The beginning of the end

In a country where blowing your nose is considered rude and unhygienic, Japan must be the worst place to catch a cold.

I woke up today with a cold.

Sore throat, the beginning of the sniffles and a head ache that wouldn't go away. Ger-rrrrrreat.

Breakfast was had at a noodle bar around the corner. A plain wakame soba for me, tempura soba for Veruca and Speedster. If there's one consolation about Japan, it's the abundance of cleansing comfort food available - plenty of soup and noodles is just what the doctor ordered.

Speedster and I visited Osaka Castle, not as large or majestic as Himeji Castle, but perhaps more elegant with its decadent gold trim roof. We had to battle hundreds of tourists and plenty of school kids, but everyone was well-behaved and the 8th floor viewing platform afforded a great vista of the city.

Back on the shinkansen to Tokyo and today's obento box was a decadent 1300 yen selection that included an abundance of goodies: eel, octopus, fish, broad bean, pumpkin and tamago that had a stamp on it!

In Komagome, Tokyo, we headed to an izakaya for dinner but by this point the smell of oil started to get to me and I politely excluded myself. I heard that their food was fantastic. Freshly fried chicken, a whole squid and somen noodles were eaten whilst sipping on beer chilling quietly in the iced water filled trough in front of you. We even spotted the Australian Two Dogs brand. Meanwhile I threw caution to the wind and headed to the pharmacy in search of medicine.

Then I had an allergic reaction. Then I broke out in hives. Then it felt like the beginning of the end...