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.
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.
