Travel journal: Sketchy neighbourhoods, funky boots, and old vs. new in Osaka

We left Kanazawa for Osaka on the 21st. One thing that we have really been enjoying in Japan is the train system here. The trains are always on time, the schedule is always available and we rarely have to wait more than a few minutes for the next train. We have gotten a lot of use out of our JR pass, which we have taken almost all over the country! It was definitely worth around $630 we spent on it, as the ticket from Tokyo to Shin-Hanamaki alone on the first full day in Japan would have cost over $100!

After we checked into our hostel, we spent the afternoon walking around the shopping streets. One street has everything you would ever need if you owned a restaurant: more knives, bowls, glasses and plastic food than you could imagine! We also checked out some flashier parts of the shopping area and had the local speciality, takoyaki, deep fried octopus balls!

Perhaps our view of Osaka is slightly skewed by the fact we just left two really touristy cities, and our hostel is probably one of the grossest hostels I have ever stayed in, and that says a lot since I have been fortunate enough to travel in a number of European and Asian cities. The shower smells like urine, my tiny room had holes in the walls, the linoleum floor in the hallways was peeling off, and the characters in the neighborhood are slightly sketchy. I am reminded again of the expression "the cheap always pay twice" since the hostel is about half the price of other hostels. So instead of doing three nights in Osaka with a day trip to Kobe we decided to get a refund from the hostel for our third night and spend the last night in Kobe before heading out to Tokyo on the 24th. If nothing else it makes for a funny story!

Wednesday was a better day. After a surprising great night's sleep between the sketchy hostel, the bean bag pillow and the super thin futon mattress, which left me groggy from oversleeping for the better part of the day, we checked out the Osaka castle, which was pretty neat. The highlight of the castle was being able to wear a samurai helmet, probably the heaviest thing I will ever put on my head, and an overcoat for $3. I figured it was money well spent! From there we went up the Umeda sky building up to the 40th floor for an amazing view of the city. The elevator ride up was interesting; at one point it's all glass so you can see everything outside as you go up. From there we could go outside and see for miles up until it gets too hazy/smoggy to see much more. Very cool!

It was a bit of a slower, lazy day (the thermometer at the top of the tower indicated it was 32.5 C) between the heat and me oversleeping/Yosha under sleeping from the people talking too loudly in the common area. I didn't mind a lazier day though: it was nice to enjoy the weather and take our time to relax, between eating ice cream before going to the castle or dipping our feet in a pool on the way to the tower. We are on holidays after all!

One benefit of staying in a more colourful neighborhood is the variety of stores. We have a couple stores that sell clothes for labour-type jobs so I was able to buy a pair of boots that I have seen on rickshaw runners. They are denim-ish mid-shin length boots that have shaped toes like the teenage mutant ninja turtles. Very cool! The sizes are in centimeters here so I am on a mission now to try to find a pair for Sean.

We left yesterday for Kobe, where the hostel was considerably nicer. Our sole purpose in Kobe was to have some Kobe beef. We went with a Lonely Planet recommendation to try it as Misono, the original teppanyaki restaurant. (note: Teppanyaki restaurants in Japan are not like the ones back home where they do a big show with fire and such. It's just a chef who grills meat and veggies in front of you and constantly wipe the grill with a cloth). Ohhhhh mmmyyyyyy ggggoooodddnnneessss that was the best meal I have ever had, and likely will ever have. The food was cooked to perfection, and everything in the meal was amazing. I even enjoyed the onions, which I rarely like! The steak was so marbly and fatty, with a rich buttery taste that melted in my mouth. Dessert was the ripest honeydew melon I have ever had along with vanilla ice cream, mango sorbet and a piece of cheesecake. There was a hefty price tag of $140 to go with it, but we figured it was an amazing place to have steak and I feel like we got what we paid for!

So today we leave for Tokyo, and leave to go home on the 30th. On the agenda so far are a sumo match, going to a tuna auction at stinkin' early in the morning, shopping!!, DisneySea, hanging out with Makiko, Nonaco and another one of the their friends, and causing some more trouble. It will be super fun, but I can't believe the trip is winding down!

A few photos from the last few days: