Goya Blog

This was our first trip to Japan and we choose Osaka/Kyoto. It started out a bit rough, what should have taken 1 hour to commute from Kansai Airport to the hotel actually took 2 hours. The train/subway system was intimidating at first. What greeted us at the Premier Cabin Hotel was a small comfy room with complimentary pajamas. The bathroom had a heating pad behind the mirror to prevent fogging, so cool. I can only speak for myself but the Japanese toilets are a marvel of modern technology and I quickly feel in love with them.

After a good cleaning we ventured out to a hole in the wall place for a bowl of ramen that was really good. I wish one of us would have taken a photo of the vending machine style of ordering. On the way back to the hotel we stumbled upon an alleyway that went on for blocks that had everything we could have possibly wanted… including coffee and dessert at Yokohama Coffee.

We slept in the next morning before exploring Osaka. Our first stop was Osaka Castle. Because of our late start the crowds had already formed. I did my best to capture the castle, while Sandy concentrated on the dog costumes the Japanese seemed to be obsessed with. Circling back again to the toilets, Sandy found a public toilet that had a privacy switch. This privacy mode made a loud flushing sound to mask any uh… sounds you would have to make, so considerate.

Lunch was at a small place, we visited Karamitsuya to dine on chicken/pork katsu swimming in curry. It was so good.

For the afternoon excursion we visited the Osaka Aquarium.

We ended the night with a stroll down the Dotonbori district. Unfortunately the crowds there were overwhelming in numbers and we both got pushed around which meant we abandoned our plans, but only after we sampled the takoyaki & gyoza from the street vendors. I hate to sound like a broken record but it was so good.

On Sunday it was Sandy’s turn to fall ill, so we took it easy. It started off with a morning trip to church. Lunch was at the train station as we were both craving some skewers… uh and dessert.

Dinner at the close of the night was an outstanding Kobe steak at Tajimaya.

Kyoto was an hour trip via the train. Before we could even make it to Fushimi Inari shrine we were confronted by all the street vendors selling their bites to eat. Once again the crowds were numerous but we pushed through to make it to Nishki Market for… more food.

We finished our day off with a trip to Daiki Suisan Kaitenzushi Doutonbori a sushi revolving conveyor belt restaurant, which I would never do over here. Once again many of my prejudices were shattered as the sushi was very good.

Our final day in Osaka was pretty much packing and getting ready for our flight back to SFO. The trip was to short and I want to go back ASAP.