Breakfast, a festival and the dance of the traffic police

NB. Photos and edits in purple added 30/05/07


Toast, boiled egg and coffee breakfast

OSAKA: We woke up refreshed from our first night's stay in our capsule hotel and headed downstairs for our complimentary breakfast. Two thick slices of semi-sweet pan bread is toasted in the galleyway as you like it, a tub of butter with knife sits to one side. We also receive one boiled egg and unlimited cups of fairly decent coffee.


Fellow hotel guest has breakfast in his yukata house robe


Capsule Inn Namba

This morning we moved to our hotel in Umeda, home for the next two days.


Ticket machines at Namba train station


Certain train carriages are designated female-only during peak hour


Updating the train ads

We were stupidly excited to watch the man changing the ads in the train carriages, hanging paper banners that are cluttered with text and a riot of colours. They almost give you a headache just looking at them all. What always struck me was that the flimsy paper was never damaged. We never saw them torn or defaced. And graffiti? Ha. I don't think anyone would ever dare.


Meshiya

Lunch was at Meshiya, a popular restaurant chain often open 24 hours.


Meal ticket vending machine

Like most cheaper restaurants in Japan, you pay for your meal at the vending machine near the entrance, then present your printed ticket stub to the kitchen. The service is always efficient.


Salmon and agedashi tofu set meal 590 yen

My agedashi tofu was superb- silky soft mouthfuls bathed in the gentle sweetness of dashi and mirin.


Pork set meal 690 yen


Fried chicken, egg and cabbage set meal 620 yen

We obtained our JR pass (unlimited travel on JR trains) and headed to Nozaki in search of the Nozaki-Mairi Festival at Jigenji Temple. There wasn't much of a festival today (perhaps that happens mainly at Jigenji Temple. There wasn't much of a festival today (perhaps that happens mainly on weekends) but the grounds were pleasant and the hundred stone steps we had to climb was definitely a work-out!


Jigenji Temple entrance (Nozakikannon)


Japanese maple leaves


Water trough


Bell pulleys


View of Osaka from the temple, perched high up on the hill


Drinks stall

There were supposed to be 300 street stalls here, but on this weekday we found only one.

The smiling stall holder won me over and I happily handed over 100 yen to quench my thirst.


Green tea drink 100 yen

I couldn't resist trying the other flavour too, which turned out to be ginger. The ginger drink was amazing. Icy cold yet warm in the tummy too.


Ginger drink 100 yen

A wander back to the station took us past a giant supermarket, appropriately named Jumbo. Of course we had to go in.


Jumbo supermarket, Nozaki


Supermarket aisle


Mmm... steak (hellooooo marbling!)


Self-serve fried foods


Self-serve yakitori


Self-serve salads


Self-serve yakitori skewers


Chicken croquettes 32 yen each


Bitter melons at a local greengrocer (so green and spiky!)


Red bridges near Nozaki train station

As always, everything here is clean and efficient. We marvel at how groomed everyone is. The teenagers are all in hip fashions, the girls are immaculate with their makeup and funky hairstyles. Most service people wear blazers - we are dishevelled and sweaty in our t-shirts facing the sticky humidity. They are in crisp shirts and blazers and looking cool as cucumbers.

And yet quirky idiosyncracies like love hotels spring up in the unlikeliest of places. We spotted this bizarre (to us) Christmas-themed love hotel in the restaurant alleys of Umeda.


Special Fantasy Rooms!


Banners outside the Christmas love hotel in Umeda
(the Japlish is hilarious)


Kitanoya

Dinner was fried chicken galore at Kitanoya in Umeda.


Fried chicken and cabbage set meal 780 yen


Fried chicken and ebi prawns set 780 yen


Avocado and salmon set with mini chicken dish 780 yen

Veruca and I both had the avocado and salmon set. It was a huge meal, yet somehow I ate all of it, bar a few last mouthfuls of rice.


Avocado and salmon

Somehow I missed this scene, but Veruca swears the table behind us included a group of young men, one of whom removed a large mirror from his man-bag to check his appearance. "It was A4 size!" she gasped, half in admiration, half in horror. He spent several minutes checking all angles whilst his friends continued their conversation.

I can certainly attest the presence of man-bags. They are all the rage here with the menfolk.


Traffic police

What we especially love are the traffic police who perform a dance-like show for we pedestrians. The major pedestrian crossings near our hotel have two traffic police who stand guard during peak hour. Heads back, chins pointing to their sun, they have their arms outstretched at ninety degrees to stop us moving forward. When the cars finally stop they chirp merrily in Japanese, stride out to the crossing, and then form a barrier on the side, saving us from the cars. At the end they march back and bow to the new arrivals, their dance ready to start again.









We are eating a feast. Japan is really so affordable.　We are eating like kings for so much cheaper than their equivalents in Australia.

We are in heaven. We may never want to return :)


Biggy, Calpis and Pocari Sweat
- it's a late night Pocari Sweat party!

(Calpis is sweet, Biggies are a little sour, and Pocari Sweat tastes just like it sounds - bland but a little salty).