We planned a 2.5 month trip to Japan, all on the main island of Honshu. This was our first time in Japan and we were excited to experience the culture in detail. Our itinerary included Hakone, Osaka, Kyoto, Kumono Kodo Trail, Japanese Alps, Hiroshima, Kyoto (again) and Tokyo. This section of the blog covers the first two weeks where it was just the two of us in Hakone, Koyasan and Osaka.
We flew Southwest to LA and then flew on Japan Airlines to Tokyo. We got business class which was nice to have lay flat seats - that said, the food on the plane was not the best. When we arrived, we got a rental car and drove to Hakone. We kept the car until we got to Osaka. Surprisingly, it was very easy to navigate - thankfully Keith was somewhat accustomed to driving on the left side of the road.
Hakone
We stayed in Hakone for nine nights. Our plan was to stay in the area so we could monitor the weather to hike Mt Fuji on a sunny day. It also allowed us to recoup from jet lag in a quiet and serene place. The area was quite mountainous and lush with cute towns and was about an hour from Fuji.
Accommodation
AirBnB - We stayed in this very clean and new cabin close to Lake Ashi which was quite spacious and well equipped. It had a bedroom on the main floor with bathroom, kitchen and dining table and then a second bedroom on the second floor. There was also an outside deck with a picnic table. The only downside is that there is no 'living room' to lounge in and it was not close to many restaurants. If we were to come back, we could like to stay in Hakone proper or Gora as there are more restaurants in those towns.
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| AirBnB in Hakone |
Il Azzurri - Located on the Izu peninsula near the town of Nishiizu, we stayed here for one night to explore the peninsula. The hotel was located right on the water with beautiful views of the rugged cliffs. The room was very spacious and modern and the hotel was very cute. They had a lounge area where you could get free drinks (including alcohol) and snacks.
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| Il Azzurri Hotel |
Activities
In Hakone, we did the following activities:
Hakone Venetian Glass Museum - On a very rainy day, we visited this attraction which was better than we expected. There are a few different buildings with exhibits as well as some outdoor glass sculptures.
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| Hakone Venetian Glass Museum |
Day trip to Kamakura
We drove to this coastal town which took a little over 1.5 hours each way mainly to see the Giant Buddha at Kotoku-In temple. The buddha is one of several that are famous in Japan, standing at close to 12m tall. To get to it, we decided to hike the Daibutsu Trail starting at the Jochi-ji temple. The trail was 2 miles and traversed a few hills - there was quite a bit of humidity and not much to see except there were a few temples along the path but none that were very exciting. We would not recommend this trail but the Giant Buddha was worth it.
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| Giant Buddha at Kotoku-In Temple |
Before embarking on this adventure, we walked along the main shopping street in town, Komachi St, and went to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine which is a Shinto shrine dating back to the 11th century. The shrine was nice but not too much to see inside.
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| Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine |
Day Trip of Hakone Area:
The day turned out to be sunny so we decided to do a loop around some of the towns, navigating on public transportation the whole way. We started out with the 30 minute scenic boat ride across Lake Ashi on a pirate looking ship. It was cool to see the surrounding hills from the water. We got off the boat on the south side of the lake in Hakonemachi. We then toured around Hakone Checkpoint which is one of the many checkpoints set up during the Endo period - this one was mainly used to stop women from leaving Tokyo.
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| Boat ride on Lake Ashi |
From here, we walked to Motohakone (the other town on the south side of the lake) and then took the bus to Hakone. After walking around the town a bit and seeing the cool shops, we took the train to Gora which was cool to experience how it had to navigate up the steep hills. In Gora, we went to the Hakone Open Air Museum which was really cool - interesting sculptures throughout some very pretty grounds. We also walked around the Hakone Gora Park.
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| Hakone Open Air Museum |
We returned to our starting point by first taking the cable car to Sounzan and then the Hakone Ropeway with a stop at Owakudani to see the smoldering steam coming out of Mt Hakone (a volcanic mountain that when erupted many years ago created Lake Ashi). The ropeway was very cool as we rode across the volcanic field and could see it from above as well as see the surrounding hills and the lake. Unfortunately, there were too many clouds to see Fuji.
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| Owakudani |
Driving tour of the five lakes around Mt Fuji:
We drove around to see the five lakes that surround Mt Fuji - Lake Yamanaka (the largest), Lake Kawaguchi, Saiko Lake (the deepest), Lake Shoji (the smallest) and Lake Motosu. Our favorites were Saiko and Motosu lakes as they were less developed. At Lake Yamanaka, we rented bikes (the bikes were quite old - definitely not e-bikes) and biked around the lake which took about an hour. It was here that we had our first sighting of Mt Fuji.
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| Bike around Lake Yamanaka with views of Fuji |
We then went to the main town near Fuji, Fujiyoshida, which is on Lake Kawaguchi. While here, we visited the Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine which enshrines the deity of Mt Fuji and is where we got our blessing to hike Mt Fuji. This entailed throwing money in a bin, bowing and clapping. We definitely felt ready to conquer the mountain! We went over to the Fujisan Parking lot to check out where we needed to go for the hike and bought our bus tickets. We also went to the Fujisan World Heritage Center which has decent displays about the history of Fuji.
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| Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine |
As we drove by one of the lakes, we decided to check out the Fugaku Wind Cave which is one of the several caves in the area where you can explore the lava tubes. This one is known to be the coolest in temperature and even has ice in it year round. It's a small cave but was cool (no pun intended) to see.
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| Fugaku Wind Cave |
On the way home, we stopped at a very large store that seemed like a high end Walmart - it's called AEON Style Fujinomiya. We went here to get groceries for dinner and to stock up on snacks for our hike on Mt Fuji. You could buy almost anything in this store!
The main event of this leg of the trip - we waited to see which day would be the best to climb. As a result, we could not get a last minute reservation at one of the mountain huts so we decided to do it in one day. We had to get up at 12:30 in the morning, have coffee and pack up, drive an hour to get to the parking lot by 3am and then wait in line to board the 4am shuttle that takes you to the 5th station. Everything was very well organized and when we arrived at 5th station, we checked in to get our tags, started the climb around 4:45am and saw the sunrise around 5:15am from the 6th station. We hiked the popular Yoshida trail which is 11 miles, 5.1K feet in elevation gain (to 12.4K high) and took us 10 hours to complete (almost 8 hours of hiking time). It took us a bit longer as Shawna started to fill dizzy about half way up - apparently our acclimatization in CO had already worn off! So we had to rest a bit before continuing on. Some of the trail was quite steep - climbing straight up volcanic rock! Thankfully, as you get past the 8th station (which is the last station where there are huts and facilities) the trail had more switch backs. It was cool to see the huts - they were a lot cleaner and organized than we imagined.
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| Sunrise from Fuji 6th Station |
As we were resting at the 8th station, we saw one of the trucks that are used to carry supplies to the huts start to roll down the mountain - it only rolled a few times before it stopped and the driver ended up being OK. As a result, there were supplies strewn down the mountain which they had to clean up and a few larger rocks ended up rolling down as well. It was quite scary at first - it was after this that Shawna felt well enough to start hiking again - we are not sure if it was the banana she had that gave her the energy or the fright of the truck almost crashing into us! In order to guarantee that we got to the top, Keith, being the amazing husband that he is, carried Shawna's backpack in addition to his own until we got there - something he continued to remind Shawna of for several days after!
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| Hiking along the trail |
We finally got to the top around 11am and walked around the crater which took a little over an hour. The crater was massive and so cool to see. At the top, there was also a weather station and several buildings and shrines. We lucked out that the weather was still good when we got to the top so we could also see the surrounding mountains, valleys and lakes - so stunning.
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| The crater at the top |
The hike down took only 2.5 hours but it was full of gravel and steep at sections with lots of switch backs. By then, the clouds had come in so we didn't see much on the way down.
Overnight trip to Izu Peninsula:
We wanted to see what the coast looked like so we decided to do an overnight trip to the Izu Peninsula so that we did not feel rushed. The Izu Peninsula is known for its rugged coast line and we learned that it used to be a series of volcanic islands that were pushed into Japan where it attached to Honshu. We drove the route counterclockwise as we wanted to stay the night on the western side to see the sunset. Our first stop was the Shuzenji Temple in the cute onsen town of Shuzenji. The town is know for being the "Kyoto of Izu Pensinula". The temple was built in the early 800s and was very pretty. We also walked along the bamboo forest path along the river in town - a small forest but nice.
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| Shuzenji Temple |
We then drove to Darumayama which is a mountain range that has nice views of the area, including Mt Fuji. We hiked up for about 30 minutes along a path that had nice shrubs on each side to the top. After this, we drove down the Western coast which is quite rugged and beautiful - although the towns themselves are not the cutest. Before checking into our hotel, we did the 25 minute Dogashima Cave Tour which was cool to see the coast from a boat and we walked around the Dogashima Park to see the coastline.
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| View of the coast from the boat/cave tour |
The next day, we continued driving along the coast, making our way to the eastern side of the peninsula. Our first stop was Kawazu Seven Waterfalls which is in the middle of the peninsula. We walked uphill to see all seven of them when we realized we could have taken the shuttle to the top and walked down to see them all. Most of the falls except for one was quite impressive and was cool to see how the lava had shaped this gorge. We stopped at a gift shop near the entrance of the falls to try our first KitKat - this one was wasabi flavored - turns out it was quite good. We also got another local snack - lemon flavored gelatin type candy which was just OK. We then drove over to Jogasaki Coast on the east side and walked along the coast in the park, making our way across the Kadowaki Suspension Bridge. The coastline was beautiful.
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| One of the Kawazu Seven Waterfalls |
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| Jogasaki Coast |
Restaurants
Iwata Coffe Shop - Located in Kamakura, we stopped here for breakfast before we did some sight seeing. They are know for their fluffy pancakes which were good but they were quite dense so we would not call them fluffy.
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| Pancakes at Iwata Coffee Shop |
Meshidokoroinakayadaichi - Located in Sengokuhara (town near Hakone), we had lunch here - our first traditional Japanese restaurant experience. The place is run by two people - we think a married couple. The place was packed with Japanese customers so we felt like we made a good choice. We ordered the pork katsu and chicken with omelette set menus - each came with miso soup and pickled vegetables. Both dishes were quite tasty.
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| Meshidokoroinakayadaichi Restaurant |
Bakery and Table - Located in Motohakone, we stopped at this very nice bakery for a light lunch. We really liked the plum cider and the bread with bacon wrapped inside. We tried a pastry with sweet bean paste - it was pretty good but not our favorite. We went back again another day and tried the curry breads (a bit overpowering) and a few other sweet breads (yum).
Senri - A small stall located in Hakone, we tried one of the black sesame dumplings with sweet miso. They serve three dumplings on a stick - they were quite gooey. Also interesting to try but not our favorite.
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| Black sesame dumplings from Senri |
Tatsumi-en - A small family owned/run restaurant located in Hakonemachi - we had dinner hear sharing the shabu shabu which was delicious. Owners were super nice and welcoming.
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| Shabu shabu at Tatsumi-en |
Moose Hills Burger - Located in Fujikawaguchiko, we had lunch here to 'carb' up the day before our Fuji hike. You order from an electronic pad at your table, customizing the burger with toppings you want and then they bring it out to you. The burgers were quite large and tasty. It came with a very small side of fries which were not the best.
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| Moose Hills Burger |
La Terrazza - Locate in Hakone, we had dinner here after our Mt Fuji climb as we had to have pizza which is our tradition after a big climb. We split a pizza and cacio peppe pasta dish - both quite good.
Sebama Sushi - Located in Nishiizu on the Izu Peninsula, we had lunch here - our first restaurant sushi since we arrived. We also sat on the floor for the first time. We elected to get the 'chef's choice' sushi platter and while there were a few items we had no idea what they were, we enjoyed it all - especially the fatty tuna sushi.
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| Sebama Sushi |
Taverna di Mare - Located in our hotel (Il Azzuri) on the Izu Peninsula, we opted to have dinner here. It was an Italian/Japense buffet which turned out to be quite good. They had a variety of Italian dishes and Japanese dishes - we even tried a few things that we had no idea what they were! We also had breakfast here (included in the room) which was also quite good - mostly Japanese fare but a few Western options (e.g. cheesy scrambled eggs). We mostly opted for the Japanese items which included sushi and rice (where you could make your own rice bowl).
Gora Brewery & Grill - Located in Gora, we had dinner at this cool place. The food was very tasty - we shared a sashimi, crispy rice, crab tempura and grilled pork. The beer was pretty good too.
Itoh Dining by Nobu - Located in Gora, we had dinner here. This was our splurge meal for this leg of the trip. We had a six course dinner where we got to choose our meat - Shawna go the wagyu filet and Keith got the Kobe steak. Every dish except for dessert was delicious and the meat just melted in our mouths - so good!!
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| Wagyu steak at Itoh Dining by Nobu |
Koyasan
On our way to Osaka, we stayed one night in Koyasan, a mountain top village that is home to over 100 (used to be over 1000) Buddhist monasteries and temples. This town was founded by Kobo Daishi, a Buddhist who brought Shingon (esoteric) Buddhism to Japan.
Accommodation
Ekouin - We stayed in this practicing Buddhist monastery where we had a private room with our own bath. The room was quite large and it's where you eat, relax and sleep (on mattresses on the floor) all in one room. We had a nice view of the garden and the bathroom was also very nice. It did not have AC but thankfully it was cool enough with the windows open and the fan going. The price included the activities at the temple (see below) as well as our dinner and breakfast (see below).
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| Ekouin |
Activities
Ekouin - At our monastery, we attended the meditation class where we were taught basic meditation and practiced it for 15 minutes. We had to "keep our eyes closed, but also open" and "keep our thumbs together, but also apart". So confusing. Keith thought it was the longest 15 minutes of his life!! It was tough sitting in that position for so long but was peaceful to do. We also attended two very cool ceremonies the next morning: a) the morning prayers by two Buddhist monks - it was interesting to hear their chants; and b) the fire ritual where they bless anyone who needs healing by burning sticks with names of them - during this process one of the monks banged on a drum and did chants while the other monk did the fire rituals.
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| Fire ritual at Ekouin |
Kongobuji Temple - We toured inside this temple which is the head monastery of Shingon Buddhism. The place is quite large and boasts having the largest rock garden in Japan.
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| Kongobuji Temple |
Okunoin Cemetery - We did the night tour of his cemetery where over 500K people are buried and is where Kobo Daishi is in 'permanent meditation'. The cemetery is very large and is cool to see all the graves with moss. You did not need to be Buddhist nor Japanese to be buried here. At the end is the mausoleum where Kobo Daishi lays to rest. We went back the next day to see it in daylight and we watched the monks bring the special food offering to Kobo Daishi.
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| Okunoin Cemetery |
We also walked around town to see some of the other temples - the town is very cute and compact.
Restaurants
Sushi Ajitokoro Takagi - Located in Hashimoto, a town outside of Koyasan, we had lunch here on our way to Koyasan. We each got the set sushi lunch which came with so much food and was only $12 a person. Very good!
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| Sushi set lunch at Ajitokoro Takagi |
Ekouin - We had dinner and breakfast in our hotel (included in the rate) - each were served in our room where we ate by sitting on the floor (not the most comfortable position). The meals were vegan as they served us what the monks eat. The food was edible but not very flavorful.
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| Dinner in our room at Ekouin |
Kotobuki Shokudo - Located in Koyasan, we had lunch here. Keith ended up getting a dish he didn't order but the food was quite tasty. Shawna had chicken curry and Keith had a rice dish with omelet on top.
Osaka
We stayed in Osaka for seven nights, exploring our first large (it's the third largest in Japan) city. Osaka and Tokyo are rivals - it's known to be the friendlier, more 'open' city of the two. We dropped off the rental car at the airport and then navigated the public transportation to our hotel.
Accommodation
Activities
Dotonbori Market - We walked around this market our first night, taking in the crowds, lights and food stalls. We went here a few times to eat. It was fascinating to see it all!
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| Dotonbori |
Ultimate Osaka Walking Tour - We did this five hour walking tour that does a nice intro to Osaka. While our tour guide was not from Japan, he lived there for over 15 years and he did a great job. We started out at Osaka Castle, learning about some of the history of Japan and Osaka specifically. We then went to the Namba area where we walked around American Village - it's where the youngsters hang out and has a more grungy vibe. We also stopped at one of the small restaurants and had takayama (octopus balls) and okonomiyaki (savory pancake) - both were just OK. We walked through a small portion of Shinsaibashi-Suji (a 2km shopping street) and Dotonbori where we walked past the Hozen-ji Temple where people go to get blessings for safe journeys. We also walked through a small portion of Kuromon Market where there is the fish market and more food stalls - we tried Kobe beef on a stick - so yummy! Our last stop was seeing Shinsekai which is a retro area with lots of restaurants and has the Tsutenkaku tower - we did not got to the top.
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| Osaka Castle |
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| Kuromon Market |
Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park - We wanted to get some exercise so decided to check out this park that was the sight of the 1970 World Expo and the 1990 Flower Show. The park is quite large but is definite need of sprucing up.
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| Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park |
Shintenno-ji Temple - One of the oldest temples in Japan that was originally build in the 500s, this temple is quite pretty with a pagoda and several halls. Prince Shotoku, who build the original temple, is said to be buried here.
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| Shintenno-ji Temple |
Namba Yasaka Jinja - A small temple that has a large lion head at one of the entrances. We both thought we were looking at a Chinese restaurant - not the most interesting place.
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| Namba Yasaka Jinja |
Food Tour - We did this fun, three hour food tour that focuses on the Shinsekai neighborhood. Our first stop was a tiny, standing only udon place where only about eight people could fit. We had the udon with fried tofu that was a bit sweet. The udon was very good and while the tofu was interesting, it was not our favorite. There is an old guy who runs the place - so old school that he doesn't even have a google listing! Our second stop was at Kitanoya where we had wings, fried chicken, shrimp tempura, mochi dessert and lemon sour (a drink with fresh lemon juice, soda and their version of a vodka like alcohol) - everything here was delicious. Our third stop was at Takoyaki Ichiban Osaka Shinsekai where we tried two versions of the takoyaki (octopus balls) - since this is not our favorite dish, we only tried one of them. The last spot was at a hot pot restaurant where we had beef shabu shabu - broth with beef, mushrooms, and cabbage - it was pretty good.
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| Standing room only udon restaurant on our food tour |
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| Shinsekai neighborhood |
Don Quixote Store - This is a famous nation wide discount store so we decided to check out what all the hype is about. This store in Dotonbori has six floors and a scary looking ferris wheel attached to the building. They sell mostly what you would expect from a discount store - souvenirs, electronics, cosmetics etc. Interesting to see all of the product packaging which are quite colorful.
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| Don Quixote Store |
Tombori River Cruise - We rode this 20 minute cruise that takes you part of the way along the Dotonbori River where you can see the riverside buildings. The entire tour was in Japanese so we learned nothing other than they really like to wave at the tourists that are walking along the river and bridges!
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| Sights from river cruise |
Backstreet Osaka Walking Tour - We did this three hour evening walking tour that takes you to the backstreets of Osaka where we learned about some of the culture and 'unhoused' population as well as businesses of the 'interesting gentlemen' (aka mobsters) which includes gambling and prostitution - both of which are illegal but still occur with loop holes. About half way through the tour, we stopped for a snack at one of the restaurants in Shinsekai - fried chicken and beer which was tasty. We ended the tour by walking through the red light district - we were not allowed to take any photos and the men and women had to walk separately. The streets are lined with very cute houses where on the first floor there is one older women (who ran the house) sitting with one younger one (the one performing the services). Each street is organized by age of the women performing the services - e.g. one street each for women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. The loop hole is that you buy minutes of being served tea and biscuits and whatever happens after that is between two consenting adults. As you walk by, if the woman waves at you then you are welcome to go over to discuss who many minutes you want to purchase. There are hired security that patrols the streets so it's all very safe. Leave it to the Japanese to even make this system very organized!
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| Red light district |
National Bunraku Theater - Bunkaru is the use of puppets with three men controlling them - two of the men are covered in all black and the third you see the person completely. On the side of the stage is a narrator and a 3-string "guitar" player. The show was almost 2 hours, and fortunately there was an app accompanying the show that translated/explained the show into English. We're glad we did this but we're unlikely to become life members of Bunkaru theater.
Osaka Municipal Housing Museum - We went to this museum that features life-size replicas of historical Japanese houses and stores. We were surprised to see that it was located in a corporate office building. That said, it was interesting to see.
Osaka Aquarium - We decided to go here our last day before meeting John/Joanna/Jan at the airport because we wanted to be inside and avoid sweating. The aquarium is next to a giant ferris wheel and a Legoland park. The aquarium was well done, with the main "Pacific tank" being the centerpiece. There were all the big fish you'd imagine, with the coolest being two huge whale sharks. There were also penguins. Just stunning.
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| Osaka Aquarium |
Restaurants
Dotonbori St - This is a long street with lots of restaurants and carts. From the food carts, we had gyoza and fruit on a stick that was dipped in sugar.
Kuromon Market - A seafood market that also has restaurants, groceries and other stalls. We went here a few times for lunch: 1) with our walking tour where we got Kobe beef on a stick which was outstanding; 2) we paid way too much for giant grilled lobster and massive crab but then had good sweet potato chips; 3) had the very large, crunchy and not very tasty seafood cracker but then had some yummy gyoza, fried chicken and melon pan bread with ice cream.
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| Kuromon Market |
Bar Simon - We went to this very small (9 seat) bar located on the second floor of a building. It was dark but very cute and the owner makes drinks for you based on describing what you like - there is no menu. We had a gin cocktail that he made and then a gin and tonic trying two different Japenese gins. The cocktails were good and pretty reasonable price.
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| Bar Simon |
Matusakagyu Yakiniku Yokocho Branch - We booked this place known for having delicious beef that you cook yourself table side. We were worried it would be a bit kitschy when we arrived and it was but it also was very tasty. We got a beef sampler for two along with a few veggies and garlic rice.
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| Matusakagyu Yakinuki Yokocho Branch |
Namba Okonomiyaki Ajinoya Honten - We said we would not wait in line for any restaurant and then we did. We had lunch at this Bib Gourmand place that specializes in okonomiyaki (savory pancakes with cabbage) and yakisoba (stir fried noodles). We had to wait about 30 minutes and our order was placed while in line but once we sat down, our food came pretty quickly. We sat at the counter to watch the action. We tried the Ajinoya's mixed okonomiyaki (had squid, octopus, pork, minced meat and shrimp) and the mixed yakisoba with fried egg (had squid, octopus, shrimp, beef and pork). They were both delicious!
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| Namba Okonomiyaki Ajinoya Honten |
Hughes Pizza - We stopped to grab a slice of pizza at this place near the housing museum. The area was quite cute with lots of cafes. The owner was super nice and the pizza was also good.
Kashiwaya Osaka Senriyama - Our splurge restaurant for this leg of the trip, we had dinner at this Michelin three star place that serves kaiseki dishes. We took the metro plus a 10 minute walk to get here. Every table is a private room. We were offered a wine pairing to go with the 12 courses but since most of the pairings were sake we passed on that. Instead, we had a couple of bottles of French Chablis. The meal included courses like fish, veggies, and soup. We even ate a whole fish (head and all) - thankfully it was small and fried. Overall, it was a great experience, but we'd say it was not the most flavorful (more delicate than flavorful) so maybe not quite as much our style.
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| Kashiwaya Osaka Senriyama |
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