Japan ‘23 Day 2: Osaka backstreets
Lowkey morning and then took the Shinkansen to Osaka. I got to the station early to try to find the elusive vegetarian ekiben (train station bento box). It was not to be found (the response was an unequivocal “nai!” with hands crossed). Finally I just asked for a bento with a lot of vegetables and was directed towards one that was mostly seafood and veggies – perfect! There was tempura pumpkin, konnyaku (a gelatinous food made from a certain type of potato), two types of tofu, boiled veggies, tamagoyaki (sweet omelet), pickled plum, clams, silver salmon, and rice.
I enjoyed eating it on the train while staring out the window at the scenery.
From Shin-Osaka, I took the metro to Shinsaibashi where my hotel is. On the train, an elderly woman asked me if I was from America. We chatted in Japanese. When I got to my stop, she patted me on the back and told me to have a good time… and then gestured for me to make sure I held onto the rail when I stood up while the train was moving. Very sweet.
I checked in and took a half hour power nap. For my first night in Osaka, I booked a backstreets pub tour. I figured I would be tired and might not have the energy to find my own social activity. Also it would be helpful to not have to rely on my own mediocre Japanese to get around for a bit. The tour was a gem, run by a man from New Zealand who fell in love with Japan and had been living there for almost 20 years.
The area of Osaka we were in, Namba, has 1000’s of tiny bars packed into alleyways and multistory buildings. The bars often seat only a handful of people. There were 11 of us on the tour, so we filled up the places we visited. Having a tour guide who had connections and knew the area was key. He seemed to have close relationships with the owners of many places and he did a fantastic job of making sure we had a good sample of food and drinks to try.
We started at a tiny place called Minami Ichiban. There was another woman traveling alone on the tour so we sat together outside with the tour guide. The other 8 people were a group of couples, traveling together. They filled up the entire bar inside. We had beer and a couple of appetizers, then started walking through the alleyways to our destination for dinner.
In one of the buildings there is a “food court” with several tiny bars in the same indoor space. We had course after course of bar food: a light, crunchy pickled cucumber, edamame sautéed in butter, kushikatsu (fried food on a stick – for me it was shishito peppers, burdock root, salmon, and kisu fish), okonomiyaki minus the meat, and a sampling of nigiri sushi. This time I tried a yuzu chuhai instead of beer, which was very refreshing. The food was amazing and we started bar hopping after that.
The next bar was in a multi-story building with hallways full of tiny bars. It was kind of like walking through a massive apartment building where each apartment is a quirky, tiny, themed bar. We ended up at a place called ZZ bar owned by an older couple who are musicians. The walls are packed with an incredible collection of vinyl records. We all got whiskey highballs and eventually the husband and wife performed a song – he played guitar and she sang and played the tambourine.
Next place was another tiny place on the second floor of a building. There was surfboard artwork at the door, and waves painted on the ceiling. The owner was cracking jokes the whole time with a couple of regulars at the bar and he was definitely joking with us too, though I couldn’t understand what he was saying. He served us a Korean fermented rice drink called Makgeolli, served shaken into a froth and poured from a teakettle into bowls, which we drank from.
The owner also cooked vegetable gyoza for us. Before the gyoza he offered everyone in the bar half of a hot pepper, which we could dip in sesame oil. Only 4 of us tried it – it was delicious but it made my eyes water it was so hot. I said “kanashii” (i’m sad) and that made the owner and regulars laugh, which opened the door for a conversation with the one of the regulars who was standing next to me. I asked him about the surf theme of the bar and we chatted about surfing and travel. It was a blast and then we went on to the last place.
The final stop was a very old tiny bar that was standing room only with all of us there. The owner is an elderly man who is close friends with our guide. Most of the folks on the tour had whiskey, but a few of us tried a cocktail made with yogurt liqueur (I never even knew there was such a thing) and orange. It tasted like a creamsicle. Before leaving I asked the owner if i could take a picture with him.
Our guide was prepared to stay out longer, but I was hitting a wall from jet lag and lack of sleep. I wasn’t the only one, so we called it a night and I walked back to the hotel where I could barely stay awake long enough to brush my teeth. And… of course I’m wide awake again in the middle of the night writing this post!
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