Day 12 - Shopping (and Nomming) in Osaka

Clearly Lauren was very excited we had almost reach our AirBnB

On day 12, Lauren, Devin, Neil and myself split from the rest of the group, who wanted to sleep in a little. We spent the first part of the morning taking a quick train ride over to Osaka from Kyoto, which only takes about 45 minutes. We all headed to our AirBnB, a nice house in a really cool bar and restaurant neighborhood of Osaka and got settled in before Lauren and I heading out to grab some ramen for lunch.

The sign outside Ramen Zundoya

Lauren had done a fair bit of research on the best ramen in Osaka and took me to a ramen bar called Zundoya, who are apparently famous for their tonkotsu ramen. We both ordered using the automated kiosk outside, with Lauren getting the standard Tonkotsu, while I got the Spicy Tonkotsu and an order of gyoza to share. The ramen came out about 5 minutes later and was piping hot as expected. Upon first tasting the broth, we were both impressed by the deep pork flavor, though found an unexpected nutty aftertaste that had a faint hint of scallops. The soup itself was very thick and milky, indicating a lot of emulsified fat, while the chashu was extremely tender and flavorful. Both bowls included standard hakata style noodles, a soft boiled egg, and the standard accompaniments of bamboo shoots, mushrooms and green onions.

We both enjoyed our meal, but left feeling rather heavy so we decided to go for a walk through Osaka's Ebisu-bashi Suji, a massive shopping complex that straddles the river and is adjacent to Dotonbori, Osaka's famed food district. We stopped at a famous cheesecake shop called Pablo, which Lauren had wanted to visit, where Lauren and I both got a cheesecake tart, and she also tried their cheesecake softserve, which was delicious.

The busy lights of the buildings near Ebisu-bashi Suji.

We wandered around looking at the shops for a few hours before becoming footsore and stopping at a McDonalds where we could sit and drink some iced tea. After we wrapped up our drinks, Neil and Devin were ready to meet up, so we walked around exploring the shops some more, stopping by a drug store for Lauren to get some contact solution (more on that later) and for Neil and Devin to buy some souvenir snacks. Around 5PM, Neil, Devin and I spit up with Lauren, who planned to have Kushikatsu at Ueshima with Dan and Chelle.

Our Kobe Beef burger

Devin and Neil posing on the cow chair outside the burger joint

We decided to explore the Dotonbori area on foot, and ended up accidentally walking through the red light district where we saw many love hotels and other interesting establishments. We ended up stopping at a little outdoor stand where they were serving Kobe Beef Burgers, and the three of us couldn't resist sharing one for the price of 1000 Yen. The burger was juicy and delicious, and we all felt like it was money well spent. We proceeded from there to walk back towards the main road, where we explored a Don Quijote, one of Japans' most eclectic stores. The first floor is entirely snacks and candy, so we had a great time picking up some souvenirs for our friends, before exploring the rest of the store to see what else they had for sale. Neil purchased a "banana brella", which is an umbrella with a lid that makes it look like a giant banana, and I purchased a "nose mint" which is a vial of peppermint oil you can discretely twist to open and sniff when offensive odors are nearby.

Winn, Steve and I all enjoyed some Kobe beef Teppanyaki

As we wrapped up our exploration of Don Quijote, Winn and Steve let us know they were nearby, so we met outside to go look for a place to have dinner. The group walked around a while rather aimlessly, but we eventually decided to go back to where we had eaten our Kobe Beef Burger, as the restaurant behind it, Steak Sakura was on Lauren's list as a great place to eat. The five of us had a great meal, with Winn, Steve and myself having a small teppanyaki (cooked on a flat top) steak, while Neil had some kobe beef sushi and split a fried rice with Devin who ordered a Kobe beef salad.

Before heading back to the AirBnB, Dan and I had to get a picture together with Lord Kobe

After our meal, Dan, Chelle and Lauren were ready to meet up, so we all took the subway back to our AirBnB, where the group sat, talked and drank, enjoying our last night together before folks began to head back to the US. Winn and Steve said goodbye, and headed off to their hotel, followed by Dan and Chelle, who we would see again the next day. Neil, Devin, Lauren and I packed up and prepped for bed, but not before Neil managed to accidentally start a load of laundry with drain cleaner instead of laundry detergent.

I'm sad to report that despite our best efforts at resuscitation, Neil's favorite jeans were damaged beyond repair. Luckily the rest of the clothing was fine, though we had to run an empty load to make sure the machine was clear. We all headed to bed and slept soundly, though we were waking up the next morning to say goodbye to Neil who was headed back to Tokyo and then home.