Paul Loman's Blog

So it’s goodbye Tokyo. Our plan today (Tuesday) is to catch the bullet train at Tokyo mainline station and head for Kyoto. But first, there’s the small matter of getting some provisions for lunch.


The the food hall to end all food halls (aka Tokyo Food Show) we clocked in Shibuya station the other day turns out to be the only one of its kind. It was the perfect place to pick up some food to go: sushi (of course), deep-fried prawns, salad and (wait for it) a scotch egg. The little blighter had a rather high egg to wrapping ratio (I hesitate to say meat) and is coated in a sticky, sweet coating.
En-route to Kyoto, Nick’s researches (on his ever-present Kindle-copy of Lonely Planet) revealed that Kyoto sight-seeing would be somewhat limited by early-closing times. A new plan was set. We’d stay on the train to Osaka, more suited for night-life.
We deposited our cases in a locker and caught the subway to Osaka aquarium, which shares its site at the harbour with a Big Wheel (not quite the biggest in the world). Happily, there a combined ticket for both attractions.

Last time I was in an aquarium, we took Barbara’s mum to Brighton Sea-life Centre, where we observed a few sea bass in a small tank. The step up to Osaka aquarium was like going from seeing Brighton play at Withdean to Barcelona at the Neucamp.

We have squillions of pictures but there’ll be video coming soon …

Oh, and that Wheel. It was now peppered with green lights against the night sky and didn’t disappoint.

There was still the small matter of getting to Kyoto and to our hotel. But it made sense to eat in Osaka first. The local food speciality is Okonomiyaki and Nick got it in his head to find a place on the way back to Osaka station. That meant a short subway ride to Namba. Now if the first night in Shinjuku was mental, Namba with its noise, neon, restaurant hustlers, and games arcades was a serious assault on the senses. A bit too much for me.

We ended up being served two pile-em-high cakes (not unlike pizza) which you cook yourself by prodding and turning on a hot plate till they’re hot and ready to eat. This was high-order stodge. Discomfort food – if there can be such a thing. Never again!

We got the hell out of there and needed subway, rail and taxi to reach our hotel for the night at 10.