Favourite 2019 travel photos. Osaka, Japan. October 2019
Osaka alley cat
Osaka
The happiest place on earth
At some point in the spring of 2019 I watched an episode of the Netflix series “Street Food” centered on Osaka and the story of Toyo and his izakaya. I was transfixed by all of the food featured on that show, but the memory of Toyo’s tiny, open air bar stuck in my mind. I immediately wanted to visit it. Fast forward to June, and when I was planning my big trip for the year, the izakaya, Toyo himself, and the amazing food wouldn’t leave my mind. I ended up buying plane tickets to Japan and planned to fly home out of Osaka so I could visit Izakaya Toyo.
Sometimes the ideas of things surpass their reality. But not in this case. On my last day in Osaka, knowing how popular this little bar is, I walked past more than an hour before opening and gave Toyo a wave that he returned before returning to preparing his humble restaurant.
Exploring Osaka
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.
The reason for the trip
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.
Osaka at night
While I knew the two cities would have very different vibes, the differences between Tokyo and Osaka were dramatic. Tokyo, crowded yet organized and efficient, did not prepare me for Osaka. Osaka was harried and disjointed, but also looser and free-flowing, and felt a world away from its more buttoned up neighbour a couple of hours to the east. Where Tokyo felt like a city where everything was in its proper place, Osaka felt like a city just trying to hold itself together…. and I loved it.
Nighttime was when I felt Osaka showed its real charm.
A taste of Japanese craft beer
On my first Sunday in Japan, I felt a bit adrift. Fall Sundays for me are usually spent in my basement, a collection of delicious snacks and excellent craft beer near at hand to sustain me for a day’s worth of watching football. I didn’t really have any desire to spend my precious time in Tokyo seeking out a bar to watch NFL football in, but I had a plan for visiting some excellent craft beer bars and thought that would be a nice way to enjoy an afternoon.
After filling up my belly with a healthy amount of sushi at a fun conveyor-belt place in the neighbourhood, I made my way to the taproom at the Baird Brewing Company. While there was no football on, the World Cup of Rugby was underway so I had a prime seat with a group of ex-pat New Zealanders watching their country take on Namibia.
So many memories
I really had nothing to worry about. While I hesitated booking this trip and then felt intimidated trying to plan for it, once I touched down in Japan, everything just clicked. This is a country that I wanted to visit for some time, but doing so as an extended solo trip gave me pause for thought. Would I get homesick? Would I be lonely? Would the language and cultural barriers be too much for me on my own? Would any of that make this trip difficult in a way that would limit my own enjoyment of a much needed vacation? As I write this a few hours before catching my flight home, none of that ever materialized. And that’s all due to how wonderful Japan and its people are.
This was a trip full of memories. Hiking through the mountains outside Kyoto and listening to the previous day’s typhoon rains streaming down the hills, visiting temples and shrines, eating exquisite sushi, attending a playoff baseball game, exploring Tokyo, eating my way through Osaka, hanging out on a beach in Kamakura and thinking about my family and friends… Every day gave me something to remember.
This won’t be a trip where there’s one primary thing I take away. It has been a trip that is already forming a collage in my mind of conversations, tastes, sights, and most importantly, feelings. I have felt it all here. Awe in the presence of the physical and natural beauty. Sheer happiness visiting a crazy izakaya. Bewilderment while figuring out cultural norms and then pride in a sense of growing confidence as I figured things out. And a whole lot of pure, unadulterated joy at being so far from home and enjoying my time here to the fullest.
I am prone to easily falling in love with some of the places I visit, but even given that, I can honestly say that I have fallen in love with Japan and it has left a beautiful mark on my heart. Its people have been unfailingly warm, kind and generous to me; they have made me smile and laugh, and made me want to be better to others I meet, the way they have been to me over the past two weeks.
Two weeks hasn’t been enough time as there is so much more I want to see, experience and taste (especially, taste!). But it was also perfect. The soles of my shoes have been worn down, I’m starting to long for home and the people (and dog) I miss, and my heart is overflowing from what I have felt here in Japan. This trip could not have been more perfect.
Thank you Japan.
Bluenose Traveler 