After
over 4 months of hot weather, sunshine and beaches of south east asia it was
time for something completely different, Japan. The land of Sake, Sumo, Sushi,
Snow and Skiing/Snowboarding. Our first stop in Japan was Osaka. We arrived at
the airport and got off the plane to a very chilly breeze and glorious
sunshine. It was a good job we wrapped up warm in preparation. We breezed
through customs and found our way to the train station to head into the city
centre. The 1st thing we had to contend with was buying a train
ticket. Being japan everything was written in Japanese characters. Luckily a
nice Japanese man helped us decipher our route and directed us to he correct
platform. The train journey from the airport to the city center took us through
lots of residential areas. The first thing we noticed about Japan was how unbelievably
clean it was. Not one bit of rubbish on the streets and all the gardens where
immaculate and serious contenders for the Chelsea Flower Show.
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Osaka Kita ward at night... |
The
hotel we had pre-booked was Il Grande Umeda hotel not far from Minamimorimachi subway and a 15-20
minute walk to Osaka Central station. It was actually quite centrally located
for all of the walking we had planned and all of the day trips we were going to
do. We had a bit of a wander after checking in to get our first taste of
Japanese food and culture. We found our way to a shopping street that was all
lit up with bright lights and signs. Finding your way around takes some getting used to as pretty much all the signs are in Japanese making it easy to get lost!
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Where do we go now?... |
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One of the many many
many vending machines... |
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May your wishes come true... |
There are vending machines everywhere;
pretty much every street corner we passed had something for sale. There appears
to be an obsession with something called Pachinko, we must have passed a dozen
of these arcade type places just on one street. We will need to find out a bit
more about this Pachinko? Whilst wandering we found a traditional Japanese shrine. Apparently people who are recently married go there to be 'blessed' and then have their fortune read. They then get to write a little note on a wooden heart and hang it on a tree. Susi got her fortune told and in true Japanese fashion then tied it to the tree. Tired from all the
travelling that day we made our way back to the hotel and stopped in for Kare-ya (Japanese curry) Delicious…
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beautiful little breakfast stop... |
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Lovely little bridge shot... |
The
next day we planned to have a wander around Osaka and see Osaka Castle and then
the famous shopping street Dōtonbori. On the way to the castle we stopped
in at the local Lawson’s supermarket (Or Dawson’s as Susi likes to call it) to
get a coffee and some breakfast. We headed down to the river and found a little
park on an island in the river to sit and eat our sandwiches. It was a lovely
morning too, very chilly but glorious sunshine. Just before we got to the
castle we walked along the river where the famous cherry blossom trees line the
riverbanks.
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Some cherry blossom on its way... |
Unfortunately for us we where a little bit early for this as it is
usually March by the time the blossom is out, it was a really nice walk
nonetheless. We stumbled across some Japanese
homeless people who where unbelievably tidy, everything they owned including
their bedding was folded and piled up neatly on a bench. Cleanliness and
tidiness seem to be important!!!
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Queen of the castle... |
Osaka castle is a huge 3-tiered
structure, the walls that surrounded by a huge moat and set in some beautiful
gardens. The main castle is a typical traditional Japanese style building with
pointy roofs. On the top tier near the castle there are some touristy shops
that sell some weird and wonderful things.
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Samurai Umbrella... |
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Susi leaping for no reason... |
Strangest of all was an umbrella
that was like a samurai sword. Lee had to try it out!!! It took a good couple
of hours to walk around the castle and enjoy the gardens before we headed down
to Dōtonbori.
We
walked for another hour or so before we finally got to the shopping street
after walking down some dodgy back streets we knew we had found it because of
the giant crab stuck to the side of the building…
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Giant crabs... |
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Shin Sia Bashi-Suji Shopping Street, Endless... |
The main arcade-shopping street is about a mile long and is covered. The
photo we took doesn’t do it justice but it seems endless and was absolutely
heaving. Susi tracked how far we walked using her iPod and we walked 17km that
day. The fitness regime starts in Japan. We got back near to our hotel and
headed out to try another type of Japanese restaurant. This time it was
Yakitori-ya, a restaurant where pretty much everything is cooked on skewers
over charcoal directly in front of you. Again, not a word of English was spoken
so it was pointing time again. The chicken skewers where delicious and had the
hottest mustard dipping sauce we have ever tasted.
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The Shikansen, careful all you train freaks... |
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Bullet train ride no.1... |
As previously mentioned we had a few day trips planned from Osaka, the
first of which was to Hiroshima. It was our first trip using the Japanese Rail
Pass and we were really excited about riding on the infamous bullet trains the
Shikansen.
We arrived in Hiroshima and decided to walk to the park. We asked at
the information centre for some directions and the woman looked puzzled that we
wanted to walk for 40 minutes when there was a free shuttle to the park!
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Hiroshima Dome... |
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Japanese Sculptural Exploration...
+50 geek points for the Designer (Architect)... |
For those that don’t know anything about history Hiroshima was the place
that the first nuclear bomb was dropped. It completely destroyed everything
within the 1 mile. Blast zone. The first thing you come across as you enter the
peace park is the Dome, this was one of the few buildings left standing in the
central blast zone and only stayed standing as the bomb exploded directly
above, its quite an eerie site as its been preserved completely from the day
the bomb exploded. The park itself has some lovely gardens, buildings and
sculptures dedicated to the memory of all those people who where killed.
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The Hiroshima peace park overlooking
the dome and flame of peace... |
There
are museums contain some very graphic and detailed exhibits and artefacts. This
place is not for the faint of heart but we were both glad that we had seen it. To
lighten the mood a little we decided to walk a bit further and see the
contemporary art museum in Hiroshima. This is situated on the top of a famous
hill where many of the post bombing pictures paintings and views have been
taken. Lee was in his element here looking at the architecture and sculptures.
We had a bit of fun walking around the museum and then headed back to Osaka.
That evening we braved another style of Japanese establishment an Izakaya.
Basically a Japanese version of a pub with Japanese pub grub. (noodles grilled
things and yakitori-ya style..) It was a
great evening and even got handed free hot sake to welcome us. It is lovely!
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Unexpected beach at Naoshima... |
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Ferry crossing... |
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Traditional Japanese Arch on Naoshima |
The next place on our daytrip list was Naoshima also known as the art
island. It is a small island off the coast Okayama and not too far from Osaka.
It is known for the number of art museums and installations in such a small
area and also the beautiful scenery in which they are set.
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The Benesse Museum, Naoshima... |
To get there we
hopped on another bullet train to Okayama and then took a ferry over to the
island. Unfortunately for us we decided to go the day before all of the museums
reopened after refurbishment so everything was closed. We walked around the
whole island in glorious sunshine and stumbled across some amazing beaches and
ports and architecture. We thought we had left the beaches back in South East
Asia! The architecture and installations around the island are fantastic and we
had a lovely day navigating our way around the island trying to find them. It
was like a treasure hunt only for design geeks!
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20 geek points for the designer (Architect)... |
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For victims of the Earthquake... |
The last day trip from Osaka was to visit Kobe. For obvious reasons we
intended treat ourselves to find a nice juicy, tender Kobe Beef Steak (slightly
expensive). Especially to treat Susi as she had to put up with all the arty
farty stuff Lee wanted to do. We set off on the afternoon after we had done our
chores (more clothes washing) It only takes 20-30 minutes direct from Osaka and
it was yet another lovely day out. We accidently found a new design museum. It
is in an old cotton mill that was in the process of being converted but was
open with some installations. Our
favourite was the history of Muji. What
we didn’t realise about Kobe is that it was the site of a huge earthquake that
destroyed a large part of the port and city. There are lots of monuments and
large park in the port that are built as a reminder of what happened.
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The sun setting over Kobe port... |
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The Japanese wedding... |
Whilst we
where at the port we happened to stumble across a traditional Japanese wedding
and got some amazing photo’s of the couple in their traditional wedding dress. As
the sun was setting our stomachs where eager to try the Kobe beef so we headed
back to the station to find a restaurant.
We found a place unsurprisingly called
‘the Steakhouse’ and headed up stairs. The restaurant was set out Tepan style
where you sit a bar and everything is cooked in front of you. You get given a
menu of the different steaks and cuts you want to choose from that go up in
price depending on the cut and fattiness of the meat. After doing some research
prior to going in we decided upon the sirloin rather than the tenderloin, this
is somewhere in the middle of the price range.
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The magician of a chef... |
You get a soup and salad to
start then the meat is brought out to you and presented like a bottle of wine
for you to approve. Your personal chef then magically appears in front of you
and starts to prepare all of food. The fat is taken off the steak and put to
the side, the meat is cut up in to cubes and given to you in courses with
various vegetables, shitake mushrooms and garlic chips that Susi thought where
cornflakes. The fat that was cut off earlier is then cut up into tiny pieces
and cooked with bean a shoots that is a nice finish to the meal. We really
enjoyed this experience and the steak was as beautiful and tender as we had
heard. Would definitely go again given the chance.
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China town in Kobe is pretty red... |
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Yes, a 100 Yen shop... |
Our first week in Japan made us realise that it is definitely not as
expensive as we thought it was going to be. You can definitely eat and drink on
the cheap and even accommodation isn’t that expensive. There are 7/11’s and
Lawsons on pretty much every corner and if all else fails you can always find a
100 Yen (Japanese pound shop). Admittedly beer is expensive especially in
comparison to what we have been paying but to Susi’s delight you can get a
bottle of wine for 500¥ (just under £3) from most convenience stores.
After 5 days exploring Osaka and the surrounding areas it was time to
head up to Niseko, Hokkaido for our Japanese Ski and Snowboard experience and a
little bit of sightseeing too.
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