Osaka

destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed, rebuilt

The history of Japan is so extensive that it’s impossible to summarize. So for the history buffs… a link to a very brief history of Osaka.

It’s just 2.5 hours to Osaka from Fukuoka on the bullet train. That doesn’t include the hour it takes to get from Itoshima to Fukuoka but it’s still a manageable trip. C and I set off riding our bikes early Saturday morning, leaving them at the Ikisan train station till we returned Monday evening.

We arrived in Osaka by 11:30am with plenty of time to explore the city. That said it’s not the easiest city to navigate and we walked just under 10 miles before heading back to the hotel.

After a major trek to the architecturally impressive/imposing Nakanoshima Museum of Art we found our way to the Tenjinbashi-suji Shopping Street in Osaka's Kita district. with 2.5 kilometers of food stalls and shops this area was stunning and overwhelming (in a good way)! We found an amazing hole-in-the-wall restaurant that was packed full of people - always a good sign. Delicious seaweed, quails eggs, spicy tofu and bean curd, shrimp dumplings, chicken wraps, and multiple other small dishes made for a bit too much food!

Sunday we spent a full day in Kyoto but before leaving Osaka on Monday found Osaka’s Times Square, the Dotonbori. It’s a crazy tourist area with impressively tacky signage. Dotonbori is also the location of the Osaka Shochikuza Kabuki Theater. Getting tickets for the 11am show was a highlight of the trip!

Dotonbori Area