A nice and unusual hotel and a rainy day in Umeda, Osaka

27 November 2016

After visiting Kobe and Himeji, we would be staying a couple of nights in Osaka before flying home. There were two main areas in Osaka that we considered – Umeda or Namba. My preference was to stay in the Namba area where most of the places I intended to visit were located. However, I had some British Airways Avios points which were due to expire and one of the hotels that I could use my points on was the Hotel Monterey Osaka, located in the Umeda area. So, I ended up staying in Umeda which was still alright since one of the day would be spent exploring the Umeda area.

From Kobe’s Sannomiya Terminal Hotel, we took a direct JR train to Osaka Station. The Hotel Monterey Osaka was only a 5-minute walk from JR Osaka Train Station (Sakura-bashi Exit). We did not do luggage forwarding for this segment since both hotels were located near the train stations.

Hotel Monterey Osaka was quite unusual for a hotel in Japan. The decor was distinctly European and there was even a chapel within the hotel.

Chapel within the Hotel Monterey Osaka.

I like this hotel for its character and charm.  Even a ride on its elevator was kind of amusing; watching the archaic floor level indicator slides slowly from 1 to level 12 where our room was located.

Old fashion door bell and a flowery clock.

The room was reasonably spacious, with a King-size bed which was not common in most local Japanese hotels. In addition to green tea bags, this hotel provided coffee bags. These bags were actually well-designed drip coffee bags.

My original plan for a day in the Umeda area was quite ambitious. We were planning to go explore the malls around Umeda such as Herbis Plaza, Grand Front Osaka and also the Umeda Sky Building.  However, the day we arrived at Osaka was a day of rain. 

The 40 storeys of the Umeda Sky Building made it one of the tallest buildings in Japan. Its unique design features escalators encased in glass tubing, suspended between its two towers, which lead all the way up to its greatest height: an upper atrium that contains the luminous 'floating sky garden.' at 39th floor. My plan to go to the rooftop observatory which was supposed to offer a delightful view of the city (especially at sunset or nightfall) was dashed since it was rainy and cloudy. 

While there could be many things to do in Osaka on a rainy day, we decided to have a slow day and just go explore the Grand Front Osaka. The Grand Front Osaka is a large commercial complex north of JR Osaka Station. Elevated walkways connect the multiple buildings of Grand Front Osaka to each other and to Osaka Station. Going from Osaka Station, we reached the South Building first and spent some time shopping for warm clothing, in preparation for a trip to Stockholm in the coming winter.

Simple lunch at the South Building.

After lunch, we went to the Northern Building. We found that the Northern Building, with its Knowledge Capital more interesting than the South Building which was a normal mall.

Knowledge Capital features large interactive exhibits that give the place a fun science centre feel. Shops here are called “labs”.  There were the Coca-Cola lab, one for robotic pets, and a Suntory cafe/store/museum. 

The Coca-Cola lab was the quite interesting. Visitors can buy bottles of Coca-Cola  drinks with customised labels on them. There were also special Japan edition of bottled cola featuring scenes of Mount Fuji and Geisha.

Special Japan edition of bottled cola featuring scenes of Mount Fuji.

We ended the day with wagyu beef steak dinner at one of the restaurant near our hotel. Although the beef was nicer than most beef steak, we felt that still cannot compared to beef that was cooked yakiniku style.

The memory of the best wagyu beef yakiniku meal still lingered in my memory. That was in Hida Takayama a year ago. One last thing we must do before leaving Japan was to have Beef Yakiniku. 

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Exploring Osaka Namba area – Kuromon Ichiba Market

28 November 2016

After enduring a rainy first day in Osaka, the weather was fortunately good for our visit to the Namba area of Osaka. We started the day by taking the subway from Nishi-Umeda subway station to the Namba subway station.  Kuromon Ichiba Market (Kuromon translated means “black gate”), located in the Namba area of Osaka, was easily reached by a short walk from the Namba Subway Station.

This is one of the most well known central food markets and a top spot for fresh seafood, local produce and street food in Osaka!  Therefore, this is a must-visit place in Osaka for foodies and it was best to go with an empty stomach and a wallet full of yen. 

Compared to Kyoto’s Nishiki Market, Kuromon Ichiba Market has more stalls selling foodstuff that tourists can consume on site. When we arrived at about 9.30 AM, this place was already quite crowded. Most of the visitors, mostly tourists, were on the main street. The side streets were not so crowded.

The rest of this blog post describes what we saw and ate at this market.

One of the typical seafood store with loads of fresh seafood on sale for on site consumption or take-away. This stall sells the Kingcrab and giant salted grilled prawn.

“White” strawberries.

Some of the sweetest and most expensive rock melons are produced and sold in Japan.

Minami Fish Store - Shop selling the Japanese delicacy fugu, or pufferfish.

“One man’s meat, another man’s poison” – as the saying goes. The fugu is so poisonous that the smallest mistake in its preparation could be fatal. Only trained chef is allowed to prepare the dish.

Fugu in tanks.

After a walk along the entire street which was about 600 meter long, we made a mental note of what we were going to eat and got down to it. Definitely no fugu! 

Live sea urchin  - the stall-owner will open, clean and serve the edible creamy orange insides of the sea urchin to customers.

 

A must try in this market would be the fresh seafood. Our first course was sashimi.

Assorted sashimi for 2500 yen.

The best and most tasty was these slices of well-marbled fatty tuna.

The seafood were all pre-packed and displayed. Just select what you fancy, pay for it at the cashier and go find a place to enjoy the food. The seafood stores has tables and chairs set up within their premises where we could sit and consume our food. Soy sauce, wasabi, chopsticks were provided.

Next course after the sashimi was a king-size salt-coated grilled prawn.

Giant salt-coated grilled prawn.

There was a stall selling freshly grilled scallops. The aroma from the grilled scallop was so enticing. For 1000 yen, the stall-holder will clean a large scallop, load it with butter and soy sauce and grilled it over a charcoal fire.

 

We came across a stall called the Kurogin Tuna Store with a man carving up a large tuna. After acquiring a taste for the fatty tuna during this trip, we could not resist the sliced tuna sashimi that was sold at this store.  The sliced tuna were packed in boxes and there were many options to choose from: Otoro, Chutoro, Akami, Assorted, Sashimi or Sushi.

We bought some otoro  (fatty tuna sashimi) from this stall, to be consumed immediately by the side of the stall. The "Otoro" is the most valuable and expensive cut from the underbelly of the tuna and is also the fattest. The pink colour came from the high levels of omega-3 fats that are found in the flesh and is a prized delicacy for the melt-in-the-mouth taste. 

Pink fatty tuna slices (Otoro) for 3000 yen. 

 

After indulging in the fatty tuna, we patronise a store selling the wagyu beef on skewers. Beef from many regions of Japan were sold here, e.g. Saga, Kobe, Matsusaka. One of the most expensive beef is the Matsusaka beef where some may claim is better tasting than the more famous Kobe beef.

We could not resist the temptation to have a stick of Matsusaka Beef skewer.  

 

While the beef was delicious, the portion was small. On hindsight, we felt that it was not worth paying 2500 yen for this skewer of Matsusaka Beef. It would be better to save that money and go splurge on a proper Matzusaka Beef Yakiniku dinner at some other time.

We back to the stall selling the giant grilled prawn and bought a box of huge boiled King-crab claws and legs for 5800 Yen. We loved eating crabs and this is one of the highlights of our visit. This was our last seafood item at this market.

Coffee lovers should check out this store selling coffee from all over the world.

 

One of the best thing to drink at the Kuromon Ichiba Market. Freshly ground and brewed coffee from this stall.

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Exploring Osaka Namba area – Dotonbori Street and Shinsaibashi Shopping Street

28 November 2016

After a morning of eating at the Kuromon Ichiba Market, we headed north to the Dotonbori canal.  The entire area of Dotonbori is thronged with an unbelievable number of restaurants and amusement facilities, starting with the famous Kani Doraku restaurant near the Nihonbashi Bridge.

Dotonbori is another place in Osaka where visitors could eat and eat. We already had our fill at the Kuramon Ichiba Market, so the next best thing to do is just to enjoy the vibrant atmosphere and take it the sights.

You can guess by the large signage what the stores are selling.

Large puffer-fish on top of a fugu restaurant.

This stall sells dragon meat? No, this is the Kinryu (Golden Dragin) Ramen restaurant.

Okonomiyakai is one of the food to try along Dotonbori. There are many Okonomiyaki restaurants.

Another Kani Doraku restaurant with the iconic red crab with moving claws and legs along Dotonbori.

We spotted a picture of ourselves; candid camera.

Inside a confectionary store. 

Dotonbori is a great place to pick up Japanese souvenirs, manga and anime keepsakes, knick-knacks, sweets and treats.

The famous Glico Running Man sign by the Dotonbori canal.

From the Ebisubashi bridge, next to the Running Man sign, we can see the entrance leading to the Shinsaibashi Shopping Street. 

There are many stores selling Takoyaki or Octopus Balls and our research led us to the Atchichi Honpo Dotobori shop, located by the canal.

We could see that this store was the most popular by the long queue. Takoyaki is one of the must-try street food at Dotonbori, so we joined the queue which moved quite fast. After buying our octopus balls, we managed to get a seat by the stall. We ate the steaming hot takoyaki while watching the cooking process.

One staff places one piece of cooked diced octopus into each mound in the metal tray, while his colleague was cooking the balls on an adjacent tray.

Some yellow coloured ingredients were sprinkled by hand into the trays.

He then came back with the batter and fills each mound with the batter.

Expertly turning the balls while it was being cooked. 

Final product. Nine Octopus Balls or Takoyaki from the Atchichi Honpo Dotobori shop for 500 yen. Brown sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes and shallots were added on top of it.

Before going to explore Shinsaibashi Shopping Street, we decided to go make a reservation for dinner. Of the many options for dinner along Dotonbori, we had craving for beef yakiniku and our research on the internet brought us to the Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M restaurant. This restaurant serves the famed Matsusaka Beef. We went to make reservation for dinner at the M Yokocho branch and was directed to go to the Gyu Nabe M restaurant instead.

Map showing the locations of the Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M restaurants in Dotonbori area.

The Gyu Nabe M restaurant is along the Hozenji Yokocho, a narrow, stone-paved path that leads to the Hozenji Temple. Cozy and quaint, both sides of the lane are lined with small food shops and cafes serving traditional Japanese food, including the Fugu.

Hozenji Yokocho, a narrow, stone-paved path that leads to the Hozenji Temple.

Although the name was that of Beef Sukiyaki, we were assured by the staff who took our reservation at the Gyu Nabe M restaurant that Beef Yakiniku is also served.

 

Hozenji Temple.

We went to visit the Hozenji Temple. We saw some people splashing water as an offering to the deity and pray for their prosperity. Because of the large amount of water splashed onto it, the statue has grown a large amount of moss.

A worshipper splashing water at the moss covered Fudo-myo statue.

After making our reservation, we went to walk the Shinsaibaishi Shopping Street, Osaka’s longest shopping arcade.  The arcade boasts a wide variety of shops, both local and well-known international brands. In the midst of window shopping along Shinsaibashi Shopping Street, we stopped for more food. This time, it was lobster roll from Luke’s Lobster, a popular NYC chain that had came to Japan.

Since we were visiting Osaka in autumn, we took a detour from the shopping street to take a look at the ginkgo lined Midosuji Street running parallel to the Shinsaibaishi Shopping Street.

Autumn foliage of gingko trees along Midosuji Dori.

Tired from all the walking, we rested at the coffee store till the sky turned dark. The sky turned dark pretty early in autumn so we did not have to wait too long.

 

Midosuji Dori at night looked so much nicer!

If Midosuji Dori at night looked nice, Dotonbori at night looked super awesome.

At night it is lit by hundreds of neon lights and mechanized signs. The canal area was specially nice at night, with the reflected neon lights shimmering in the water.

Boat tours took visitors for a cruise down the Dotonbori Canal.

The famous Glico Running Man sign by the Dotonbori canal.

Dotonbori was more colourful and vibrant at night. Many restaurants competing for the share of wallets.

 

Who has the fiercest stare?

Inside one of the souvenir stores.

Gudetama Toy Figurines - Only the Japanese could make an egg so cute!

Ebisu Bridge area.

The Ebisu Bridge area would give New York’s Times Square a good fight in terms of liveliness, sights and sound. There was even a live music and dance performance by a local girls’ group by the banks of the canal. Besides the sights and sound, Dotonbori is also home to some of the best restaurants serving some of the best food in the world. Amongst them, would be the famous beef of Japan. We ended our visit to Dotonbori with dinner at the Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M restaurant, enjoying the best beef in the world.

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Exploring Osaka Namba area – Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ) dinner at Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M restaurant

28 November 2016

Our quest for eating the best beef in the world in a good Japanese Grill (Yakiniku) restaurant led us to the Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M. This restaurant specialises in serving the prized Matsusaka beef.

We went to make a reservation for dinner at the Hozenji Yokocho branch in the afternoon but ended up being directed to dine at their Gyu-nabe M branch instead. We found that there were actually a few branches in the Dontobori and Yokocho area.  Although the name, Gyu-nabe, was that of Beef Sukiyaki, we were assured by the staff who took our reservation at the Gyu-nabe M restaurant that Beef Yakiniku was also served.

Map showing the locations of the Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M restaurants in Dotonbori area.

We arrived at the Gyu-nabe M restaurant promptly at our reservation time and the staff who took our reservation welcomed us warmly. We were led to a private room, with traditional Japanese style seating, for our dinner. 

The menu was extensive. There were interesting sections explaining the origin and certification of Matsusaka Beef.

Wagyu beef cannot be called Matsusaka Beef unless it is certified! Strict quality control.

”Considered as "the art of meat", MATSUSAKA BEEF get its tasty reputation and virgin status from the special treatment the cattle is given.
Raised between the Izumi and Miyagawa river in the suburban area of Matsusaka city, for several years all cattle is managed with the highest degree of quality and care. To ensure satisfaction to our customers, all cows are fed beer to create a healthy appetite, and given a body massage with a mixture of shochu. This particular treatment creates a smooth blood circulation throughout the body of our cows.”

The myth that the high grade Japanese beef were from cattle that was fed with beer and given special massages to produce the perfect meat seemed to be true! At least it is true for Matsusaka beef.

A chart provided in the menu showing the beef parts, ranked in terms of fatty marbling was interesting. No 12, 11, 10, and 9 were the more expensive parts.  There were chicken, pork,  seafood and vegetables in the yakiniku menu too.  To make things easy, we decided to order one of the set dinners. There were three Matsusaka beef courses. The Standard Course, Special Course and the Premium Course.  

Since we enjoy eating marbled beef, we went for the Matsusaka Special Course which cost 5800 Yen per person. It came with the following:

• Assorted appetizers
• Matsusaka Marbled Beef Sushi
• Matsusaka Short Rib with Leek and Salt
• House Salad
• 4 Different parts of Matsusaka Beef (mainly marbled beef) –chosen by chef
• Garlic Rice
• Today’s dessert.

**  The Standard course (3800 Yen/person), included 3 different parts of Matsusaka Beef (mainly lean beef). It also did not include the Matsusaka Marbled Beef Sushi.

Assorted appetizers, salad and the mandatory cold beer to go with the grilled meat.

Matsusaka Marbled Beef Sushi.

 

Friendly English speaking staff cooking the Matsusaka Short Rib with Leek and Salt at our table.

Matsusaka Short Rib with Leek and Salt.

4 Different parts of Matsusaka Beef (nicely marbled beef).

 

The 4 different parts of Matsusaka Beef  chosen by the chef were the M-Ribeye, Haneshita, Ranichi and Ohtoro Karubi. We grilled these beef ourselves, a few pieces at a  time, and ate the well marbled beef hot from the grill. This was the best way to taste the full flavour of the special meat. No need to add any dips except salt.

Garlic Rice.

Comparing the items provided in the set dinner against the cost of the individual items in the ala-carte menu, the set dinner was value for money. I highly recommend this restaurant for its high quality beef, friendly staff and nice ambience.

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Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan

29 November 2016

We had kept the last day of our trip to Japan as a “free and easy” day. Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan was not high on my list of “must-see” places when planning my itinerary since I had already seen some of the best aquariums in the world which included the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Ocean Park in Hong Kong.  Since we had already seen the best of Umeda and Namba area, we decided to spend our last day in Japan at this aquarium since it was highly rated and it houses whale sharks!

We bought the OSAKA Kaiyu Ticket which is a special one-day ticket that included entry to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan and unlimited rides on subway and buses within Osaka City for a day. This ticket cost 2550 Yen and is value for money since the entrance ticket to the aquarium itself costs 2300 Yen. The ticket was sold by the hotel. How convenient!

After checking out from our hotel and leaving our luggage in their safe keeping, we took the subway to the Osakako Station (Chuo Line). From there, there was a 10 to 15 minutes walk to aquarium. The aquarium is located in the Tempozan Bay area with a large Ferris Wheel that could be seen from a distance. On the way to the aquarium, we stopped by to have our breakfast at a small cat-themed cafe serving a simple breakfast but awesome siphon coffee!

Cat-themed calendars.

Ferris wheel at the Tempozan Bay area.

Tempozan Marketplace.

Although the aquarium opened at 10 AM and we arrived at about 11 AM, there was no queue outside. There were some nice photo opportunities outside the aquarium.

No queue to take a photo with a life-size model of the whale shark, one of the aquarium’s main attractions.

Selfies with a picture of a whale shark on the way into the aquarium.

We walked into the underwater tunnel ”Aqua Gate”, where we experienced the ocean all over us as if we were diving ourselves.

Then we had to make our way to the top floor with we started the tour. While taking the escalator to the top floor, I spotted a replica of the ship Santa Maria sailing by on Osaka Bay. 

The ship is modelled after the ship on which Columbus journeyed to the American Continent (although the replica is twice the size of the original). The Santa Maria cruise would take visitor for a paid tour of Osaka Bay from Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan at Tempozan Harbor Village.

Marine life in the aquarium were displayed in 15 tanks, each representing a specific region of the Pacific Rim, including the forest of Japan, Antarctica, the Great Barrier Reef and others. We slowly spiral down floor by floor around the central tank. The central tank, representing the Pacific Ocean, is nine meters deep and home to a whale shark, the aquarium's main attraction. Some of the tanks stretched over several floors, so we can get perspectives of the fishes and animals displayed within.

Here are some of my favourite exhibits and photos.

Japanese Giant salamander at the Japan Forest section – first time I had seen this critter.

We saw this species of crab in the middle of the forest while we were hiking along the Kumano Kodo Nakahechi Trail in the Kii Peninsula.

Otter exhibit in Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan.

Ring tailed coati from the Gulf of Panama.

This cute fish is a long spine porcupine fish.

 

Another small but deadly fish from the Amazon, the piranhas with rows of sharp teeth. A school of piranhas on a feeding frenzy that can reduce a larger prey to skeleton in minutes.

Penguins at the Antarctica exhibit.

Pacific white-sided dolphins were so playful with a ball.

 

Ocean sunfish with odd shaped body.

The Ocean sunfish was in a tank with lots of squids. These odd-shaped fish don't really have a normal-looking tail.

This is a seasonal exhibit and we were lucky to be able to see the huge sunfish. Because they are difficult to keep in captivity, there were only a few other aquariums that one can see this fish, namely the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the USA and Lisbon Oceanarium in Portugal.

 

The school of Japanese anchovies swimming in unison, round and round a massive rock structure, against the current was really awesome to watch.

 

School of Japanese anchovies.

School of tiny striped catfishes.

 

One of the reasons why I came to this aquarium was to see the whale shark, the aquarium's main attraction.  The central tank is massive, home to this gentle giant plus many other marine fish, large and small.

Awesome close-up view of the whale shark!

Despite its size, the whale shark is harmless to man. It feeds on plankton, krill and small fishes.

 

We spent many minutes on a bench in the lower floor of the tank, looking at the many species of sharks (Black Tips, White Tips, Hammerhead and Nurse Shark, etc.), many species of rays, giant groupers and schools of tuna, trevally and other fishes in the giant central tank. This beats diving into the ocean to get such experience. It was worth every yen of the entrance fee just to experience this.

Swimming in unison, a pair of rays at the Pacific Ocean exhibit. 

This is the most dangerous creature on Earth.

Japanese Spider Crab, the biggest crab in the world.

One of my favourite exhibits was the collection of jellyfishes. I have seen similar exhibits in Hong Kong’s Ocean Park and I will never be tired of watching them swimming gracefully in the tanks.

They were amazing and also amusing to watch. Some of the most beautiful marine critters are also the most deadly as they often carry poison in the microscopic barbs along the long trailing tentacles.

I like the interactive exhibits as well where we could get personally observe, hear and touch the exhibits. Smell too. The penguins exhibit at the Falkland Island zone smell a bit although the little penguins were so cute.

On the fourth floor, the Arctic living environment is recreated using real snow and ice.  It was nice watching the ringed seals playing amongst the ice in the pool.

 

At the “touch pool” of the Maldives zone, we could actually touch the rough sandpaper-like texture of sharks’ skin and the slimy feel of stingrays.

There was even an exhibit showing the preserved body of a Coelacanth. The Coelacanth is a truly prehistoric creature where fossilised remains that been found and thought to be extinct like the dinosaur, over 65 million years ago. Until a live fish was caught in 1938.

Coelacanth -  truly prehistoric creature that stills lives in our ocean. It was called a Living Fossil because its present-day form appears unchanged from the fossilised specimens.

It was cool to get to see the Coelacanth at the Kaiyukan, even though it was not a live fish. 

Overall, we enjoyed the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan so much that we spent about 5 hours inside. By the time we emerged, it was closed to 4.30 and we could see the sun almost setting across Osaka Bay.

For those with more time on their hands, it would be worthwhile to spent the evening at the Tempozan Marketplace and maybe have dinner at Naniwa Kuishinbo Yokocho, a food theme arcade taking the architecture and inspiration from 1955 traditional shopping and entertainment area.

As this was out last day in Osaka and we need to be at the Kansai International airport by 9.35 PM for our flight home, we went to have a quick dinner at Dotonbori (okonomiyaki dinner at the Mizuno restaurant) before returning to our hotel to pick up our luggage.

One good thing about staying at the Hotel Monterey Osaka is that there are convenient transport options to the airport. We chose to take the limousine bus from the Herbis Osaka Airport bus Stop, a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Although it costs slightly more compared to taking trains, it was more convenient and relaxing. 

During the 50 minutes to the Kansai International Airport, I reflected on my day at the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. A day truly well spent!

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