Osaka & Kyoto: May 15

We started our morning traveling by train and metro to the Aoi Festival in Kyoto. The festival occues only once a year and involves a procession through the Imperial Palace.




After the festival we took the subway and then a street car to the Tenryuji Temple on the western part of the city. The temple is known for it's amazing mural that depicts a dragon coming out of the inside ceiling of the temple. We couldn't take pictures inside though so you'll have to use your imagination.


We spent a good portion of the afternoon shopping in the outdoor markets. We found all sorts of souveniers and traditional Japanese items to bring back home with us.


Once we returned to Osaka we went back to Dutonbori Street for tacoyaki. Taco means octopus in Japanese and yaki refers to anything grilled so tacoyaki is octopus cook on a grill and in this case they were like savory donuts filled with octopus. I have now deemed the tacoyuki, but atleast I tried one. The flavor was good, but I couldn't handle the chewy, crunchy texture nor the sight of tenticles.




Here's a picture of our entire group including Yuca, the daughter of a friend of my grandma's friend. It was so much fun spending the past two days with her and she was an awesome tourguide. She is from Osaka and is currently studying at cosmetology school and spent the weekend with us. Hopefully, she'll come visit us in America some time.

Osaka Day 1: May 14

We left Tokyo this morning and boarded a 3 hours train ride to Osaka. By bus the trip would take 9 hours, but the bullet trains can reach almost 300 miles per hour so we quickly made our way to Okasa. The trains or Shinkasen travel so fast that you can easily get motion sick just looking out the window if you don't focus on an object in the distance. The trains in Japan are so clean and nice. It's a great way to travel around the country.


All over the train and metro stations you'll find kiosk selling snacks and bento boxes. A bento box contains an assortment of food and treats organized in a little box. Here's the one we shared. The most unique item to us in our box was octopus tenticles.


After we checked into the Hotel Nikko Osaka my the daughter, Yaku, of a friend of my grandma's friend met us to give us a tour of the city. She was so kind and gracious even though she said she has never walked so much in one day. We went all over the place and a few times back and forth to the same places. Our first stop was the Osaka Tower where we got a 360 degree view of the city.


Here is the tower behind Katrina and Me.


After the tower we went to the Doguyasuji shopping area which is like an indoor market with shops and booths doing countless alleys. The alleys connect to the larger shopping centers and malls as well as the famous Dotonbori street where you are supposed to eat until you drop. This is where you can order large crab legs from street vendors and try some puffer fish. We didn't have time tonight, but hope to make it back tomorrow.






Around 9pm we found a restaurant where we could order modanyaki and okonmiyaki. Cooked right on the table in front of you, similar to tepanyaki, I had pork modanyaki. It was so yummy and must be slightly healthy considering the majority of the meal is cooked cabbage. Although, the likely unhealthy sauce on top does make it taste so great.