One Night in Osaka

In August, I went to Japan twice. My first trip, I dragged a long a co-worker (we worked for Air Canada so flights were cheap for us) for a one night trip. It was kind of a jackass thing to to, to fly from Vancouver to Osaka, and to come back the next day, all for no particular reason, but it makes for a great drinking story. Plus we both got upgraded to business class, but I won't bore you with anymore business class meal pictures.

My friend did not take well to the hot Japanese summer, and let me tell you, it was hot, not to mention the humidity. This picture is priceless. Why would they do that??? In Vancouver, our summers are pretty mild compared to ones in Osaka, and it made no sense to me why they would have a train that was only mildy air conditioned. We were wearing shorts and t-shirts, and we were dying. There were salary men standing around in suits, barely breaking a sweat. It was outrageous.

What is Osaka famous for, food-wise? Takoyaki of course! Apparently, this is is one of the most famous shops in Osaka.











You have two or three poor saps sweating over the grills on a hot summer day in Osaka, no AC, or visible fans anywhere. It must have been murder.










15 squid balls for 750 yen, which really isn't too bad at all.












After drowning the freshly grilled takoyaki in takoyaki sauce and mayo, it's sprinkled with some seasoning....











...add some katsuoboshi flakes and you're ready to rock and roll.

Dohtonbori, Plant 5, Cakes and Crab

I went to this place where you cook your own okonomiyaki and yaki soba. A nice, noisy little place in the countryside. I'd go there again. Yakisoba, do-it-yourself

Okonomiyaki do-it-yourself

Doesn't look like much now.....

Some people call it Japanese Pizza, but it's not. Japanese have their own style of pizza and I've got some shots of that further down this post.

This place is called Super Center Plant 5. This place is huge, and it puts Costco and Walmart to shame. They sold just about everything except cars. The row of cashiers is endless:

And they had Japanese style pizza. Japanese mayonaise, corn, and some kind of meatball or sausage. It was a great combination. I found myself dumping corn and Japanese mayo on my pizza's after I came back to Canada.Also available at Plant 5 was an assortment korroke, kaki-fry, zaru soba, etc.

I think this was ebi-chilli....

The biggest deep-fried oysters I have ever eaten. These things were massive....and cheap. I think they cost $1 CAD each. Zaru soba

Fresh crab from the seaside market. They didn't need any seasoning, quite delicious on their own.

These deserts were made to look like makurokurosuke from the anime Totoro. More deserts

The crab and the deserts all look very yummy, and believe me, they all tasted great, but it might not have been such a good idea to eat them all in one sitting. I'm not sure if it was the crab, or the combination of crab followed by all those deserts, but I found myself puking my guts out the next day.

This is a picture of a little souvenir I found at one of the local hobby shops. I actually have a rice cooker that looks just like that!