Today I leave Taiwan. My brother and I ate breakfast and then watched a little T.V. We did one more apartment check to see if we left anything. But there was nothing so we left for the airport. When we got to the airport lounge we had a few snacks then went to our flight.
When we got to Osaka, we had to take a train to a station near our Airbnb. The trains in Japan are silent!! Literally! They are silent because Japanese people value their silence and they consider it respectful to stay silent so that they don’t disturb anyone around them. This was really different than ANYWHERE that I’ve been! After we arrived in Osaka, we walked to our apartment. The streets were narrow and it was a little colder than in Taiwan. Actually it was a lot colder. We finally got to use our jackets that we have been carrying in our backpacks for the past 4 months. When we got to our Airbnb, their were toys!! We got dinner from seven eleven and went home. We ate dinner. Then we went out again, but it was getting late so we went home and went to bed.
The next day we ate breakfast and went for a sushi lunch! It was the best sushi I ever had!! At first they said we couldn’t come in because we weren’t Japanese. But then my mom and dad talked to them and said that we could communicate with Google Translate so they said ok. They brought us into a room that didn’t have any other customers. We got to sit on tatami!! I love tatami because it is so soft and relaxing. The meal was really good even though it was really hard to order because it was a different kind of restaurant and everything was in Japanese only!!
Then we went to a market!! It was in Korea Town close to our house. Then we went home. Yay! Mommy prepared a yummy sushi roll dinner!! Then I went to bed.
The next day I went to a sushi cooking class! I got to wear a kimono chefs jacket!! We made a lot of sushi!! After we made all of it, we got to put it on a boat and then eat it! It was sooooooooooo good!!
Our class was near Kuramon Ichiba market in Osaka. Kuramon Market has very fresh fish every morning if you go early and that is where our sushi came from. My teacher was Tomi. Tomi is a sushi chef and she was really nice. She taught us how to cut fish, how to make sushi rice the right way and how to form it for nigiri and how to make tamago. IT WAS GREAT!! After the class Tomi showed us her terrarium. It was really cool. It had a little deer and a temple and some people. She even had real Japanese maple trees growing in there that she has to cut every other day because she keeps it small for the terrarium. After that she brought out an arcade claw game for us to try!! It was so fun and I grabbed a salmon nigiri keychain!!
After the sushi class, we walked to Dotonburi, a big, colorful, busy, crazy neighborhood in Osaka. We passed an arcade and we went in. Our dad let us try a few games if we wanted or we could save our money and go shopping with it! I chose to save my money and Cole played games with his. After the arcade I bought a rainbow slinky at Daiso with my arcade money.
While I was in Osaka, I practiced some Japanese arts. I did origami and made about 20 paper cranes. I also practiced calligraphy and writing Japanese letters. And I also wrote a haiku. My haiku was about frogs. A haiku has three lines with 5 syllables in the first and the third line and 7 syllables in the middle line. A haiku also should use a word that gives a clue about a season, like spring flowers or snow or falling leaves.
We went to a castle called Osaka Castle. It is eight stories tall. It was a castle back when the Samurais were alive. We climbed all the floors and looked at the exhibits because it is a museum now. We went to the top and guess what I saw?? I saw a baseball field. I also saw a parade. And I also saw a field with a tiny tent. I saw mountains and hills in the distance. Me and my brother found a little stuffy otter on the top. We left it there in case the person came back looking for it.
After the castle, we went to eat an Osaka specialty, OKONOMIYAKI!!! It was delicious!! It is made of egg, cabbage and lots of bonito and other toppings. We were so excited to try this restaurant and we had to wait in line for a very long time. It was worth the wait!!
Osaka was very fun! I loved all the cool parks and the sushi, okonomiyaki, cheesecake, and all the other yummy things we ate and fun things we did. I am sad to leave Osaka, but I can’t wait to go to Kyoto!! In Kyoto I will get to see my cousins who are coming to visit us for Thanksgiving!!
GOODBYE OSAKA!! I WILL MISS YOU!!