Back to Osaka, Japan

Kara taking a quick nap on the bus

We arrived to Osaka after our stay in Nara. Osaka seems to be a bit of a base for us in Japan, with its amazing culture of Japanese anime and exotic foods!

As mentioned in our previous blog we had planned to visit Spa world. Spa world is an amazing, eight storied spa complex.... decked out with over 20 different themed spa rooms. However, it still remained very Japanese (meaning no clothes/togs/swimsuits in the water area). We said goodbye to each other and ventured off to the individual men's and women's floors for several hours, before meeting again for dinner and then retiring in the spa's sleeping rooms.






After our stay in spa world we quite frankly explored Japans 'underworld' yip- we went to a love hotel. Notorious in the western world for being dirty and sleazy but to our surprise, very clean and extraordinarily private!
We didn't go for a themed room, but just a normal Japanese room with the tatami mats. We would strongly recommend staying at a love hotel! You can't book rooms online in advance you do need to just turn up, but they are 1/3 of the price and at least 80% larger than any other hotel room in Japan. Bargain! And! you get plenty of free shampoos, soaps and hair ties!


Asahi capsule hotel, Osaka

For our last night in Osaka, we tried out the iconic Japanese capsule hotel!
Although guest reviews are quite mixed, we really enjoyed it! The capsules are spacious and each floor has a spa and sauna to relax in. In addition, you are given a lounge suit to wear and there are plenty of free activities (tv, games etc) to play if your bored.
Us? we skipped the games and made it our mission to try some fugu, our more commonly known as the blowfish... only the most poisonous food available for consumption.



Thinly sliced and raw Fugu

The fugu translates as 'river pig' and can be lethally poisonous. The preparation in Japan however is strictly controlled and chefs have to go through rigorous training (were talking Masters level degree) before being allowed to work in a restaurant. We went all out and tried the raw (sashmi) and cooked (fugu-chiri) varieties. Although it was exciting to be adventurous the fish itself was slightly chewier than we had anticipated.



A Japanese fav- 'Oden' found... everywhere!

There are two other photos we would like to share that to us, are quite memorable! Although both are found all over, and we mean everywhere! They seem very 'Japanese'. The first is the Oden, which is a hot soup food found in every convenience store and more. To us, its a bit tasteless but we love the shapes!





Japan's favourite past time- Pachinko

The second is the Pachinko! Actually a local was horrified,  beyond belief and thought we were pulling his leg when we said we didn't know of it? Well pachinko is a highly addictive Japanese slot machine game. However we have been lead to believe that there is some skill involved.... imagine your normal arcade fighting game but your betting little silver balls on the game. Its all rather complicated as to who is actually winning, but nether the less these pachinko's are rampant across Japan.

They are usually associated with bright lights, loud music and a very smoky interior. Seeing the significant amount of pachinko outlets you could easily be lead into thinking Japan may have a gambling problem.....

Tot siens,
John and Kara