First things first. Unless you don't mind spending ¥15,000 (US$200) on a taxi ride (- it was more than my one-way airfare to Osaka), then take the shuttle bus or train to the city.
I already had a niggling feeling when I saw that there were no queues for the taxis and, just as our cab was pulling away from the curb, Chelu glimpsed a sign on the post that indicated ¥16,000 on it. The rest was in Nihonggo so Ana pooh-poohed it, thinking, "No way. It can't possibly cost that much."
Nicolas pointed out that the flag down fare was already ¥600 - where it stayed for a while, and then Chelu joked that maybe, when it did start ticking, it would go tickatickatickatick. Prophetically, that's just what it did. As the meter energetically ticked away, panic set in. How exactly does one get off a highway?! Was there a train station we could get to? Ana asked, "Why am I seeing all these signs for Osaka? Does this mean we aren't in Osaka yet?!"
Not that we had any plans of going to Universal Studios but, after that cab ride, we didn't have to. That was possibly the most heart-stopping (and most expensive) ride ever. Nippon e youkoso! Welcome to Japan!
Final meter reading. Ana was right. It wasn't ¥16000. But it was close. (Photo c/o Ana Marques.)
The light at the end of the proverbial tunnel was that our hotel couldn't have been at a better location. It was right next to the Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade and just a few blocks from Dontonbori, Osaka's Times Square.
If you're not into big, hotel chains and don't mind tiny, boutique hotels, I totally recommend Villa Fontaine. The rooms are Lilliputian but that was to be expected and I've stayed in smaller rooms in New York and Europe. Despite its size, I found the room comfortable. The bathroom was well appointed and, although there was no WiFi in the room, a LAN connection was available. I may also have been the only one who enjoyed the complimentary breakfast (- Japanese rice and meatballs! Yum!) because our subsequent mornings involved brisk walking more than a few blocks for Sausage McMuffins.
After freshening up (- there wasn't much unpacking we could do after all), we walked to Dontonbori. Most of the restaurants and shops were already closing for the night. We walked into the first restaurant with plastic sushi displays that was still open, and ordered like we had been starved all our lives.
Dotonbori.
When in Rome, right? And, as it would most fortuitously turn out to be, when in Osaka, the thing to do is kuidaore, or "to ruin oneself with extravagance for food and drink". Who were we to challenge such wisdom? Eat and drink, we did. With much extravagance, to the alarm of most of our servers.
Of course, being the crappy blogger that I am, we devoured the entire meal before it even occurred to me take have a picture taken.
The aftermath of empty plates. My BFFs, Ana And Chelu Marques on the left. And caught cigarette-handed on the right are my boyfriend, Nicolas Rambeau, and me. Loved it that we could smoke almost anywhere in Osaka. (Photo c/o Ana Marques.)
That was the probably the best uni sashimi and unagi sushi we had ever had. First of all, the uni (sea urchin) was a nice, bright orange color (and not the dull greenish brown that they have in Manila), and the unagi (eel) wasn't overly marinated. The flavors were light and delicate and so incredibly lovely that we had to order some more.
The next day, we got a subway day-pass that included tickets to Kaiyukan, the Osaka Aquarium. At¥2,400 per person, with admission to the aquarium at ¥2,000, it was well worth it.
We got to the Tempozan Ferris Wheel first, which is right next to the aquarium. The wheel has a height of 112.5 meters and a diameter of 100 meters. It seems that the Japanese have a thing for giant ferris wheels (there are two in Tokyo and one in Fukuoka). Ana and I don't.
I discovered my fear of ferris wheels on a trip to Enchanted Kingdom with Ana's then boyfriend and now husband, Chelu. We had done all the scary rides - the roller coaster, the Galleon ship - and I didn't even think twice about getting on the ferris wheel. Until it started to move. And sway. And Chelu pretended to unloose the screws (complete with squeaky-squeaky sound effects). I freaked out. (Oddly enough, Ana had a similar experience with Chelu at the same place at another time.)
Tempozan Ferris Wheel. (Photo c/o Ana Marques.)
Anyway, Ana and I refused to get into the ferris wheel and let our men have their romantic moment while we smoked and I shot basketballs into a hoop in an arcade. The ride took only 15 minutes and, afterwards, we ever-so-slightly regretted not having joined the boys since the compartment was air-conditioned and, according to Chelu, was so stable that there was no way we could have gotten scared in there.
We still didn't think we missed out though as, after the aquarium (which we thought was top-notch and thoroughly enjoyed), we went to the Umeda Sky Building for better views of the city. (Admission to the "Floating Garden" was ¥700, same as the Tempozan Ferris Wheel.)
For those planning a trip to Osaka, I would recommend going to Umeda on a Sunday to do the following:
- Floating Garden Observatory at the Umeda Sky Building - For great views of the city. It isn't really a garden, okay?
- Yodobashi - If you intend to go shopping for electronics.
- Gyoza stadium - Although this was on our itinerary, we never made it there. It is only open on Sundays, from 11 AM to 11 PM.
We had lunch instead at the Takim-Koji Gourmet Street, the food court of the Umeda Sky Building, which is supposed to be a replica of downtown streets during the Showa period. As usual, we got there just as most of the restaurants were closing and ended up having a rather forgettable meal that barely quelled our hunger.
We made up for it in the evening. On the lookout for kurobuta (the black Berkshire pig that the British royalty gifted to the Japanese in the 19th century), the hotel's "concierge" pointed us to a restaurant and, for the first time, we were glad that we had turned up late again and were turned away. We had spotted a wagyu place nearby that was open till late and happily backtracked to it.
On this trip, we found most Osakans to be unyielding, doing everything by the book. At lunch, when we tried ordering fried rice, we weren't allowed to have it because our meal only came with regular rice. (If we wanted fried rice, we had to order the meal that specifically came with it. No substitutions allowed.) Late check-out? Forget it, unless we didn't mind paying a surcharge. In this case, however, we were only too happy to have been turned away because last orders had already been called, even though we still had a good half hour before the restaurant's closing time. If they had yielded and allowed us to have dinner there, we never would have discovered this place:
It doesn't have an English name or an English menu (apart from the words "ribs", "roin" and "entrails"). It has several locations and is open from 5 PM to midnight or 1 AM. Its website is http://itamaeyakinikuitto.com/ and one of the phone numbers you can call for more info is +81-6-6659-8618.
Not only did they serve wagyu, they had kurobuta too! Their logos were a bull and a sow! It turned out to be the best meal we would have in Osaka.
I don't know how we managed to walk past this beautiful sight and not stop. Well, we did do a double-take...
Kurobuta roasting on an open fire...
We had one order of bacon, three orders of kurobuta, two orders of beef ribs, one order of sirloin steak and one order of tenderloin. Of course, we had the token order of salad (a waste of space). Nicolas had a glass of red wine while Ana and I had two large glasses of flavored sake and Chelu shared with us two bottles of this wicked, cold sake:
At one point, we had three servers standing over us as I think they didn't quite know what to make of our frenzied ordering and eating.
All in all, the bill came out to ¥21,150 (US$275 or P11,600). Divided by four, that was about P2,900 for each of us. For that quality and quantity of meat, that was a steal!
Fully satisfied, we went looking for one of the Sam & Dave bars scattered around the city. We found Sam & Dave 2 around Shinsaibashi. It was hip-hop/reggae night. Groan. Fine, we said, we'd have one drink. That infamous one drink...
We were early and the place was almost empty, save for one guy soused on tequila, dancing alone by the stage. Ana and I held court by the bar, entertained by the engaging bartender, Kiro, while Nicolas and Chelu nursed their drinks on lounge chairs at the far end of the room.
We started out with Zanpa, an Osakan shochu. Kiro warned us that one glass would leave us legless. We warned him that we could drink. I had TWO glasses of Zanpa, a shot of tequila (c/o one of the guys at the bar) and I forget how many shots of Jägermeisters.
Kiro entertained us well.
By the time I was getting into the music and was about to request for The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight", the bar had steadily filled up and Greg, the American bartender, told me that the reggae dance-off was about to start.
Ohmigosh. There is something so wrong in putting the words "reggae" and "dance-off" together. What in the devil's name could it possibly be? Would it be a battle for who hosts the most varied and rare species of head lice in their hair? Or was it a battle for the least baths taken in one's lifetime? This we had to see.
It turned out to be more of a Three Stooges kind of hip-hop dance-off really. And, according to Kiro, these were the best dancers in Japan. Hokay...
But Ana and I had a blast, taking photos of the bar's colorful patrons. Even on our way home, everyone we met gamely obliged us with photos.
Surprisingly, the next day, I was the least hungover among us four. We took it easy. I worked out in the room and wrote a blog entry while Nicolas slept, and Ana and Chelu went shopping.
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