Japan Day 02: Wednesday 8 March
Thu, May. 4th, 2017 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annarti
Day Two, wherein we went to Spa World, explored Osaka, trained off to Kyoto and ate lots of amazing food.
Breakfast, as we came to do literally every day, was from the konbini. This is, I suppose, the Japanese equivalent of pies and sausage rolls. Steam buns with various fillings of pork, fish, pizza, cheese, mince, whatever, all gorgeously warm and sooooo good when you're freezing your arse off on the way to the train station, as we generally were. Also onigiri, which are wrapped SO cleverly and Japanese. Idk HOW but the plastic wrap goes between the seaweed and the rice, and yet the whole thing stays together ad you unwrap it, so it keeps your rice soft and the seaweed crispy. It's awesome. ALSO vending machines with hot drinks in them. Why is this not a thing anywhere else?* The coffee was insanely sweet so I only had that once, but the warm lemon was amaze. More of that please.
And then SPA WORLD! I'd been looking forward to this since Cassie mentioned it, but even more so since Cairns. Massive spa with seven different themed bath houses. The month of March had the women in the European-themed side (dudes got the Asian-themed side) so we disrobed, sat down on a stool to wash and feel very un-Australian by splashing water aaall over the place and not even caring, then into the spa! After having spent the entire previous day in transit, this was just what we needed. They were all about 40°C, so you warm up in about a minute and are then perfectly comfortable walking around in the nuddy all over the place. The Greece bath had herbs and botanicals in it, which smelt really lovely. Finland had little tubs you could sit in, then jump into the 20°C pool next to it. I made it as far as knee deep and couldn't be bothered inching any further, though I'm sure real Finns would laugh at me. The Spain baths were outside, where I'm sure it's gorgeous in summer but it was about 12°C and so windy that the steam was just blowing everywhere, so we 'ran' (tiptoed quickly but not slipping over and huddling in to cover boobies) into the water and sank down. Once again, though, you warm up after a minute and feel remarkably comfortable even if you're only in the water up to your knees, and the rest bared to the elements. It was delightful.
We also tried out the salt sauna, where you rub salt over yourself to exfoliate. That was weird. Final wash off and prissing up, then out into Osaka feeling incredibly refreshed and human again. Yes, now there are photos XD
OSAKA! Or a backstreet thereof. Cassie mocked me and said we weren't even on the main strip yet. I told her to shut up cos I was excited and she laughed at me =D Also I have no idea why this one was in 4:3 but whatever.
Dotonbori! Massive shopping strip. Osaka, as Cassie tells me, is famous for shopping and food, and by golly gee whiz we got both in spades. I am pleased to note there are at least two Japanese people in this photo taking shots of the giant crab. I always feel justified when locals are also interested in stuff that fascinates me XD Its legs move! Because of course they do.
Foooooood. First meal (excluding the konbini food because that was just in a rush, get some sustinance stuff) had to be takoyaki, so we got okonomiyaki at the same time, because frigging look at it. Little out of focus but whatever. It was so good. I want more.
And the takoyaki! Which is one of my FAVOURITE Japanese foods. They're in there under the watercress.
See? There they are <3 This place was just so PERFECT and exactly the kind of place I was hoping to find all over Japan. Tiny frontage, warm and cozy, also down some stairs... I loved everything. And it all smelt so good.
Crossing the river over to Shinsaibashi-suji, which is an even BIGGER shopping strip but covered. Also yes that's a ferris wheel, and the river practically GLOWS at night when the neon gets going, but we were in Kyoto by that time so you'll have to wait til the end for neon Osaka.
In here we went to Tokyu Hands, which has... frikking everything... but we were on the floor with art supplies 8DDDD omfg Japanese art supplies you guys. I bought a dozen brush pens, which have actual BRUSHES at the ends of them, including one with gold ink. They're beautiful to use. I wish I knew what I was looking at with calligraphy brushes cos I could've gotten a bunch of them, too. But eee, so much awesome. I could've stayed there for hours. I think we were there for close to one. Japanese art supplies 8DDD
Japanese dessert is basically French patisserie. I mean, I'm sure their own traditional stuff exists as well, but this seems to be the mainstream, and tbh they couldn't have picked a better dessert nation to poach the dessert from than the French. There's stuff like this all over the place. It's all SO delicate and precise, every layer perfect, really really tasty. I got the checkerboard one in the middle, which you may remember from my Insta and which was coffee and chocolate flavoured, and Cassie forgot to take a photo before she'd half-demolished it but it was chocolate. Also, we discovered early on the catch to these places. The cake was reasonably priced, usually around 500-600 yen which is what you'd pay for a slice of cheesecake at a cafe in Adelaide, but if you wanted to sit down to eat it there, you had to buy a drink. My green tea latte there was I think 1000 yen, which is about 3 times the price of your average latte in Adelaide. YEP.
Last of Osaka as we were heading to the train station to make our way to Kyoto! Little bit of a dying sunset, but frankly it turned out to be the most sunsetty thing we got the whole time, so I'll take what I can get XD
In Kyoto, we were staying here, which we ended up affectionately calling Za Bee because it's adorable. We were right by the train station and walking distance from about a million temples, Gion district and also this street which I'm amazed has a streetview. It is SO NARROW. It also appears not to have a name so I can't Google it to find more picturesque night views and I was stupid enough to not take photos. But like. All those closed doors are entrances to tiny restaurants, and they ALL looked amazing. So we picked one that had yakitori.
My saké! You get offered a tray full of different saké cups, so I picked the greenest of them and Cassie got a bigger one for her umeshu (plum wine, stupid-sweet, but she thinks saké tastes like drain cleaner, so to each their own!). The thing on the left, which we discovered later on is called a pitcher (idk why there's no actual Japanese word for a saké pourer but whatever) and this particular one has a little cradle that holds the ice, so your saké stays cold but doesn't dilute. SO CREVER. Also chips. So light and crispy. They make Thins look like thick cut.
DINNER 8DD Or some thereof. At the front, I think that was the squid? I forget. Kinda looks like prawns. Anyway. Also asparagus wrapped in pork belly (they wrap everything in pork belly. They seem to use it like bacon, mostly I think because they haven't figured out how to bacon), a scallop with awesome sauce. At the back is Cassie's stuff which is better seen on her Insta, including mushroom again wrapped in pork belly, probably chicken, possibly chicken skin, and idk maybe beef. We got many many more yakitoris, but this was just the point at which we had most stuff on the table at once that was worth photographing. omfg it was so delicious. I got two pots of saké (which is like two glasses of wine worth) and they were both lovely, because there was just so much to choose from and it was all little, so why the hell not? God I love yakitori. akljsdghas give me more.
Aww man now I'm remembering all the awesome food I had over there. I have to go back.
Then off we headed back to Za Bee for bed, having properly felt like we were now in Japan. Tomorrow the real photo dumps start. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
* Idk other cold countries might do, but I didn't see any in France or Britain so I'm just basing the entire northern hemisphere off of them.
Breakfast, as we came to do literally every day, was from the konbini. This is, I suppose, the Japanese equivalent of pies and sausage rolls. Steam buns with various fillings of pork, fish, pizza, cheese, mince, whatever, all gorgeously warm and sooooo good when you're freezing your arse off on the way to the train station, as we generally were. Also onigiri, which are wrapped SO cleverly and Japanese. Idk HOW but the plastic wrap goes between the seaweed and the rice, and yet the whole thing stays together ad you unwrap it, so it keeps your rice soft and the seaweed crispy. It's awesome. ALSO vending machines with hot drinks in them. Why is this not a thing anywhere else?* The coffee was insanely sweet so I only had that once, but the warm lemon was amaze. More of that please.
And then SPA WORLD! I'd been looking forward to this since Cassie mentioned it, but even more so since Cairns. Massive spa with seven different themed bath houses. The month of March had the women in the European-themed side (dudes got the Asian-themed side) so we disrobed, sat down on a stool to wash and feel very un-Australian by splashing water aaall over the place and not even caring, then into the spa! After having spent the entire previous day in transit, this was just what we needed. They were all about 40°C, so you warm up in about a minute and are then perfectly comfortable walking around in the nuddy all over the place. The Greece bath had herbs and botanicals in it, which smelt really lovely. Finland had little tubs you could sit in, then jump into the 20°C pool next to it. I made it as far as knee deep and couldn't be bothered inching any further, though I'm sure real Finns would laugh at me. The Spain baths were outside, where I'm sure it's gorgeous in summer but it was about 12°C and so windy that the steam was just blowing everywhere, so we 'ran' (tiptoed quickly but not slipping over and huddling in to cover boobies) into the water and sank down. Once again, though, you warm up after a minute and feel remarkably comfortable even if you're only in the water up to your knees, and the rest bared to the elements. It was delightful.
We also tried out the salt sauna, where you rub salt over yourself to exfoliate. That was weird. Final wash off and prissing up, then out into Osaka feeling incredibly refreshed and human again. Yes, now there are photos XD
OSAKA! Or a backstreet thereof. Cassie mocked me and said we weren't even on the main strip yet. I told her to shut up cos I was excited and she laughed at me =D Also I have no idea why this one was in 4:3 but whatever.
Dotonbori! Massive shopping strip. Osaka, as Cassie tells me, is famous for shopping and food, and by golly gee whiz we got both in spades. I am pleased to note there are at least two Japanese people in this photo taking shots of the giant crab. I always feel justified when locals are also interested in stuff that fascinates me XD Its legs move! Because of course they do.
Foooooood. First meal (excluding the konbini food because that was just in a rush, get some sustinance stuff) had to be takoyaki, so we got okonomiyaki at the same time, because frigging look at it. Little out of focus but whatever. It was so good. I want more.
And the takoyaki! Which is one of my FAVOURITE Japanese foods. They're in there under the watercress.
See? There they are <3 This place was just so PERFECT and exactly the kind of place I was hoping to find all over Japan. Tiny frontage, warm and cozy, also down some stairs... I loved everything. And it all smelt so good.
Crossing the river over to Shinsaibashi-suji, which is an even BIGGER shopping strip but covered. Also yes that's a ferris wheel, and the river practically GLOWS at night when the neon gets going, but we were in Kyoto by that time so you'll have to wait til the end for neon Osaka.
In here we went to Tokyu Hands, which has... frikking everything... but we were on the floor with art supplies 8DDDD omfg Japanese art supplies you guys. I bought a dozen brush pens, which have actual BRUSHES at the ends of them, including one with gold ink. They're beautiful to use. I wish I knew what I was looking at with calligraphy brushes cos I could've gotten a bunch of them, too. But eee, so much awesome. I could've stayed there for hours. I think we were there for close to one. Japanese art supplies 8DDD
Japanese dessert is basically French patisserie. I mean, I'm sure their own traditional stuff exists as well, but this seems to be the mainstream, and tbh they couldn't have picked a better dessert nation to poach the dessert from than the French. There's stuff like this all over the place. It's all SO delicate and precise, every layer perfect, really really tasty. I got the checkerboard one in the middle, which you may remember from my Insta and which was coffee and chocolate flavoured, and Cassie forgot to take a photo before she'd half-demolished it but it was chocolate. Also, we discovered early on the catch to these places. The cake was reasonably priced, usually around 500-600 yen which is what you'd pay for a slice of cheesecake at a cafe in Adelaide, but if you wanted to sit down to eat it there, you had to buy a drink. My green tea latte there was I think 1000 yen, which is about 3 times the price of your average latte in Adelaide. YEP.
Last of Osaka as we were heading to the train station to make our way to Kyoto! Little bit of a dying sunset, but frankly it turned out to be the most sunsetty thing we got the whole time, so I'll take what I can get XD
In Kyoto, we were staying here, which we ended up affectionately calling Za Bee because it's adorable. We were right by the train station and walking distance from about a million temples, Gion district and also this street which I'm amazed has a streetview. It is SO NARROW. It also appears not to have a name so I can't Google it to find more picturesque night views and I was stupid enough to not take photos. But like. All those closed doors are entrances to tiny restaurants, and they ALL looked amazing. So we picked one that had yakitori.
My saké! You get offered a tray full of different saké cups, so I picked the greenest of them and Cassie got a bigger one for her umeshu (plum wine, stupid-sweet, but she thinks saké tastes like drain cleaner, so to each their own!). The thing on the left, which we discovered later on is called a pitcher (idk why there's no actual Japanese word for a saké pourer but whatever) and this particular one has a little cradle that holds the ice, so your saké stays cold but doesn't dilute. SO CREVER. Also chips. So light and crispy. They make Thins look like thick cut.
DINNER 8DD Or some thereof. At the front, I think that was the squid? I forget. Kinda looks like prawns. Anyway. Also asparagus wrapped in pork belly (they wrap everything in pork belly. They seem to use it like bacon, mostly I think because they haven't figured out how to bacon), a scallop with awesome sauce. At the back is Cassie's stuff which is better seen on her Insta, including mushroom again wrapped in pork belly, probably chicken, possibly chicken skin, and idk maybe beef. We got many many more yakitoris, but this was just the point at which we had most stuff on the table at once that was worth photographing. omfg it was so delicious. I got two pots of saké (which is like two glasses of wine worth) and they were both lovely, because there was just so much to choose from and it was all little, so why the hell not? God I love yakitori. akljsdghas give me more.
Aww man now I'm remembering all the awesome food I had over there. I have to go back.
Then off we headed back to Za Bee for bed, having properly felt like we were now in Japan. Tomorrow the real photo dumps start. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
* Idk other cold countries might do, but I didn't see any in France or Britain so I'm just basing the entire northern hemisphere off of them.