May 27 - May 29

05/27/2013 - the long flight - Travel Day

Today's the day.    Headed off to western Japan for several weeks.   Never been before but wanted to have an adventure and I do really like Japanese cuisine, so a big part of the trip is going to be eating.

Because its such a long trip in terms of airplane travel time I am also doing something that I have rarely done in the past -- going Business First/First Class as far as the airlines are concerned.    The flight from Kona to Honolulu is only about 45 minutes but after a roughly 2 hour layover its going to be over 9 hours in the air before landing in Kansai (KIX) Osaka International Airport. 

Headed to the airport with a little help from good neighbor (Thanks Sonja!) but still have to get my boarding pass at the counter.    Hawaiian web site wouldn't let me check in or print a boarding pass in advance, with the web site claiming that because they didn't see a return ticket (I'm on united coming back) that they could not let me check in without seeing an agent at the counter.   After many phone calls to try and resolve this in advance (mostly getting the "B" crew of their call center on a holiday weekend) I was finally told that no, this wasn't the problem, but that all international flights require check in at the airport. 

Good news!   Easy counter check in -- got both boarding passes (KOA-HNL and HNL-KIX).

Also a "code" to get me into the "first class lounge" at KOA.    Turns out they have a nice little

air conditioned room with free coffee and sodas for first class.       See picture below:

It was nice waiting in air conditioned environs -- KOA is a nice airport (small regional) but it can get hot and humid outside.    Boarding this way was great -- I was in "1A" and was literally the first onto the plane.    Minor "oops" in that "1A" has no overhead or under the chair storage (no chair in front of "1") but no big deal and my next (long) flight I won't have this issue as I'm in "3F".

Made it to HNL and walked over to the international gate.    Asked a gate person if there was a first class waiting room and was told it was in a different building, so skipped on this experience.

Had a burger at Gorden Birch Brewery for lunch.

While waiting for the KIX flight I noticed one of the "pilots" in the waiting area.     He looked ready to fly!

Didn't get to Board as the very first passenger (a few pre-boards of folks with disabilities went first) but it was very close to that.   Also had a "private door" just for first class/business first.   Very nice!

Chairs were big and had their own TV's as an arm pop out.   Also leg/foot rests.    Turns out the TVs also have free movies (watched 3 on the flight)

Was immediately offered free beverage by stewardess -- just had some POG but booze was available.

Took off on time and shortly after take off was provided a crab pressed sushi or something similar.  Quite flavorful.   Came with chopsticks and metal silverware!   Wow!  First class.

Also provided a menu of what we'd be served for the rest of the flight.   Went with the chicken, which ended up being stuffed Thai chicken wings.      Food was very good and, unfortunately, so much that I got pretty full.   But no complaints!

Flight was long but without incident -- we actually had enough head or tail winds that we landed early -- total flight time more like 8h30m vs 9h5m.

05/28/2013 - first actual "Night" in Osaka

Having crossed the "international date line" during the flight we really landed around 5:30pm local time ( lost a day there! ).    Made it through the airport past "quarantine" and got fingerprinted and photoed by immigration/customs control, then past a quick inspection out of the control area.    Asked the "info" booth person where the Nankai train was and a quick walk later I spotted the Nankai vending machines and ticket counter.

Opted to ask (vs machine) and got a ticket for around $11-$12 US on the Nankai "Rapi:t" train which runs from the airport past a number of stations to end up at Namba Station.    Easy train ride, a lot like BART.    The trains are very clean!   Here's a picture of what it looked like.    Seats are assigned, but I was somewhat zoned from my travel that by the time I made it onto the right train and into the right car I glanced at my ticket and picked the biggest number (happened to be the "date" vs the seat number!).   Fortunately, no one noticed as it was a pretty empty train so I didn't have to demonstrate that I was a clueless tourist right away.

As it was still light out I got a lot of time to look out the window -- again, a lot like riding BART.   Lots of city, houses more vertical than the US.   Roofs were tiled with a different look than I'm used to.   But lots of signage in both Kanji and English and lots of "name brands" (ugh-- spotted a McD's!).

Got to the station and spent a little time trying to figure out if I was supposed to exit North or South side of the building for my short 5 minute walk to the hotel.   Eventually just picked north and as I was exiting the station asked a uniformed policeman (or I think thats what the uniform was).   Easy to say "Dotonbori" and he pointed me on my way.

It was raining lightly, but there were lots of people walking around.   Despite the "lots" it was pretty quiet compared to the hustle/bustle of a big city in the US.

During the walk from Namba Station to Dotonbori Street (and Dotonbori Hotel) I got a great view of

nightlife (very crowded, but quiet) and LOTS of yummy looking food vendors and restaurants along the way.   Spotted several Takoyaki vendors as well as Okonomiyaki vendors along with many others.

Also desserts!   Oh my, I'm going to get fat!

Anyway, was getting close but still not certain, so asked another police guy for "Dotonbori Street".

Of course when I asked I was actually on the street and he looked at me like the barbarian tourist that

I was and pointed up at the big neon sign, clearly saying Dotonobori.    He pointed me on my way.

They must have a lot of that!

Made it to the hotel -- knew I was there because of the "evil munchkins from hell" that another person described the 4 statues in front of the hotel as.   

Checked in without too much trouble -- my pocket mifi package was waiting for me as well, so Internet  service and phone should be okay for the rest of the trip.   The hotel does have hardwired service, but I wanted got a pocket mifi so that I could walk around with my own internet. 

Time to head out/back to Dotonbori street and, even though I'm not super hungry because of the actual good plane food (first class makes a different!) I wanted to jump right in.

Hit my first Takoyaki stand for a "to go" order of 6 takoyaki.    I actually went back to take a picture the next night, so the photo is "fudged" but here is it.   VERY yummy sauce (though I had them use less mayo -- they asked in broken english):

So I wolfed down 6 takoyaki and walked around for about 30 minutes taking in the people and the sites.   Amazing!   Wished I were more hungry!!    Very 'big city' -- felt like downtown Denver LODO area (restaurants, bars, etc).

Decided I couldn't eat a major meal, BUT did spot a Gyozo place which was serving pork and veggie gyoza (a 6 pack) for about $2.30US.    Went upstairs and ate them -- yumm!!!.    By the way, it was "easy" to spot that this was a gyoza place by the "large" gyozo just above the restaurant -- see photo below:

After that I was pretty full, but I kept walking around until I was "captured" by the dessert window.

A combo of soft vanilla ice cream, green tea ice cream, sweet beans, some type of gelitan or seaweed based cube and a mint leaf.   Really yummy!!   Cost more than the Gyoza though -- $5.20 US roughly.

Honestly, I was rather controlled -- I got the 2nd one from the right on the top and there were clearly some much larger items I could have selected!!!

Anyway, that was enough -- headed back to the hotel where I got the pocket mifi working and went to sleep.

05/29/2013 - First "Day" in Osaka -  walking, eating and Osaka-jo (Osaka Castle) [then walking, eating and spa-ing and eating some more!]

Woke up early and headed downstairs to try the breakfast buffet that was included with my hotel accommodations.   Not super high end, but lots of variety and all of good quality.   I had a breakfast of some scrambled eggs (they add something to the eggs as the color and mix had other items in it, but still good), some apple juice, some noodles (think spaghetti with a little meat mixed in), some stir fried meat and snap peas, some very good baked salmon, a bowl of what I thought was cereals of a healthy note (looked like special-K and bran which I mixed, but turned out to be something like special K and chocolate sweet things -- sorry Phil, I tried and they had no granola!)    They did have some leachy fruit and kiwi which I liked though.    

Wasn't sure what might be open (Dotonbori is clearly a lunch-to-2am type of place), but took a nice walk around the area.    Lots of high end stores (shopping), labels (Nike, New Balance, Disney, Louis something or other clothing, etc).    Of course I quickly spotted the really important store (I wasn't looking!) -- here it is:

This part of town also has some very weird "themed" places (restaurants, coffee shops and bars).   Here's one of the odd things I found on my morning walk (fortunately it was daytime so I was in no "danger" -- honestly its all very safe even at night, but you'll get my drift from the photo:

So I strolled around for a while then headed back to the hotel.   Since lunch was so far away I thought I'd try the adventure of navigating to Osaka-Jo (Osaka Castle), a major tourist attraction.   The "most direct" route involved a subway ride, but not being very clueful I walked a really long way around to find the subway.   Using apple's map app didn't work very well (not because I'm in Japan, because they stopped using google).   But my google map app didn't have great locate as to where I was, so between the two I had "technical" difficulties and ended up walking around for about a mile before I resolved my troubles.    I got a little help from the station attendant in which subway line, how much and how many stops to take (his broken english and my almost non-existant japanese still made it work though).

Here's an example picture of the subway -- again, very clean compared to the US.

So I made it to "Osaka Business Park" station and walked outside.   A little more green than Dotonbori and its neighboring areas, but still lots of big business towers and the like.   Asked a nice older gentleman who spoke almost no english, but understood my poorly pronounced "Osaka-Jo" and quickly navigated the one block up and one block over to get to the park area where the castle grounds begin.   

Before you get to the castle there is a auditorium hall (or so I gather -- they were setting up for a concert).    Even it is quite large. 

And near the fountain in the square approaching it (on the way to restrooms) there are three "ladies" (at least I think they were ladies) guarding the area:

It takes a long time to get to the castle -- lots of park and moats and the like...  But very big and very pretty.  Here are multiple photos as I approached the castle itself:

Inside are 8 floors which have been converted into a museum.   There were lots of signs saying no photos allowed, yet lots of people taking photos.   Go figure.   I was "good" and didn't take any inside shots, but there was an outside balcony on the top floor which I took a few shots from:

When I left I stopped and asked some locals to take a vanity picture of me in front of what I hope my "renovated" condo in hawaii will look like:

There were also some small gardens right next to the main plaza which another local shot with me in frame:

Headed back to the hotel for a rest and a recharge of the cell phone followed by heading out to lunch at an Unagi (eel) restaurant.    Good news it was 2 blocks away from the hotel, but better news is that I asked at the front desk and found out that there is an entire underground shopping strip where its located -- otherwise I would have never found the place.   As it was I had to ask the vendor who was right next door to the place, who looked at me like I was "challenged" (well, I guess I am!) and walked me around the corner of her booth to the restaurant.   I had a wonderful eel lunch.   Here's their "window" items and then the lunch I had:

And what I had for lunch:

Yum yum!  I love eel (and the miso and pickled veggies were good too!)

After lunch I strolled around the food section of Namba Walk (this underground mall where the restaurant lives).    I bought a few cookies from a nice vendor to eat later (really!  Self control!!)

There was also a pastry/bread vendor (I didn't buy anything from) but it was an interesting concept.  They had posted times they baked things and you got a platter (tray) and walked around and loaded up with the things you wanted -- almost buffet style.  Then they added them up or weighed them (I couldn't tell) and you bought what you wanted.     Photo of some of the yummyness I passed on (as least so far -- might walk back tomorrow)

I went back to the hotel and took a well earned nap!       Woke up and asked at front desk for suggestions for Sushi for dinner.   Ended up going to Sushi Zanmai.    Funny as there is place with the same name in Boulder (but i don't think they're related -- but who knows).    The chef there was not english speaking or all the friendly, but the food was quite good.   I got some hamachi, some saba, some unagi, and some ahi belly.   Yum!

That was a light meal, but I decided that with all this walking that I needed a soak.    So I again navigated the subway system (much better job this time!   No mile walking!!) and headed to "Spaworld" which is a multifloor onsen here in Osaka.    On the subway I noticed signage that I liked

(but maybe there is a language translation problem -- was that a suggestion?)

This month (May) men get to use the "Asian Onsen" themed floor and next month (June) the men get to use the "European" onsen themed floor.

Here is a picture walking up the steps to this very large building -- but first,  look who I found!

Of course the only message I got was "私は食べています私を気にしないでください"

which is Kanji for "Don't bother me I am eating!"

Sadly, no photos inside of course (though I guess I could have taken a shot in the lobby).   As Onsen's are entirely without cloths this does make some sense.    The web site is www.spaworld.co.jp/english 

for those interested.    They have a very organized system.   Pay to get in ($10 roughly) and they give you a wrist band which tracks your time there in case you owe more ($10 is good for something like 3 hours, upcharge if you stay longer).   There are then lockers and the like (store shoes in a 100 yen locker (coin worth about $1), go upstairs, store cloths in another different locker.   Go "clean" yourself (they make you walk through a people carwash first, then you have to sit on a little chair and hose yourself down, clean with shampoo, etc, then wash off entirely before entering the multiple-themed hot and cold pool areas.    Once in though its very nice -- different temperatures and waters, very mellow.  REALLY felt good on the feet that had been walking all day!

Once done with that I headed back to Dotombori.   I stopped and had dessert again at the same place

(same dessert as last night -- what can I say, it was REALLY good.   Specific picture below:

On the way back to the hotel I took more pictures and videos of Dotonbori.    Its quite the amusing zone of very polite vendors trying to get you into their restaurants, themed animated items, etc.

Some of these photos are from earlier in the day, others from this night walk.

Check out the video as it gives you a real sense of the "flavor" of the street at night.

Holy Flying Cow Batman:

And the crab (watch video to see it move!)

Which doesn't compare to the neighbors who have a dragon (but the dragon doesn't move -- at least not so far!)

The place I had dinner has this weird drum/bell ringing clown in front of it.   A certain sister of mine might remember the basement "pook" that I was so scared of thanks to the trauma she put me through trying to convince me that there were "spooks" in the basement!    Clowns of this nature still worry me!  This one is no exception:

And here's a video of the people and activity on the street, just to give one a "feel" for the barkers (polite though they are) and the "energy" of the place:

And the night wouldn't be complete without a great video of Takoyaki being made:

That's all for tonight!   Going back to Hotel Dotonbori to rest and prepare for another day of

fun tomorrow!