From the train

Ok, on the train to Shin osaka now. From 3 cities in 3 days we’ll switch to a rather more laid back 5 nights on Osaka, although I should visit Kyoto, and Himeji during those days. Daytrips are fun you see. Gotta take the Train for both of those, which thanks to the Rail Pass shouldn’t be a real problem, assuming I find the Osaka station JR place where you can activate your rail pass. It should be in the main station, but Osaka’s larger, like a small version of Tokyo. Atleast according to the books. They even bothered putting the subway map into the Rough Guide on Japan, which I guess says something about it. So much for the ”small” town feeling of Fukuoka or Hiroshima.

On the bright side that means nothing will ever be closed, and from what people say Osaka’s like the laid back version of Tokyo so it’ll be fun. That and they are like the inventors of Okonomiyaki, gods gift to hungry people. Except those in Afrika who don’t have electricity to warm the table plate.

Indeed it seems I got some time to muse about food here, since it’s still over an hour till we’re at shinOsaka. The best stuff I’ve eaten so far was prolly the okonomiyaki in Tokyo, in Hiroshima they have their own version of it where you don’t get to actually mix it yourself, but I had no time to test that one. I guess that’s one thing left for the next time I’m in Japan. Hiroshima seemed to have lots more to offer so that’ll have to be a stop next time round, preferably for like a week or something. There’s also the mountains which seem to be so much closer than when I was in Tokyo, but I’m again drifting from the important stuff, food.

Okonomiyaki is basically crepe dough that gets served to the table in a bowl with the other ingredients, usually some form of donkeyfood(salad for all you hippies..), along with whatever you chose as your ingredient, beef, cheese, mushrooms, etc. Etc. You mix those together and then comes the fun part. In the middle of your table there’s a huge like 45x45cm large plate. Which is hot. So you get to steak your own food at the table. Fun fun fun. Usually you coun about 1-2 okonomiyakis per person, so with 2-4 people sitting at the table you end up with lots of steaking and mixing and fun. There’s somekinda variations on the theme too, the Hiroshima version aparently doesn’t have the ingredients mixed for example. But we’ll see once we get to Osaka how the real deal is done.

Then there’s Ootoya, the most intresting of the restaurants I’ve visited. And yes, I’ve been there a few times. They are like this chain, but unlike all those Burger places I’ve also seen around they got pretty decent food, as in real food. Most portions have your miso soup, then some rice, of course -.- and whatever you orderd, my favorite so far is fried or steaked chicken with lotus and other veggies. Then you get to eat all that in a nice restaurant that’s usually centrally located, like in Hiroshima on the main shopping street, or in Shibuya close to Hachiko, Tower records etc. And since it’s in the second floor or basements, but not bottom floor you get the advantage of little tourists, and above all usually a window view onto the shopping frenzy happening out there. Really cool.

And of course there’s the whole raw fish deal. Sushi can be had both in restaurants served to the table, where you sometimes get good deals, but obviously the thing out here is kaitensushi, where they got the food circling around the cooking area and you sit there and just pick what you like as it cruises by. Incidentally Fuji TV had this voting thing where the people could vote the best places for that and Maguro Biito in Asakusa came in third. And obviously I stayed in Asakusa before, and once I get back to Tokyo it’s gonna be Ueno, so somewhat within walking distance, or if I’m too tired to walk within a stop or two of the ginza line.

I did try sashimi aswell, great stuff, although when i tried it there ended up being one fish that wasn’t really as tender and delicious as the rest. Since I can’t read the menus and so forth I got no idea which one that was. I know it wasn’t the salmon or tuna though, those were quite clear and absolutely delicious. You sort of get hungry just writing about them.

Oh well, that’s it for the food update while being on the Shinkansen. Let’s hope there’s net access at the hostel in Osaka, else I’ll have to go do some warwalking, find a mac shop or net cafe or something and just stalk infront of them while I boot up and upload this... ttyl