Day 67-69 Cycle & Eat Till You Drop in Osaka, The Kitchen of the Nation

Aug 13 • Blog, Honshu • 3673 Views • 4 Comments

Osaka must be scary. That was my stereotypical prejudice I had about this big city. It is historically the city of merchants, where its people are known to be loud, funny, and very outspoken. They have been producing many comedians, speaking in their aggressive Osaka accent with unstoppable jokes about every subject.

The part about “scary” was overturned as soon as I crossed the border into this city. When I stopped for a beef bowl lunch (which was delicious), the restaurant owner who saw my sweaty cycling attire asked me what I was up to. When he found out it was my first visit to Osaka, he quietly made two onigiri’s (rice balls) with sesame seeds, and handed them to me as I was leaving. I’m really sorry Osaka, I had it all wrong! Prejudice is stupid, and so was I.

The personality of this city and its people are visually recognizable. I started my sightseeing with the Glico (the company that makes sweets like Pocky) sign at the entrance of Doutonbori district. When people see this image in Japan, they know it’s Osaka.

Along the river of Doutonbori, there are many, many restaurants with colorful, funny and loud signs that are sticking way out of their land into the street. This huge, moving crab sign is merely the start of it. Osaka, back in the middle of the 1800, was given the nickname, “Tenka no daidokoro,” meaning The Kitchen of the Nation. The city was the western center of Japan’s business and industry, where many consumer products came through for their logistical distribution.

Takoyaki shop would have a huge octopus to let you know they are there.

Even if you didn’t know Japanese, you would know what they must have here.

Here’s a piece of sushi for you!

They are expressive, I must say.

There is another funny thing about Osaka’s restaurant signs. They often say, “Nippon Ichi,” meaning they are number one in Japan, or “Ganso,” which means the original. Either way, we have no idea who said they were the best or the original of the dish. That is not really the point, rather, they believe and know that theirs is the best or the original. When you are selling something, you must believe in your product first to make others believe it too, which is a basic in the mentality of marketing, isn’t it. Osaka is indeed, the city of merchants. Their clear visual statement is loud, but also amusing and comedic, just like the people who love to make you laugh with their jokes.

Another iconic symbol of Osaka is this “Kuidaore” (eat till you drop) doll. He’d been placed in front of a restaurant for about 60 years to bring customers in, and was loved so much he still remains in Doutonbori even after the eatery closed in 2008.

Takoyaki is a nation’s popular snack from Osaka. Many families around this city have home-size takoyaki frying pans at home. This is an Osaka’s regional kitchen gadget.

Not only was I relieved by Osaka’s kind welcome, I was also pleasantly surprised of how easy the city was to get around on a bike. Many people rode bikes, and boy, were they colorful! Not only was I hardly the only bright pink bike, there was a whole gang of bikes in every color imaginable. Sakura seemed to fit right in.

Out of all the castles I’ve seen, the restored Osaka Castle was impressive to say the least, with its size, the decorative elements and the surrounding huge moat and landscape. The power of Toyotomi Hideyoshi back in the 1500′s can still be felt when you stand there.

The park around the castle was full of greens and people enjoying jogging. I enjoyed a quiet cycling time in the middle of the city, which reminded me of a big park in London.

As I continued wandering around town, I passed by a particularly attractive wagashi (Japanese sweets) shop. I put my bike in reverse and went in for a quiet tea time with momo (peach) daifuku mochi with real piece of peach inside.

Matcha is frothed powdered green tea, which balances very well with sweets. There are many types of green tea in Japan and they have been playing a big role in everyday life, as well as in sadō (way of tea), known as tea ceremony.

That evening, I met up with two cyclists in Osaka at the bottom of Tsutenkaku tower to go out to Osaka’s signature food for dinner.

Kushikatsu, that was. Kushi is the skinny bamboo skewer. Bite-size meat, vegetables and fish are breaded with panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) and fried on the sticks.

You dip that in the sauce and eat it (no double dipping allowed!). As you can probably tell, I had fun with my first-time kushikatsu. The part about people in Osaka being talkative and funny with many jokes were proven true over this dinner. I don’t remember a quiet moment from this meal!

On the next night, Eri, my friend in Kobe, came out for dinner and cake with me. We decided that a cake was a must for my recently-passed birthday. She knew of the popular Kobe’s patisserie that had a shop in Osaka. Not being able to narrow down our choice of one cake, we ended up with two cakes for each of us. I say there is no such thing as too many cakes for one’s birthday.

The cakes were so very good and so were the people who worked there. Look what happened at 11pm outside the cake shop!

They gave us some special gifts to take home as well; a preserved pink rose in a heart and some more goodies, which became my breakfast the next morning. Now, who thought Osaka was scary? Prejudice is only an imaginary picture of a scared mind. Seeing is believing, and I now believe Osaka is full of kind hearts and warm people who are eager to make you smile.

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