I would like to say we rose early for the train ride to Osaka, but we didn't, finally catching the train around 1030 we arrived shortly after 11 and found ourselves having to navigate the Osaka subway system where almost everything is written in Japanese only. A few games of charades and an extremely fortunate encounter with a ticket assistant who spoke a little English (we would not have worked out that you needed to add money before choosing where you wanted to go) and we were on our way. We were keen to head to Osaka aquarium, reputed for it's central tank that houses sharks, including a whale shark. A few stops later and feeling rather pleased with ourselves, we were there. A strange integration of aquarium, mall, ferris wheel and port, nonetheless, functional and pleasing to the eye.
The aquarium itself is impressive, the photos tell it all. The building is tall and as I later found out, it took 1.5 years of the world supply of acrylic to build all the tanks....a statistic I found hard to believe but it was written on the wall so I thought I would share it with you.....however you look at it, it is an impressive feet of engineering to build a shark tank 4 stories (9m) high and easily the footprint a decent sized building.
Post aquarium we opted for some traditional mall food, at least to see what it offered. Here we had a pretty unique experience, and again one where you make your meal yourself. Essentially you can eat as much as you like (I liked the sound of it already), however, unbeknownst to us, there was a time limit to the eating....and as you had to cook it yourself, the place had a winning formula. One would only be able to eat and cook so much in the given time.
In the middle of the table at which you sat was a deep fat fryer. The first step was to gather up a number of skewers with pieces of fish, chicken and vegetables. Then taking each skewer in turn you put it in batter then rolled it in breadcrumbs before placing it in the oil. Cooking time was between 1 and 2 minutes depending on the morsel on the skewer. Let's face it, who doesn't like battered, breaded deep fried food. I was wondering what Texans would make of it, a winner surely. So, I mentioned the time limit...well, we didn't know this until one of the staff rather indignantly walked over to our table at exactly the time that was scrawled on the pieice of paper I was given when I first walked in and said "time up" (I didn''t realise it was a time until he pointed this out - really it could have been anything). It made sense I guess...and we had our fill, but as with their trains and overall etiquette in general, generosity has a limit, and when it's reached, you better pay.
This brings me onto the highlight of the day. Rin and I had not experienced too much nightlife, mainly as a consequence of jetlag, going to bed around 10pm most nights. After heading back to Kyoto during the early stages of rush hour we determined tonight we would head out to the entertainment district of Gion that we had walked through the previous day. Not quite a shock to the system, but close. If I had been a lone western travelling male I am sure life would have been much harder. What I refer to are the street fronts being filled with entertainment of the more dubious nature. It is hard to feel tempted (at least I do not) by girls dressed as school kids, standing outside a "gogo" bar, enticing you in with promotions of cheap beer and food. Exactly what were you going to be spending your money on. Rin and I figured we'd walk on by. The atmosphere was pretty electric throughout the whole area and as we'd intended going to Tady's, an Irish pub, we continued on our way.
Now, Tady's......Tady's is a pretty cool place, 8th floor overlooking the river that runs through Kyoto. We'd not really bothered with Irish or British bars but we thought it would be a good place to start and at least ask a few questions about where to head next. We started with a pair of Guinnesses (or perhaps Guinnui???), the only affordable drink on the list...which included some pretty awesome beers. Plenty from the Pacific North West of the US, predominated by Rogue and Stone brews, which I have to admit are some of my faves, but every fave has a price point and I wasn't going to be paying $15 for a pint...especially one of those Yank ones. Guinness was $7, and without tip (you don't tip in Japan) it seemed a better bet. We used the time and ambiance to refect on the trip so far and one item that cropped up was the food. There was very little in the way of raw veggies and the portions of meat that you were served were meagre at best. It is strange how much you end up craving foods when you have not had them and it was this that prompted Rin to order Roast Beef and Wasabi Mayo. A decent portion was devoured with such gusto that I realised my wife loves her red meat, a fact that would be underlined shortly.
We left Tady's (a little disappointed that the proprieter, Mr McGloughlin, did not once turn from having his back to us to say hello), however, the place was interesting and somewhere I'd recommend purely for the excellent Guinness and leather sofas.
The next experience of the night was altogther different. We both love getting out of our comfort zones and walking by an interesting looking establishment prompted us to walk in.
Take your shoes off at the door, in itself nothing new, take a seat at the bar....fall into the hole that is infront of the seat and make a tit of yourself as you try to regain your balance. Look at the menu, order sake, turn pages of menu, helplessly trying to interpret the pictures in the symbols of the language.
Despair but define a new game of food roulette, pointing at what may or may not be dishes and ordering them. The sake arrives, 180mls each, in a cup that you have to peel a lid off....like a giant ring pull on a beverage can. Also, contrary to our earlier discussion, a small plate of raw vegetables was placed in front or us along with a little foil cupcake tin of salt, and another of runny peanut butter. Next was the ordering part, psyched up to play our game we were thwarted by the waiter producing a roughly translated menu. And when I say roughly, I mean rough......a few photos ajoin this to give you an idea of the translation. Either way, Rin was keen for the Duck, and I opted for the beef tenderloin (hoping the translation was accurate). We had no idea they just came without accommpaniment so like a couple of cannibals we ate them.....both were fabulously good, hellishly expensive for the portion size but I had left behind the notion of United Statian ideals of food cost and quantities. The tenderloin literally melted in your mouth. We also ordered a portion of noodles and then as way of a nightcap, another portion of tenderloin....it really was that good. What we couldn't figure out was why the staff laughed between themselves each time we ordered......i think it is perhaps better not to know.
Time moving on we caught our first taxi of the trip. We had been warned about the potential for bankcruptcy when getting into a cab but thought we'd risk it anyway. What happened next was most odd. Our Japanese being thin on the ground I opted to point to the location we wished to be taken to on our map. It was a good clear map, a map of the immediate area no less, with streets clearly labelled. The driver was not happy, in fact he expressed his distain at not knowing where to take us by muttering in the local lingo. Not to be defeated I said the name of the nearest temple a place called Higashi Hongan-ji. That placated him and he decided to perform his services after all.
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