Kobe + Osaka = Busy Weekend!

It might have been overly ambitious of us to undertake such a packed itinerary spanning both Kobe and Osaka, but in the end I think it was worth it. Tonight I was playing with the weekend's photos, which are currently still split between iPhone (undercover pics) and D40, but by tomorrow I plan to have them all up and ready for review.

In advance, I will say that Osaka was my favorite location of the weekend, while the 'best meal' award goes to Kobe. While Kobe was eerily empty, Osaka seemed at times uncomfortably crowded. While the large crowds of people can make it a little tedious to get around, at least you have the reassurance that whatever you're doing was such a good idea that everyone else is doing it too. The only thing everybody else seemed too be doing in Kobe was staying home or traveling out of town!

Out for the weekdend

I'll be out of contact for the next few days, with some overnight plans in the lineup. Saturday I'll be in Kobe, and Osaka on Sunday. It's a busy itinerary, but making the most of the weekends feels good.

I have the slightest bit of guilt regarding the driving situation here... At home, I rarely drive, preferring instead to walk or ride my bike to work and local establishments. I opted not to get my international drivers license before coming over, assuming it wouldn't be that important. Now I feel a bit bad, considering the amount of driving that A will be doing over the weekend. At the same time, not being able to drive is a bit of a relief. Driving on the left side of the road seems like nerve-wracking experience, and that's even with my professional driving history!

Nabano no Sato

Last weekend A and I visited Nabano no Sato; a park that does a yearly holiday illumination display that is exceedingly popular. I'm not sure how appealing this would be in cooler weather, but with the cherry blossoms just starting to open in the background, the park was pretty pleasant to walk around.

While it was fun to see the early cherry blossoms, the real show began when it got dark, with light displays that were elaborate and massive in scale.

It was the first time I've dealt with a real Japanese crowd. They seem to take any excuse to stand in a line - lines so long there's no possible way to know what you'd even be standing in line for. Personal space isn't quite the same here - the crowds are shoulder to shoulder (or sometimes in my case elbow to shoulder) and bumping up against the people around you seems to be par for the course. Certainly nothing to apologize for or really even take note of.

This was one of the more impressive views in the park, both for the hundreds of yards of light tunnel, and also the hundreds of people crowding through it. Luckily it thinned out about a third of the way through as the novelty of enormous lighted tunnel wore off and people picked up the pace to get to the other side. But it was a perfect example of 'what am I in this line for?' - the line stretched around a corner and out of sight of the tunnel, where people were waiting when it was still light out! How interesting would this view be if it wasn't in the dark?

In addition to the lights, another big attraction at this park was the food. (as mentioned previously) Half the price of admission went towards vouchers that were redeemable with the parks various vendors, restaurants, and gift shops. With about $20 in vouchers between the two of us, A and I managed to eat well, and still come home with several pastries. Any light show that includes tasty leftovers is a success in my book.

(The pastries are, starting at the bottom and going clockwise, an apple turnover, a potato(?) croquet bun, a fancy latticed croissant thing, and a chocolate goo filled bun. The juice box looking thing is actually hot chocolate)

Water line maintenance continues

For the past week or so I've been dealing with maintenance outside. All morning there's jackhammering and digging, and all afternoon there's compacting asphalt back into place. It's slightly better when the crew is working in an area they've already torn up, because that requires far less work with the jackhammer, but it's still an obnoxious part of my work day.

The work was taking place particularly close to the door to the apartment building today, and I was pretty much exiting into the middle of their construction zone. These work sites all have uniformed safety officials, and on the way back from lunch my approach was noticed, and the safety guy came over to assist. Had I been walking down the road just passing through, I would have crossed the street and avoided the mess altogether, but the safety official seemed ready to usher me completely through all of the ongoing instruction so I wouldn't need to alter course. Luckily I was able to duck back into the building before he started interrupting workers in order to let me walk by.

Food on a stick

While I haven't yet had the opportunity to sample any local eel, food on a stick comes in a close second for things I'm excited about eating while in Japan. This weekend we visited Nabano no Sato (more on that another time), one of the major attractions of which was a variety of tasty vendor food. Octopus balls (taco yaki) were my choice, which I found to be tender and delicious, and A went with some sort of cheese filled gelatinous vegetable stick. The flavor was agreeable, but the rubbery texture made it unappealing.

Thing is, I didn't know what these were until I'd taken a bite. (actually I was half way through when the food was identified) Knowing the names of the food really wouldn't have made for a better or different decision, since I've never had anything comparable. It's all about the context - this was sort of a fair atmosphere, and when was the last time you ever had bad food from a fair? Worst case scenario, the item on the right might have been a corn dog.

Custom Racing Van

Japan's interest in racing and tuner cars has been the subject of much pop culture fodder, but up until now sweet custom vans have largely been overlooked. No longer! This is an important part of Japanese automotive culture, and this particular example can be yours for only about $15,000.

While America has generally turned its back on a noble heritage of custom vans, it's somehow comforting to know that it lives on, and is in fact stronger than ever. With the declining popularity of SUV's in the US, I suspect it's only a matter of time before the van makes a comeback, followed closely by the sweet custom van. Start shopping now to get the best deal!

When Bentos Attack!

Nothing too strange here... starting in the upper left and working clockwise, we have tomato, potato salad, and lemon, delicious lemony fried chicken, random pickled vegetables, and a bed of rice topped with a pickled plum. An excellent Friday lunch.

This was picked up at a nearby restaurant, which was a semi-classy takeout place. (Maybe a chain?) The menu was located on the front of the counter, out of view of the cashier, which made my charades version of ordering more difficult. Ever polite though, the employee came out from behind the counter to see which menu item I was pointing at and hooked me up. I'm told fried chicken is a very Nagoya food, and really it must be... have you ever heard of fried chicken being big in Japan? I certainly wasn't expecting to be eating it here.

Here's the thing, this is effectively fast food in prep time and price, but the care in presentation is noteworthy. This is how it looked when I brought it home; notice how the top of the bag is actually taped shut? Maybe they're just trying to prevent me from stealing things on the way out of the place (why it's done at the department stores), but it still shows a great amount of care for a restaurant without anything to pilfer on your way out. I'd like to think they were just doing a nice job packaging it.