“Where were you?!”
Sorry about the lack of updates, I was lost, searching for a reason to like Osaka.
I enjoyed Universal, but I don’t count that as part of the city. It could have been located anywhere and been just as magical.
It wasn’t until our last day that I felt like I finally got a sense of the place. We waded through the human traffic at Dotonburi at night. We visited the Kamigata ukiyo-e (woodblock print) museum, where I discovered my new favourite artist, Yoshida Hiroshi. We rode the Ebisu Tower ferris wheel. We dropped into countless secondhand luxury goods stores and traded off oohs and ahhs over rare watches and handbags. We made friends with the chef at our new favourite Italian restaurant down some alley near a train station.
Tokyo’s got more of everything. The friendlier folks seem to be in Hiroshima which also has more space, better public transport and better okonomiyaki (yeah, I said it). Kyoto’s got more temples and shrines, was also a former capital but for 1000 years, not a decade (ooh burn) and a better (relative I suppose) castle is 45 minutes west outside of the city.
I suppose I just don’t get Osaka and that’s okay. It’s the third largest city in Japan, so plenty of people clearly do get it and more power to them. Regardless, I will be back one day. I promised the chef at Birreria e Pizzeria Luce that we’d return for another of their outstanding pizzas.
– T