Kuromon Market

I came to Osaka primarily for the food, and for the fact that I could save a couple hundred dollars in airfare by flying home out of KIX. I knew very little about the city before visiting, and thanks to a typhoon, I got an extra day to explore Osaka when I moved around my plans to avoid traveling during the storm. Osaka became my home base for four of my last five days in Japan and I enjoyed wandering the city in search of some fun. I found night to be when Osaka came alive, but there was plenty to enjoy in the city during the daylight hours as well.

Top of my list, and a perfect way to while away some time during that typhoon passing through, was the Kuromon Market. Its long aisles of merchants featuring exotic (to me) food was a great respite from the wind and rain raging outside.

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I had a decision to make – where to go on a two week solo trip in October? As I sat in an airport in June waiting for a delayed flight home, I started piecing together possible trips and scouting airfares. While I kept looking at a wide variety of locations – Chile, Ireland, Spain, Belgium – I kept coming back to Japan. Although those other locations strongly appealed to me, I ended up selecting Japan for two main reasons. First, it scared me a bit (in a good way). And secondly, and most importantly, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the food I could try. When I finally bought my airline ticket, this trip was already on its way to being a two-week long foodie adventure in the making.

Over the trip, I ate ridiculously well. Some I’ve written about already, like a higher-end sushi experience in Tokyo. For as much as I enjoy a fancy meal, I’m also a sucker for a more approachable feast, and on my first full day in Tokyo I made a beeline to a recommended conveyor belt sushi place. The idea of delicious sushi passing before me was perfect as I was jetlagged and starving, and over the course of an hour I put away a hefty amount of delicious sushi. It was a good start to my eating adventures.