banging people in Kansai

Japanese proverb of the day: 「京の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ」 "Shop till you drop in Kyoto, eat till you drop in Osaka." Because Kyoto people dress beyond their means and Osaka people dine beyond theirs.

We went to Shinsaibashi (心斎橋) first thing in the morning because there was supposed to be a lot of food there (recommended by a friend who lives in Osaka). However, I think he must have made a mistake, because there were mainly just shops selling clothing, shoes, and various accessories (not really much food..). Well, nonetheless, there were restaurants around the area, so we decided on okonomiyaki again at a restaurant right above Ebisu River. But before that, we had to get ourselves some takoyaki first.

Osaka takoyaki is the best. Seriously.
They say that once you have Osaka takoyaki, you will never go back to having takoyaki elsewhere. And boy is that true! I don't know what they did, how they made it, but it was just totally different.

The store front.
It was called Kukuru, located about a block away from Shinsaibashi, apparently in Dotonbori (道頓堀). It makes me a bit confused because the Dotonbori that I saw when I got out of the train station was a fairly old rundown street. This takoyaki shop was located a couple blacks away, yet the sign still has Dotonbori on it. Maybe there are two sides to it?

The best takoyaki I've ever had. Before this, I never really liked takoyaki. Not that I disliked it, but I didn't particularly like it. I never expected Osaka takoyaki to taste so different.

The Anatomy of Takoyaki

The takoyaki I've had in New York and Tokyo were never any good because it was just a piece of tako wrapped in bland dough. The takoyaki in Osaka, though, had a lot of ingredients (as you can see in the picture) and it was full of flavor, not so doughy. omgg It was sooo good, I'm drooling as I review the pictures. lol

Anyway, we then proceeded to this restaurant located right above the Ebisu River. The name of the restaurant, apparently, is just Okonomiyaki. From the name, you can guess what they served.

There was a lot on the menu and we wanted to order everything, but it was more than we could finish, so we settled for okonomiyaki, which here, in Osaka, it is nose nose okonomiyaki (のせのせお好み焼き). 載せる noseru means to place on top, so basically, you place toppings such as a piece of meat, onions, etc. (In Tokyo, everything was just mixed into the batter).
We also had yakisoba and another set of takoyaki.

And on the wall of our table, there was a small list of Osaka-ben (Osaka dialect). Since my arrival to Kansai, I've been hearing a lot of different accents and dialects. Compared to "standard Japanese" that Tokyo people speak and what is taught to foreigners, the accent is relatively different and there are a lot of different vocabulary. To me, Osaka-ben has a more colloquial, casual feel.

The food in Osaka was so good that it made me wonder why I ever went to Tokyo to study.

Osaka architecture: rose buildings

   

Dotonbori, and the weird face statues.

If it's anything I've noticed in Osaka, it's that they have a lottt of bridges. A lot of their street names have "bridge" in it (i.e.: shinsaibashi, ebisubashi, etc.)

The crowded shinsaibashi. There were a ton of shops for clothing, shoes, makeup, accessories, etc.

There were also arcades, and you know what arcades mean.. purikura!
Purikura プリクア, which is written in katakana is derived from the English words "print club" because they're basically photo booths that print out photo stickers. For ¥400, you take about six or seven pictures (varies depending on the machine) and you can select ones you like and decorate them. Usually, two sheets print out, so you can share it with your friends.

There are dozens of booths to choose from. I can't tell the difference between them because they all look the same, but apparently, according to one of my friends who is a devout purikura taker, they are all different.
The one we chose today was called "How to 45°: rule of kawaii", which is set at 45 degrees, because any picture taken at a 45 degree angle, with your head tilted at 45 degrees will make you appear more kawaii (cute).
I'll let you guys be the judge. Is it true?

Next, we went to the Osaka Aquarium (海遊館), which is a huge aquarium (I think second after the one in Okinawa). If you love sharks and manta, this is the place to go!

Admission fee: ¥2300 (adults)
The center of wall with the two dolphins are actually equipped with blinking lights, which turn on at night. 

There were so many exhibits, with species from bodies of water all over the world.

Antarctica: penguins!

   

Japanese Trench: tako (North Pacific giant octopi), Japanese spider crab, etc,

The spider crabs were humongous! I thought the one at Sunshine Aquarium was big, but these were probably even bigger–and there were a ton of them.

Chilean Rocks: Japanese anchovies

Cook Strait: sea tortoises

And my favorite… jellyfish! They were so pretty and so many different varieties. I love seeing them floating and swimming. They're such strange creatures, colorful, with minimal features.
This one to the right is called a flower hat jelly, which is found in the West Pacific off southern Japan. But the main point: it had neon tentacles (pink and green).

Sea Angels
Facts:
1. They are actually sea slugs.
2. They are hermaphrodites.
3. Not only are they carnivores, but they are also cannibals.

I find them rather cute, swimming by flapping their "arms" in rowing motions.




Since the aquarium is located around Osaka Bay (Osaka Harbor), there are quite a few attractions in the area besides the aquarium. For example, there was a giant ferris wheel, which we rode in time to see the sunset, and a mall with interesting games and shops. 

Tempozan Ferris Wheel (天保山)
Admission: ¥700
A 17-minute ride that orders a view of Osaka Bay and the surrounding areas, such as Mount Ikoma to the east, Akashi Kaikyo Bridge to the west, Kansai International Airport to the south, and the Rokko Mountaiins to the north.
Fun Fact: The wheel has colored lights the provide a weather forecast for the next day: orange means sunny, green means cloudy, and blue indicates rain. Looks like it's gonna be a sunny day tomorrow!

The cloudy sunset.. not much of a view. 

   

明石海峡大橋, also known as the Pearl bridge. It links the city of Kobe on the mainland of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island.

And the best part of the ride…Miffy!
I originally wanted to ride the clear gondola, but this was just too tempting!

At the Tempozan marketplace. There were the typical restaurants and shops, but what made this mall different from others were the attractions, such as this mystery tunnel that we walked through. Basically, one of those stands you see in malls, except this had a huge box behind it. Before walking in, I asked the guy how long it would take and he gave a really ambiguous answer, "Some people take a minute, others maybe fifteen." And the luring phrase was "I bet you can't make it through walking straight." Indeed, I couldn't. haha It was one of those tunnels with optical illusions that made it appear to be spinning. It was really funny; I was laughing at myself falling over something that was unmoving. It just goes to show how deceptive and unreliable the human sense of vision is.

Random shirt I found in the mall, and there was also a ninja-themed walk-through.

Around 7, we left for Kobe to have Kobe beef. The highlight of the day!
To my American beef-lovers, if you’ve ever had “kobe beef", you were scammed! because those are just imitations. The real Kobe beef is meat from the cows raised in Hyogo Prefecture and can only be eaten in Japan and certain parts of Asia. America has banned all imports of beef from Japan years ago, when there was an outbreak of foot and mouth disease among Japanese cattle. Before today, I've never had it either and though it is expensive, I strongly suggest you try it if you're in Japan because you cannot get it in America.

We went to a restaurant called Itoh Dining and had booked a reservation previously for 8:30. Though we had some problems finding the place (i.e.: we got lost ^^;), we eventually got there…. about four phone calls and a half an hour later.

Our choice for dinner. We decided on a course meal because pure Kobe beef is expensive and unfilling by itself. Plus, we wanted to try other Kobe foods, too. I'm not gonna lie, it was expensive–it cost ¥9450 for one–but it was so worth it.
The atmosphere was nice. There are seating options either at a table or around the grill, and the service was great (but that's everywhere in Japan).
Our chef was also really nice (he was actually the person we spoke to when we called for directions xD). We had a nice chat with him about various things, such as Kansai-ben and various dialects of Japan, etc.

Here's our course in the order according to the menu:

   

   

The main dishhh. It literally melts in your mouth. 

   

Towards the end of our dinner, my friend and I mustered up the courage to try the one thing we’ve been itching to try since we arrived in Kansai: “bang” people. … 
I know what you're thinking! Don’t misunderstand haha! What I mean is pretend to shoot and cut people with a sword. In this video I saw online, if you do that to people in Osaka/Kansai, people will play along with you. So I was wondering if it was true.
And of course, it's not. The real message is that Osaka people are much friendlier and relaxed than Tokyo people. Some people may react that way if they are playful or have done so before, but it's not like you walk down the street and see this behavior happening everywhere, and it's not likely that you will get a comedic response from a random stranger.
Though we failed horribly (it was so fun though!) because it was too sudden (our chef had no time to react lol), we succeeded on our waiter when we attempted a second time upon leaving. It was such a great night.

Sadly, I forgot to ask our chef for his name, but if anyone happens to meet him, please let me know!