So arrived in Osaka and you can already feel the energy of the city. Very genki and a stark contrast to the more chilled atmosphere of Kyoto.

I checked into the j-hopper hostel which was a little difficult to find from the station. A pretty eccentric guy with a bow tie and a bike found me wondering the streets with my backpack near by who just so happened to work at the hostel and pointed me in the right direction.

Pretty basic compact hostel with a backpacker vibe which was a reality check to what hostels are normally like when comparing to piece hostel in Kyoto.

I had arranged to do a cycle tour through Cycle Osaka the following day which was run by Sam, an old school friend of mine. Unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow was rain so we postponed the tour to another day, but I gave him a call and caught up over a beer. Been a good 15 years since I saw him so it was nice to see peoples journey from the deepest darkest depths of old Saint Benedict, Derby.

A friend had recommended a place to go and try the local variation of Okonomiyaki. As per usual there was a queue and the queue was made up of local salary men and other Japanese tourists.

While queuing I noticed some kids shouting at each other. Kids here are generally extremely well behaved and hardly ever saw a tantrum being thrown. I would regularly see kids as young as 5 or 6 navigating the train networks by themselves to get to or from school. Despite what crazy stories you hear of the extreme mad people there is always a level of comfort that Japan is a safe place. So to see a couple of boys hooting at each other was a surprise. Seems the Osakans are a little less reserved than the rest of Japan and aren’t afraid to express their opinions. Although still in a relatively respectful manner. Transpired these boys were a 3-5 year old brothers and they were getting a little competitive about who was stronger. All very cute.

Onto the actual food. The place sat no more than 12 people around the main grill with just enough space for someone to stand behind and wait patiently for others to finish eating. The okonomiyaki was much thinner than normal and various choices of filling. As per usual walked out absolutely stuffed

Next morning I moved to another hostel closer to the hustle and bustle of the center of Osaka. Joys of hosteling is general availability of rooms. All the places I had inquired did not have spare rooms for the duration of my stay in Osaka. The second hostel was Hana hostel which was a lovely place with extremely helpful and chatty staff. The day I arrived there was a takoyaki (octopus balls) party where fellow guests would sit down together and chat whilst making takoyaki. Met interesting group of people from all over the world. A large number from Taiwan, but others from Malaysia, Switzerland, Spain as well as Japan.

The next day I walk around the shopping district and see the distinctive characters that litter the shop frontages to advertise what kind of food they serve

 

Cycle Osaka

Sam was a couple of years below me at school and I had heard he was living and working in Osaka

Turns out it was a cycle tour company: http://cycleosaka.com/

He was extremely well versed on the history of Osaka and gave a little bit of everything on the tour.

There was a journey through Osaka’s change in architecture, imperial history, an insight into cultural comparisons, views into it’s infrastructural and political changes and generally lots of little nuggets of information you would be hard pressed to find any other way. He stopped at regular intervals to check on the group and provided a flip book with pictures and information and how things have changed over time.

He took us to places you just would not discover by yourself or with any guidebook. The bikes were in excellent condition and the ride itself was a pretty easy ride, suitable for all abilities.

The tour was accommodating with each individuals in the group. He also went as far as to help some of the group organise some of their next days activities with absolutely no benefit to himself.

Cycle Osaka were extremely professional and best of all it was all delivered with a good sense of (pretty British) humour.

I felt it was great value for money and learnt so much about Osaka in fun medium. Highly recommend to anyone visiting Osaka.

Sumo

Turns out the Sumo tournament was in town that week and with Sam’s help I managed to buy some tickets from a convenience store.

Wasn’t really sure what to expect, but the whole thing was very different to most sporting events I’ve been to.

So many people in such a small arena with families taking up little areas with nothing but a tatami mat and cushions to sit on. My tickets were for the main stand. Pretty typical Japanese compact seating.

The event lasted a few hours which was predominately with sumo wrestlers paraded around, doing a little dance, throwing some salt, throwing a bit more salt, getting ready battle, trying to catch the other guy out with a false start multiple times and finally about 3-10 seconds of one big guy throwing the other big guy out the ring.

Now anyone like me would have seen one documentary or other that these guys go through a life long hell in terms of conditioning and training. All for a short cuddle and push. Big respect to these guys. Not an easy life.

Some pretty epic thrown downs in the middle of it all. Ones where judges had to jump out of their seated position for fear of getting squashed.

    

On my final night in Osaka I thought I’d give a capsule hotel a whirl. Pretty interesting experience. Capsules weren’t as small as I thought and they had power sockets etc available inside. Some even had TVs too. The capsules were just a plastic fascia shell and had pull down blinds for doors.

It was a cool thing to try and a pretty comfortable option for those that had missed their last train home. Much more than the street pavement which is where I seen on more than once occasion “salary men” decide to lay their head for the evening..

I bid farewell to Osaka the next morning heading back to Tokyo and get a glimpse of the beautiful Mt Fuji on the shinkansen.