news via SeeSaw. They also decided to do some video recording. Firstly some video blogs and then some recording of games on their tablets – ready for their YouTube channel when we get home.
Around lunchtime we head out to explore the local area on foot with the first task to find a place for lunch. We soon find we are right in the middle of Shinsaihbashi and Dotombori, one of Japan’s premier shopping precincts and Osaka’s liveliest night spots. The area has a canal which is lined with pedestrian walkways and covered arcades. Shops, restaurants, food stalls and people everywhere. It seems busier than Tokyo!
We settle on a yakitori style restaurant, that appears to have a good mix of options with something for everyone. We are getting better at picking restaurants from the picture menus or the replica/model foods on display and most have an English menu available after seating.
This one appeared to have a broad selection in addition to Yakitori – skewers of charcoal grilled meat and vegetables. Yakitori is often smaller portions to go along with drinking of beer or sake. It’s a little early for us, so we stick to mizu and order some satays. We order the ones from animals we are prepared to eat and parts of those animals that we can stomach – which only leaves a few options. We’ll leave the chicken cartilage and chicken liver for another day, so opt for some French fries as well.
One surprising element of Japan has been the amount of smoking, and smoking in restaurants. Occasional restaurants are smoke free, whereas most have a smoking and non-smoking section – often next to each other so hard to differentiate. Some allow smoking throughout. This restaurant allowed smoking, which was unfortunately for us enjoyed by the patrons next to us.
We continue our walk, stopping in at a large arcade centre. The first two levels are claw games, where you move the claw to pick up a teddy bear. The next two levels are arcade style games, and the top couple of levels are pachinko, a pokie like gambling game. The heavy cigarette smoke keeps us out of those levels, and so we head to the arcade level. A all play a couple of quick games before the cigarette smoke drive us out as well. The arcade machines are a different style to what we are used to in Australia, with a larger rounded screen, standard joystick controls, and two stools for seating. Also each arcade machine comes with it’s own ash tray!
We continue on our walk stopping at a few more interesting shops, stock up on some groceries and call past 7-eleven to grab supplies for dinner. At home we have a quick dinner and then settle in to watch the final Harry Potter movie – The Deathly Hallows part 2.
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