Today we got to Japan. We flew from Taiwan to Osaka. Japan is made out of 3,000 islands in the shape of a seahorse. Osaka is kind of in the middle. We took a train from the airport to our neighborhood near Tsuruhashi station. We walked to our house and ate dinner. It was a long travel day and I couldn’t wait to go to bed. It was very quiet. People in Japan are very respectful of other people so they are quiet. Even on the train nobody talks. It is very different than other places in the world that I have been.
The next day we stayed in for breakfast and school and then went out for lunch. We got sushi for lunch and it was SO GOOD! At first, at the sushi restaurant they didn’t let us in. We thought they were saying “ONLY JAPANESE” people can eat here. But, after we used our Google Translate to explain that we really want to try their food, we noticed that they were saying “ONLY JAPANESE MENU”. A lot of foreigners have a hard time with the menus and waiters and people in charge of the restaurant because they only speak Japanese and the menus are very different. So it is a hassle for everyone. But this man took us to a room upstairs with no other customers and was patient while we Google translated our order to Japanese. Before we sat down, he asked us to take off our shoes. Then we sat down on cushions on the floor on tatami mats at the table. It was awesome. We worked together for 30 minutes on the menu and the board on the wall and finally placed our order and figured it out. We got 2 ginger ales, 2 hot green teas, tuna, salmon, yellowtail, soup, tofu, beef, rice and “oden”. Oden is a variety of different local items in a tasty hot broth and you pick individually what items you want. It is common and special to Osaka. The meal was the most awesome meal I have ever had. I love sushi and it tasted so good. Also, it was really special to finally be in Japan and be in such a awesome room eating this way.
Japan toilets are also AWESOME!! On the wall next to the toilets there is a panel with all these different buttons with seat warmers, flushing, seat opening/closing, sprayer, temperature, sound effects and more cool stuff!! You don’t have to use toilet paper if you don’t want to, you can just push the spray button and VOILA!! Fresh and clean!!! I really wish they were common in the States. We only see them at the Japanese market and Japanese restaurants in the US.
The next day we went to a sushi making class!!!!! We walked 35 minutes to a neighborhood near Kuromon market. When we got there a lady let us inside a sliding Japanese door (they are common everywhere here). The lady’s name was Tomi. She was the sushi chef and our teacher. She was wearing something that looked like a kimono with an apron over it. She she gave us sushi chef jackets to wear. Anna and I had to roll up the sleeves a little bit because they were for adults. She offered us tea and we sat down at our stations. At each of our stations was an origami paper crane that Tomi folded for us. I learned how to cut sashimi, make rice balls for nigiri sushi, make tamago (egg sushi), and how to blow-torch eel (My crane’s nose got burned hahaha). I enjoyed our class because I love cooking and I love sushi. Tomi was very patient and kind and a good teacher. After we were done making our sushi, she got out four wooden boats. I was SO EXCITED because I remember seeing these boats when I was little. I got to put the sushi I made on the boat and decorate the boat with a maple leaf, a shrimp head, and a flag that said “BIG FISHING BOAT”, 大漁船 in Japanese characters. Then we got to eat what we prepared off of the boat. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS!! It was one of my favorite classes EVER!!!
Another thing I like about Japan is the traditional Japanese breakfast. Normally it is miso soup, rice and fish or protein. But the way we do it is just miso soup and maybe an egg or a little rice. Eating miso soup here is fun because you get to slurp really loudly and it drives my mom crazy. It is accepted and encouraged to slurp loudly in Japan. When you eat noodle soup here, it is considered rude NOT to slurp!!!!! So SLURP AWAY PEOPLE!!!
One day we went to visit Osaka Castle. We walked for 40 minutes and got to a big park with so many trees that were all different colors. Osaka is really cool looking in the fall because they have awesome trees here that turn so many colors. We walked up to the castle and saw a big moat. Then we walked up a bridge that was connected to the castle. We got our tickets and went into the castle which is now a museum. It is eight floors and I learned all about samurais and the wars they fought for the emperors. What I liked most about the castle were the samurai helmets. They were really cool designs and some had dents and bullet holes!! The castle was sort of boring, but what happened after was NOT BORING AT ALL!!! We went to Dotonburi and got OKONOMIYAKI!!!! YUM!!!! Okonomiyaki is like a Japanese pizza pancake omelet with a bunch of yummy ingredients and toppings. The one I loved had meat and seafood and lots of cabbage and okonomiyaki sauce, bonito flakes and spice. It was called AJINOYA’S SPECIAL MIX. It was AMAZING!!! Another cool thing is it is on a hot skillet table right in front of you! You order before you get a table and they put it on the skillet table after you sit down. Then you have to wait while it cooks in front of you and the guy comes over and flips it once in a while and then you get to put on your own toppings!! SO FUN!!
On the way home, we got to catch the end of the Japan National Sumo Championship! It was on when we walked past a TV store, so that was really good timing. The winner won all kinds of gigantic items, like a giant tea cup, a giant metal pitcher/kettle, a giant gold cup, a giant bowl, a giant purple and yellow macaron and some papers.
One thing I got to do a lot of in Osaka is check out the parks and gardens. The parks are really cool. They all have a big half dome, flipped over so you can slide down and climb up them. In my opinion, they are really fun! One day we played there with a bunch of school kids and stayed there for hours. We were having so much fun. Then on the way home we stopped at an arcade and capsule toy place. A capsule toy machine is a machine that you put money into and a ball comes out with a surprise toy in it. There are stores with only these machines and the aisles are lined with hundreds of these machines. Some examples of the toys that come out are fidget cubes, animal statues praying or bowing, Chucky dolls, cartoon characters, funny fruit or vegetable erasers, glow in the dark squishies and mini Anime dolls. Anime means animated Japanese cartoon drawing or computer drawing and it is VERY popular in Japan. Everyone here is crazy for it. I haven’t really gotten into it because we don’t get to watch much TV. After the arcade, we went to our favorite conveyor belt sushi place that we always go to in Torrance. The chain started in Japan, but it has a bunch of LA locations and we were so happy to be there we felt right at home!! On the way home we accidentally stumbled into the Billiken statue. We rubbed it’s foot for good luck. In the street there was also a giant pufferfish. It was attached to a building and it was yellow and blue. In Japanese, pufferfish is called “fugu”. DO NOT EAT THIS DISH!!! Fugu/pufferfish is EXTREMELY POISONOUS if you want to eat it, you have to go to the best chefs.
Today we went to a Korean food restaurant. We had reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally great beef that you could cook with the grill built into the table right in front of you!!!!! And some cold noodles in sour soup!! WOW I never knew how good Korean food was!! After that we went to a really cool park. Anna and I played on the swings for the whole time. Next we walked to a Cheesecake place on the way we happen to run into a temple that was sooooooooooooooo beautiful. We walked through it and then kept walking and got to the Cheesecake place. We waited for a little bit and then went inside to eat the cheesecake. It was very jiggly. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry got a little carried away. Anyway it’s a famous Cheesecake place in Osaka (But seriously, it was that good). Then we went to another park!!! We stayed there for a little while and then came home and played with Legos. Tomorrow we are leaving for Kyoto and I am really excited because my cousins are coming!!!!!
