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Published: March 3rd 2006
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The Osaka Skyline
From the roof of the Umeda Sky Building "Sushi nigri Jackie Chan" came the knock at my door. Well it might as well have been. "Tell him to f*ck off" said the voice in my head. The comically stereotypical japanese student I had bumped into the evening before wanted his photo taken with me before setting off to tour italy. It gave me a good wakeup though, so I packed in preparation for my cookery course, and then the train to Osaka.
In Japan it seems there are 10 people doing my job, so I should hardly been suprised when a cookery course involved 4 people - 2 attendants, the instructor and a taxi driver. And I was the only person on the course. Well, me myself and Illixenber as they had creatively mispelt my name.
The course was great, run in the home of the instructor and very hands on, especially with the 1-1 nature of it. I was tought to cook:
- Tempura
- Miso Soup
- Boiled spinach and sesame seeds
- Pan fried tofu with ginger
- Chicken terriyaki
- Cucumber and seaweed salad
The course was a lot of fun, with frequent visits to the pocket translator to avoid confusion
Umeda Sky Building
You either love it or hate it between manure and mayonnaise. I was plied with sake over eating, and given another bottle to take with me. It turns out the instructors husband is a rep for a sake company. Excellent!
Stuffed and a bit pissed I headed off to Osaka, and the New Japan Sauna and Capsule Hotel. Classy! The hotel at about 13 pounds a night was a steal though. Its location however... in the middle of one of the most full on red light districts I have ever seen. 'pink cabarets', fetish shops and love hotels line the streets with no exception to the east. Luckily to the west are a lot of clubs, bars and restaurants to escape to.
I decided an introduction to the city was needed, so I went up the Umeda sky tower, regarded by some as a space age Arc du Triumph with its two towers and joning "Sky garden". The view was great, but not as great as the ride up. I felt like Charly in the great glass elevator - for it was just that that whisked you from the ground to the top in seemingly no time. I stayed up there to see sunset, then
headed down town for some food and beers.
Dotombi is district of Osaka which is just crazy. It has floor to ceiling neon, and more restaurants, bars, clubs and casinos than you could hope to visit in a lifetime. The main streets are the realm of the ultra modern, and the back streets are the realm of the traditional. It is put simply a great place to be in the evening. I went to a Kaitzen-Zushi bar (conveyer belt...think Yo Sushi) and tried to complete my list of sushi. Having ticked of Unagi (eel), squids foot, octopus tentacle and a few others I wandered off to soak up the atmosphere, before heading back to the capsule hotel for the night.
In the New Japan, clothes are left at the door along with shoes. Only robes and barefoot are allowed beyond reception, and after walking through a small cafe/bar and a lounge you come to the sleeping pods. Corridors as long as the eye can see filled with chambers, just shorter than me and stacked 2 high. Although they were a suprisingly good sleep, and I would recommend the experience to anyone. In fact I'm booked in again tomorrow!
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Andrew
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Capsule hotel
By the looks of it we could get about a dozen of those capsule things in your bedroom at home. We could then take on lots of lodgers. Mum said don't forget to wiggle your toes as you could get DVT in one of thoes coffins