To Japan!

This is the story of how Marcel and Sybren got to the best restaurant/bar ever. But first, let me tell you how the trip to Osaka went.

In Hiroshima we had to check out of the hotel before 10.00 and so we did. Marcel got all the trains and trams we had to get on mapped out on his phone so we would’nt have to check and recheck all boards on the stations.

Since our hotel in Hiroshima was not too far away from the station we walked that bit and got there easily. We were a bit early though, our train wouldn’t leave before another hour, so we got some breakfast and made a seat reservation. A seat reservation is not really needed, but if you don’t reserve, there is a chance you will have to stand the entire trip. After all this we got on the train and got out of it at the last stop; Shin-Osaka station. From there we had to get on a local train to Osaka.

It did not really matter which one this would be, as long as it would leave from track 15. At Osaka station we got out and wondered how we got of the station. Apparently the statino is a few stories above the ground so we had to take a few steps down. At the ground level Sybren was amazed. He had been in a part of Tokyo and in Hiroshima, but here he saw an impressive view of giant buildings all around him.

Now we had to get on a subway line that would get us to some place near our hotel. We got out there and started our search for the hotel. Without taking a wrong turn we got to the hotel and checked in. We got to our room and we got filled with happiness by seeing the room. It was about 2 or 3 times as big as the rooms we had before. Our beds were bigger, well not longer, but that we got used to already.

It was about 14.00 now and you know what that means; Osaka-exploring-time! We got out of the hotel and we headed south-west. There should be a really big mall somewhere, called Namba. We walked untill our feet hurt and even then we wallked some more. And finally we got to a crowded place full of arcade halls, shops and food stores. Of course we did pass some of these to get here.

Anyway, we got into an arcade hall and had some fun there, moved to the next one, only to have some more fun. Time passed and we had to get back to the hotel, since soon it would get colder and Marcel did not bring his jacket. So we walked all the way back to the hotel and ate a snack there.

Time to get some food to fill our rumbling bellies with joy. We turned in the key of the room once more and went out in search for some food. Everywhere seemed to be little restaurants, but they did not provide us with an english menu and so we would not be able to get our order straight. This means we walked quite a bit again, but not as much as we had that afternoon.

We got to a restaurant that seemed oke, Marcel asked in his best English if they had an English Menu, but they didn’t. In the meantime, people in the back of the restaurant started pointing and waving to us. So Sybren waved back, making them have the time of their life or so it seemed. We moved on.

After taking another turn to the left we happened to get past some really noisy and happy Japanese people. They told us to get food at their restaurant. So we asked wether they had an english menu; and they did! So we got inside and as we did so everyone there started cheering and seemed so happy we got in. Sybren figured this was probably because we were not Japanese.

We ordered 2 beer and got to take a look at the menu. Apparently this was an octopus restaurant, because a lot of the menu’s contained this ingredient.

Not being in the mood for octopus we both ordered fried noodles with pork. The beer was served with another cheer of all the personel. After waiting a bit and drinking our beers we discussed about this restaurant. “It seems like Pablo’s Disco Bar” “Yeah indeed, only there are more people here and the guys are Japanese instead of Jamaican.”
New people got in and another cheer went through the room.
So it wasn’t just because we were foreign.

Our beers got empty and we order new ones, again served with some loud cheering.
The food got served shortly after. The noodles with some kind of cole and very good spices. Even Sybren ate all of it. On the wall was a list of cocktails you could order here and after finishing the meal, which by the way was served in a small frying pan. We both ordered a random cocktail from the list, since it was all Japanese and we didn’t bother askin what it all contained. After making sure Marcel’s wouldn’t contain a coconut-liquer, the drinks were prepared. As it turned out Marcel got his cocktail served in some sort of small cocktail glass and Sybren’s got served in a long drink glass with a lemon in it. We finished those and payed the bill. We got a business card -the place was called TakoTako King – and we were already saying to each other this was the best bar ever.

On the long way back to the hotel we both had to go to the toilet, so we noticed a bar called “Limbo dance” and we ordered 2 beer and went to the toilet in turns. The toilet was a japanese toilet with some funny mechanics. The water you used to wash your hands with after flushing went straight to the water storage for flushing. We agreed this is smart to do and we should have a system like that in the Netherlands. Anyway, we drank our beer and got up to pay.

The man behind the bar asked us where we are from; “Holland.” “Ah so, you can not speak english?”, “Oh yes we can!”, “Do people in holland speak English then?”, “No, we have our own language as well”, “Ah, so you can speak 2 languages.”, “Yes, and a bit of German.”

We paid and got back to the hotel. There we got some oreo-ice-cream and finished the day.

TL;DR

Went to Osaka, got to the best bar ever, ate oreo-ice-cream.