Kyoto for the Day, Osaka for the Night

It is rare that my travels put me in Japan over a weekend.  It has probably only happened 3 or 4 times.  So when it does, I need to take full advantage.  On one such occasion in 2006, I conspired with my “Sensei of Kuidaore” Ken to plan a long desired trip to see the city of Kyoto.  We boarded the Shinkansen at Shinagawa early in the morning on a Saturday to start this journey.  The plan was to tour the city on foot during the day, and overnight at the New Miyako Hotel near the train station (very reasonably priced rooms).  We arrived in Kyoto and were confronted with forecasted rain, which more or less was off and on the entire day.  We did not allow this inconvenience to dampen our sprits, as umbrella’s in hand we trudged from Temple to Temple, and Shrine to Shrine.  When the distances were too far, we took a taxi.

Kyoto is of course a very spiritual city for Japan.  You definitely get a sense of that when you walk around.  Very limited high rise development in the downtown core (which is no accident) allows the city to stay for the most part “in the past”.  We took in the major sights, which included for Ken important stops at the grave of Ryoma Sakamoto as well as a famous site during his “revolution” which escapes me (his assassination location perhaps?) which is now (appropriately for Ken anyway) a Pachinko Parlor.

After we finished our days plan (which included a great, cheap lunch at a college type Chinese oriented fast food style (for Japan anyway) place, we needed to make dinner plans.  Ken, with his young mind in full control of the proceedings, said we must go to Osaka for dinner!  As I had a JR Rail Pass, the 15 minute Shinkansen ride was free for me, so we headed further south.  Upon arrival in Osaka we headed straight to the Dotonbori, a short stretch of a street along the canal that is the epicenter of Osaka’s famous culinary establishment.  After all, we were in search of Kuidaore, and Ken said this is the place for that.

We sampled piping hot Takoyaki (which was tough for me due to my “cats tongue!"), as well as the famous Okonomiyaki (Osaka style pancakes).  It was an awesome night of eating washed down by the typical nama biru’s.  What a great night it was.  Saw the Glico sign, saw the famous crab sign, saw the famous Cui-daore animated clown (which I hear is now gone?).  The only thing we missed I think was the Colonel Sanders sign which at that time was either still in the canal (thrown in there after an improbable Hanshin Tigers Japan World Series championship celebration), or had already been dredged out and was who knows where.

After dinner we headed back to Kyoto for our hotel and then the next morning it was back to Tokyo to get ready for the business week.  It was truly a memorable weekend, and I am indebted to Ken for being such a great tour guide and for his understanding and appreciation of my “Japanese interests”!!!!