My frist impression of Osaka was not great. Walking around Dotonburi, it was crowded, dirty, and obnoxiously loud. Osaka was quite the opposite from Kyoto.
Dotonburi (道頓堀)
Dotonburi is all about having a good time. Crowds pouring in for good chows, Pachinko, and girls. Yes you heard it, there were “girl bar” neon signs and young girls in costumes waiting on the streets, approaching guys walking alone or in groups. If there’s presence of female company, the guys won’t be bothered by these girls.
Our first meal in Osaka was ramen – mouth watering rich, wonderful ramen. We were halfway through our journey and we still haven’t tried authentic ramen. It was our luck to have stumbled into 二金堂, a small Ramen restaurant on Dotonbori. We placed orders and paid to a vending machine. Then handed the receipt to the waitress. In minutes, our ramen arrived. The broth was rich and thick. The noodle cooked to perfection and packed with flavor. It was amazingly tasty, possibly the best ramen I have in my life.
Then some pretty shitty stuff that made me gag just thinking about it…
As usual, we were hot and sweaty, desperately looking for something cool. We saw a poster of colorful ice at a takoyaki shop. Ktula got the pink ice with Takoyaki (grilled octopus) on the side, I pick what appeared to be simple shaved ice with cheery on the top. What I didn’t know was underneath my shaved ice was half dozen of grilled octopus balls. What I thought was brown sugar syrup was actually soy sauce. Yes, my “refreshing” looking fruity shaved ice turned out to be not all what I expected. I should have known when the waiter asked me if I want some wasabi on the side of my ice.
The giant crab sign made us look. And yes, we want some crab. It was a crab fest celebrated with sashimi, sushi, soup, and tempura.
The lady at Kani Doraku told us Okonomiyaki Mizuno is the best okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake) restaurant in the neighborhood. Even though we just had a big crab meal, ktula precede to line up for some pancakes. ktula liked okonomiyaki but admitted it’s not something he would want to have very often. As for me, the dish was too heavy and the flavor was on the plain side. I was not a fan.
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (海遊館)
This was the highlight of our time spent in Osaka. The aquarium is not the biggest nor has the most underwater collections. But it was well design and layout the way visitors get to fully enjoy the exhibition. The star attraction was a pair of whale sharks. ktula and I spent a lot of time at whale sharks’ tank, watching these majestic creatures and being blow away. It was such an incredible experience.
Umeda (梅田)
Umeda Station was so big, it took us a good 25 minutes to walk to the exit we tried to get to. The station was also jam-packed with people. People moving in proximately the same speed, forming traffic flowing 2 ways in sometimes very narrow underground tunnels. I felt claustrophobic in several occasions. Then some other times I felt like salmon, going along with other salmon, not because we wanted to, but because that’s where everybody was heading.
According to tourist guide, there was a floating garden on the roof top of Umeda Sky Builidng (梅田藍天大廈). When I was researching about the floating garden, I found very little information and no photos about it. We had no idea what to expect. But the idea of a floating garden in this dense urban jungle sounded too good to passed on. After the 25 mins walk to exit Umeda Station, it took another 10-15 minutes under the burning afternoon sun until we reached the building.
Wondering if the building and surrounding area were newly developed, there was nothing interesting personality wise. The building’s food court level was decorated to resemble the early century Japanese streets. Somehow the vintage theme just felt very corny to me.
We headed up to the roof top observation level through a futuristic looking escalator tunnel. The uninterrupted city view was good, but calling it a floating garden was plainly not right. There was no sight of green vegetation in any form or shape. It’s an observation deck, nothing more.
Sky Building was disappointing. But the trip to Umeda was not a total lost. We pick an awesome Japanese restaurant inside Hanshin Department Store. The average age of restaurant diners was 45 years old. That was a good sign implying we were at an authentic Japanese restaurant. The meal was indeed great. It’s the kind of homie comfy Japanese food I felt like curling up to a ball and take a nap afterward.
Living in the Seattle area, Smelly is a user experience designer by day, a running, cycling, gardening type of girl when she wasn't wearing the designer hat.
