Osaka: Indulging our Senses in Good Company

There’s a saying in Osaka, that you can “eat yourself into ruin”, because there are so many good restaurants. We had some outstanding meals during our 5 days here. We ate okonomyaki at a hole-in-the-wall place called Kiji.



The owner was very friendly and offered to cook us something special.



We ate every bit of these savory pancakes. On the left is chicken and on the right is bacon.



After we ate we went up to the Floating Observatory in the Umeda Sky Building where we looked out over the city.





This photo was taken at ground level looking up at the Sky Building.



We visited Ryonkuchi park and saw this windmill surrounded by flowers.



We went to the botanical gardens while we were there too. Here are a carnivorous pitcher plant and a blue poppy.





We celebrated Pete’s birthday (early) with a crab lunch at Kanidoraku Honten.



While it looks touristy on the outside, the quality of the crab was great.


 

This is king and snow crab sashimi.

 

In addition to crab tempura, deep fried crab and grilled crab, we also tried crab guts. They taste like the sea.



Here’s the birthday card Patty and Bill gave to Pete.



And here’s the birthday boy enjoying his namabiru, Japanese draft beer.



It was nice to finish our rich meal with a clear fish broth. All the plates and bowls had a crab motif like this one.



To shake down we walked around Dotonburi, an area in Osaka known for great restaurants. It felt very lively, with lots of people out walking.







We visited the Osaka Aquarium, Kaiyukan, which has an incredible 30 foot deep Pacific ocean tank. It's home to many fish, rays and sharks, like this eagle ray.



The big tank is in the center of the building and visitors walk down from floors six to two, so we had many opportunities to see the fish. These are whale sharks. They are the largest fish in the world. The average length of a whale shark is 30 feet long, but we think the fish here are between 20-25 feet long.





Kaikyukan has an enormous variety of fish.



We also saw otters, seals, dolphin and penguins. This is an Erect-crested penguin.



And the jellies exhibit was cool too.



We really like Osaka and have seem some interesting modern architecture, like the Osaka Station building.



We are so happy that our friend Ken from Oakland has joined us! We all went to Himeji Castle, which is the largest castle in Japan.





There are a lot of impressive stone walls and wooden buildings at Himeji.





Himeji Castle is also called Egret Castle, because it is thought to look like an egret taking flight. The egret image is used throughout the city of Himeji, including these beautiful sidewalk service covers.



Next to the castle are the Koko-en gardens.





Built in 1993, the gardens include lovely ponds and waterfalls.







It was Ken’s suggestion to visit the Himeji Museum of Literature.



The architect, Tadao Ando, tied the two buildings together through interconnecting waterfalls and pools.





Here we are at our final dinner together in Japan.



We enjoyed barbequed fish and vegetables



and sake with a picture of Himeji Castle on the label.



We are so glad we traveled with Patty and Bill in this amazing country! Next Kristina, Pete, and Ken go to Kyushu Island for cycling.

Kyoto to Shirahama: Temples to Sea in Good Company

We celebrated Patty and Bill's 6th anniversary (belatedly) with a kaiseki lunch at Roan Kikunoi.



We liked sitting at the counter so we could watch them prepare the food. The chef is cutting sea bream fish.



Kaiseki cuisine was created to stimulate the senses, with beauty, fragrance and texture all being important attributes of the food, along with seasonality. This sushi course was served with the “bird cage” in the upper left enclosing the plate of fish. If you look closely, you’ll see matcha noodles shaped like pine needles as a garnish.



 Many cooks were needed to create the elaborate dishes.



This course included miso soup, pickles and rice cooked with mushrooms, chestnuts and chicken.



We’ve all been pretty adventurous eaters on this trip. Another day we tried tonkatsu for dinner, which is fried pork. Even though it was well-prepared and tasty, we found it a bit heavy.



Patty surprised us all with her enthusiasm for Japanese beer. Of course, we knew Bill, Pete and Kristina were enthusiasts.



The delicious ramen at Ippudo reminded us of the movie Tampopo, with its quest for the perfect bowl of ramen. As we ate, we encouraged Patty and Bill to open an Ippudo franchise in San Diego!



This is the outside of Sanjusangendo, the longest wooden building in the world at 387 feet. At New Year’s they hold an archery contest here, with contestants shooting arrows the length of the building to a target.



Inside are 1,001 statues of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion.



At Koryu-ji temple we saw this beautiful 8th century wooden statue of Maitrya, the future Buddha.



We spent a day in the Arashiyama district. Behind Kristina and Patty is the Oi River.



We took a short boat ride up the river, enjoying the scenery.







We climbed up to Arashiyama Park. These macaque monkeys ate pieces of bananas and sweet potatoes from our hands.





We liked this painting of Bodhidharma at Tenryu-ji.



Here is Pete making his best devil face.



The strolling gardens at Tenryu-ji were lovely.





And they backed up to bamboo forest.



We continued our late morning ritual of eating ice cream cones. Here Bill licks his lips anticipating his Oreo Cookies in Vanilla.



We also continued to celebrate happy hour on Patty and Bill’s balcony. One afternoon Pete fried up some peppers, the green dish at the front – yum!





We really enjoyed our time at our Kyoto apartment hotel. Here the four of us are pictured with our guide Ichino.



We hired Inchino to take us to Nijo Jinya, a 17th century inn. While it looks like a simple two story building, the interior is filled with secret passageways and eavesdropping hideouts!



We booked our train tickets ahead and walked around the huge Kyoto train station.



We traveled by train to Shirahama. Boy, do we have a lot of stuff!



Patty had suggested we include Shirahama on our trip together because she had seen photos of the Engetsu islet with its beautiful arch. It turned out to be a great suggestion.





We were enthused to stay at a hotel with hot springs spa, and we did plenty of soaking. We wore our yukatas whenever we were at the hotel.



Happy hour is even more fun when wearing our yukatas!



We spent three days relaxing and enjoying the natural beauty. We delighted in swimming in this beautiful bay.



We hiked out on sandstone rock formations called Senjojiki, which is said to resemble 1,000 tatami mats.



These cliffs are named Sandanbeki.



Below the cliffs is a huge cave that we took an elevator down into.



Bill looks menacing in Japanese samurai armor.



Inside the cave is Shiofuki rock, which is known for spouting like a whale’s blowhole.



The cave walls behind Pete were incredibly colorful.



This chirashi sashimi dish was delicious, especially the scallops. We noticed that the table next to us had ordered a hot pot that looked fantastic.



We decided to come back the next night for our final dinner in Shirahama.



Bill treated us to dinner. Pete cooked the fish and vegetables in fish stock. The smells were tantalizing.







We each ate many bowls, savoring the leeks, mushrooms and cabbage with the fish. Here you see it’s topped with scallions, gingered daikon and ponzu sauce.



Patty continued to show her enthusiasm for Japanese draft beer.



It was a beautiful full moon while we were in Shirahama. Next we head to Osaka for the last leg of our trip with Patty and Bill.