76: SAYONARA

It was my last day in Japan. Before I split up with the others, we headed down this street one more time for lunch. I was sad to say goodbye to my friends and to this awesome country, but I wanted to escape the radiation from the north!

Making takoyaki

I'll miss you Japan, with your wonderful people and technology and heated toilets. Most of all, I will miss your food: your mochi, ramen, udon, rice balls, bento boxes, pon de ringu, red bean, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakitori, tempura, karaage, gyoza, crepes, sushi, earl grey soy milk, jellies, champon, and soba. Cheese and mochi wrapped in bacon, deep fried cartilage. Avocado, pork, and cheese rolls...

I'll be back one day, because I'm not done with you yet. I still have to see the cherry blossoms in the spring, climb Mt Fuji with an oxygen tank, brave the Yakushima rainforest to see the ancient trees (2000 - 7200 years old!), sunbathe in the Okinawa beaches, eat kobe beef in Kobe, and bid for tuna at the Tsukiji fish market. Sumimasen!

Goodbye, sayonara - although I never heard anyone actually say this word while I was in Japan.

74: BBQ MEAT

The Canadian government finally issued an official warning against non-essential travel to Tokyo because of the rolling blackouts and the unreliability of trains. We were supposed to head back to Tokyo for a few days after Osaka, but because of the government warning and the news about radiation leaks, we decided to see if we could fly out of Osaka instead of having to go back to Tokyo.

We spent all morning trying to sort everything out, and I just have to say, Thank God for Phoebe's skype phone and the free internet at the hotel. Unfortunately, the cheapest flight out of Osaka that I could find was $2800, which was almost 3 times the cost of my original flight! I chose that option, because I was fairly sure my insurance company would pay me back (in fact, I just read the insurance coverage and formal written warnings by the government against non essential travel is covered up to $3000 - yay!), whereas Jenn and Andy decided they would go back up to Tokyo and camp out at the Narita airport instead.

We ended up not doing very much in the city because of this, so the only pictures I took are of dinner at a barbeque restaurant. We each had 300 grams of meat and it was so good.

73: OSAKA

We had to wake up at 6am to attend the morning Buddhist prayers. It was cool - one monk chanted and banged on a drum while another monk slowly built and lit a fire. It was intense, especially when the smoke started billowing up towards the ceiling. After our vegetarian breakfast, it was time to leave the temple and head to our next destination - Osaka. We met up with Phoebe's friend Miyuko, who immediately took us to an okonomiyaki place for lunch. 

"Is there anything you want to do in particular in Osaka?" she asked me. I said no, and she said,  "There's nothing to do in Osaka except eat. Are you ok with that?" Of course I was okay with that! But I had no idea how serious she was. Right after we finished our okonomiyaki, we headed straight to a takoyaki (octopus balls) stand. Then right after we finished the takoyaki, we went to a pork bun shop!

We were pretty full by the time we finished the pork buns, so we walked around a bit. But then it was time for dinner at an izakaya place, where we had lots and lots of dishes to share. I forgot to take pictures except for this one, which is a tower of cream cheese with sauce drizzled over it.