Today was a traveling day. Mom and I woke up, grateful to have packed last night, so all we had to do was shower, dress and close our suitcases. We met the guys in the lobby, checked out and went downstairs to meet the Uber Kenji had arranged to take us to Tokyo train station. That place has to be seen to be believed. It is organized chaos, and unfortunately for tourists, not easy to navigate. Kenji had attached our Shinkansen (bullet trains) tickets to our Suica cards online, so we just had to tap in, like we did for the subway system. So convenient! Since we were taking a Shinkansen, when we swiped in, a ticket came out the other end for us to take to prove we were on the right train, in the right seats, should we be asked. Taking the elevator down (since we didn't want to lug our suitcases down the stairs) to the mall area, Mom and I encountered a very kind Japanese woman who overheard us talking. She spoke excellent English and helped us find the Waiting Area for the Shinkansen.
The guys met us and we commandeered a couple of seats with all our luggage. Mom and I waited while the guys went exploring for bento boxes (prepared meals, usually a meat, starch and veggies in a compact box) to take on the train for lunch. When they returned Mom & I went to find what we wanted for our lunches. There were so very many different food counters, all selling something slightly different than the one next to them. Some were very different, like sushi, which is what I chose, a combo of salmon and tuna. There were katsu (pork or chicken cutlet, breaded with panko and deep fried, with rice and curry as well as many other choices. Mom chose a yakitori (meat on a stick) bento box with chicken skewers, rice and some veggies. She enjoyed the meatballs and rice, but the veggies were odd, she said, and somehow inedible.
After we returned with our food it was time to go to the platform. Ah, but which one and where was it??? Last we looked our train wasn't yet listed on the big board. Now we had 25 minutes to find out which platform is would be leaving from and get there. Yikes!!! This place is ginormous and we could've been a 15 minute walk from where we needed to be, plus time to get turned around and lost. We went the wrong way a couple of times, but quickly discovered our error and turned around and got to our platform with a full 6 minutes to spare! Ah, but we had to find *our* car, #3, as we had reserved seats. We hustled our bustles (read: walked super fast, upstairs with suitcases - thank you Kenji & Leo for carrying ours!) and got to Car #3 just as people were beginning to board. Phew! Shinkansens wait for no one! We were so late I didn't have time to get a picture of the train. Next time.
As we got on board I spotted a luggage space near the door for large suitcases (mine) that won't fit in the overhead shelf above the seats. Mom and I both put our suitcases there as hers is heavy and lifting it up there wouldn't be easy. The seats in our car were a 3-2 seating arrangement. Kenji had purchased 2 seats next to each other in 2 different rows, on the right side of the train. Weather permitting we'd be on the right side to see Mt. Fuji! The train left precisely at 11:00 am. We made 3 stops before getting up to a top speed of 177 mph! I was mesmerized looking out the window watching Japan slip by and almost forgot I needed to eat my lunch. The sushi was good, not great. That seemed to be all of our opinions. The meals were ok, served their purpose, but we might all make different choices next time. No Mt. Fuji sighting today, darn overcast weather.
Arriving in Osaka we found the subway, changed train lines and got to the station we needed, carried our luggage up the stairs (carried my own this time, oof!) got to the top and found it was pouring rain! Yikes! I had to dig around in my backpack to find my umbrella, got it out and open and literally walked about 50 feet to the hotel entrance. Doh! We made our way inside and Wowee is this hotel different than the last one. The last one was a "business hotel", specializing in small, budget-conscious stays. This place is swanky, marble floors, a large lobby, spacious elevator and more spacious rooms. The bathroom has a separate room for the toilet and the shower/tub in a different room. There's actual counter space at the bathroom sink for our toiletries. I may never leave!
We soaked in the a/c, resting for a bit, then meeting up with the guys to walk around Tenjinbashi (pronounced ten-gin-bosh-ee), a covered walkway shopping street with stores and restaurants. Unfortunately for us, we got there about 4:45 and most of the restaurants were closed between lunch and dinner, so they weren't open. So we walked and walked and walked. Finally we all had had enough walking and sweating and close brushes with heat stroke and it was past 5:30 so some places were starting to open back up for dinner. We found an okonomiyaki (pronounced like it looks: oh-koh-no-mee-yaki) place and were seated at 2 tables with griddles in front of them. Hmmm... I did a Google translate on a flyer on the wall and discovered it was a DIY okonomiyaki place. Definitely NOT what we were wanting tonight, as tired as we were. We made our apologies and left.
If you're not familiar with okonomiyaki, Osaka style is cabbage and other veggies mixed together with a batter and cooked on a griddle. Proteins can be added such a sliced pork (think bacon, but not smoked), squid, oysters, etc. It's flipped so the other side can cook. Hiroshima style uses the same ingredients but they're assembled in a stack. The batter is spread on the griddle, a large amount of shredded cabbage is added, and whatever proteins you want and after the batter has set the whole thing is flipped over, so the cabbage can cook. Both styles spread a sauce on it that Google tells me is made of fruits and vegetables, sugar and vinegar, along with the additions of kelp, soy sauce and shiitake mushrooms. The whole concoction is blended until smooth and brushed on top, with a drizzle of Kewpie (Japanese mayonnaise). If you're not familiar with Kewpie, I highly encourage you to find some at your local H-Mart or other Asian supermarket.
We ended up at hole in the wall, literally, no place to sit. The man was cooking on a griddle out front and served the okonomiyaki to go. At that point the hotel's a/c sounded fabulous. We stopped by a 7/11 and picked up drinks and retired to our rooms to eat and relax. Mom and I found a fun TV channel where participants were in a cooking class learning how to make gyoza, friend gohan (rice) and tamagoyaki, which is rolled, scrambled egg. It's a technique of pouring scrambled eggs in a special rectangular pan and letting it set just enough that you roll it, like a cinnamon roll. Then you leave it in the pan and add more scrambled egg mixture and repeat the process a couple of time til you have done this process a few times. They people on TV were very animated it was fun to watch! I'm draining my phone's battery using the Google Translate app's camera function to find out what's going on.
I went next door to the guys' room after dinner and got a foot rub (a nightly thing at home) for my sore ankles and feet, but this was the first time I've gotten Kenji to do it for me on this trip. In Tokyo the guys' room was on a different floor from ours, so it wasn't easy, especially with having to use the room key to operate the elevator. Leo went to 7/11 to get some ice cream. I asked him to get me something interesting. He came back with bon bons. Yum!
I came back to our room, blogged and went to bed with hopes of fresh, happy feet in the morning.
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