I forgot to mention which pavilions we actually got into at Expo yesterday. Between the 4 of us at least 1 person went through: Malaysia, Commons, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates. That's it. 7 out of 66.
My morning started as usual so far in Osaka, a little computer work for work back home while Mom slept. Kenji had a 7 am (Japan time) work call, so he went down to the lobby so as not to wake Leo. On his way out of the dark room he picked up what he thought was a room key but was in fact Leo's Suica card! Oops! He texted me to let me know and as soon as Leo let me know he was awake I went and got Kenji's key to take to him downstairs and found him having just finished his call. Good timing! We all took showers then met downstairs for breakfast at our yummy bakery!
Today's plan was to go to Kobe. Kobe is the home of high quality, expensive beef. Is that why we went? No. Kobe is where the 6.9 earthquake took place on Jan. 17, 1995. Is that why we went? No. Kobe is the home of the nation's #1 port. Is that why we went? No. The single reason Kobe was put on the calendar as a place to visit was... are you ready? Jesus Pizza. You read that right. There's a pizza place in town that Leo wanted to go to called Jesus Pizza. A Japanese man went to New York City and had their pizza and thought he wanted to make it his life's mission to bring NY style pizza to Japan. So he did. He opened a small little 8 seat place in Kobe.
Leo led us through the streets, past a shrine, up a hill and around a corner, across from a Halal kebab restaurant to Jesus Pizza. *face palm* He was so happy! We took the requisite pictures and went inside. We greeted the proprietor in Japanese and asked if he spoke English. In better English than my Japanese, and a twinkle in his eye, he said "No, no English, only Japanese". We giggled and knew we had found a fun person. Leo ordered a slice of pepperoni and the house specialty, Honey B, which we learned stands for bacon. Kenji and Mom each had a slice of Honey B and I had Honey B envy after I tasted it as I ordered plain old cheese. I had a ginger ale that so cold and sparkling, it hit the spot!
We lingered and looked at all the pictures on the wall from NYC. I got up at one point and asked for water in my ginger ale glass when it was empty and inquired if he sells shirts like the one he was wearing, knowing Leo would love to have one. Unfortunately, he has no merch for sale. He did have a box of free comic books (I think that's what it was) so I took one and gave it to Leo. We took our time walking back, stopping along the way at the Shrine, paying our respects and expressing gratitude for our gifts.
We walked past the train station to an outdoor shopping area and decided we'd like to see the Earthquake Memorial, but it was a 20 minute walk. I asked if we could take a taxi and Kenji ordered one. We were there in a matter of a few minutes. The Memorial included part of the port that was destroyed in 1995 and was left the way it was after the earthquake to show the magnitude of the destruction. It was difficult to see and imagine what that day must've been like. It was exactly, to the day, 1 year after the Northridge earthquake back home, which was a 6.7, so a similar-ish magnitude.
We read plaques about the 6,400+ people who died that day, in addition to the 43,000 who were injured and left more than 300,000 residents displaced. It was sobering. We had talked about going to Chinatown. We had talked about finding a street food vendor and getting a taste of Kobe beef on a stick, which is about all we could afford of Kobe beef, but in the end the humidity took it's toll once again. We got a taxi back to the train station and came back to the hotel.
Ok, so we *did* pay homage to the earthquake victims and saw the port. But, those weren't the reasons we went to Kobe. Those were filler activities. But, I never got the beef on a stick I wanted. In the moment I wanted a/c more. After a rest we changed clothes and got ready to go to Dotonbori. The guys came to our room to discuss the evening and told us it was raining. Hard. Oh no! We had our sheer curtains drawn and hadn't seen that! We decided to go anyway, as rain is predicted for tomorrow night, too. By the time we got to Dotonbori, the rain was just sprinkles. Yay!
Dotonbori is a hotspot for tourists and locals alike. It is lined with neon signs, clubs, bars and restaurants serving local specialties, both inside and street-side, with street food being the thing to eat there. We took the requisite pictures of the man-eating crab (Kenji's description of the huge crab on the wall atop a restaurant) as well as the "Glico Running Man". The Glico Running Man is one of the most well known landmarks in Osaka. The huge, brightly lit sign has glowed over Dotonbori for more than 80 years. Dating back to 1935, it has been refurbished several times. It advertises Glico, makers of Pocky, the sweet confection coated usually in chocolate.
The restaurant hawkers were out in force, with large copies of their menus and pictures of what they serve, to tantalize the revelers. In the end we purchased a crab bao bun (only Leo and I tried that), gyozas and a couple of chicken yakitori (Kenji & Mom). Mom and I were feeling like we didn't want to walk around anymore, that we needed something cold, so we headed into the nearby Family Mart where she got a waffle ice cream sandwich and I got my favorite grapefruit/grape drink. And we headed back to the room.
The guys weren't far behind us in departing for the hotel. Baseball once again captured our attention on TV as the Kobe Tigers were now playing the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Yes, *that* Yakult.
I slept very well last night, almost 8 hours! Here's hoping for more of the same tonight.
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