Fukuoka to Osaka

We had gone to bed early and were awake by 6 am. There was time to shower, check email and Facebook, and get ready for the day before I went down soon after 7 am for coffees. Breakfast was as yesterday now that we have found things we can eat.

By 8 am we were ready to go but that was too soon for the 9:23 am Shinkansen I had planned and too late for an earlier one. We waited until 8:30 am and then checked out. Then it was subway from Watanabe-dori to Hakata, walk through the station maze, and find the platform for our Shinkansen. We were 20 minutes early and easily at the head of the queue.

When our Shinkansen arrived 4 minutes before scheduled departure the car we were waiting for looked full. Happily many passengers were queuing to disembark, leaving plenty of space for us once they had cleared the door. We boarded, found seats, put our bags up, and sat ready for departure which happened on schedule. So much happened in the space of four minutes.

Our journey to Osaka was uneventful. We saw farmland, forested mountains, cities, and industrial areas along the way but mostly they went past too quickly to see much. There were a few quick stops along the way.

Arrival in Shin-Osaka station was on schedule at 11:59. We made it through the station to the metro station more quickly than I had anticipated and were at our hotel before 12:30. Checkin time was 3:00 pm but the staff happily took our bags to store.

Osaka is special for us because in the early 1990s we hosted two Japanese girls on short school visits to Australia, Eriko and Kanako. We have kept in touch with both but especially with Eriko who went to Tokyo to meet Nick when he was there briefly in 1994. Her parents hosted Majella and Hannah for a couple of days in 1995, Eriko and her mother visited us in Toowoomba in 2003, and we visited her with Sophie in 2019.

Eriko was to meet us around 1 pm at the hotel. With 30 mins to wait, we walked around the corner to Tully’s Coffee where we ate lunch – pancakes and blood orange juice for Lucas, hotdogs and coffees for Majella and me.

We were back at the hotel just before 1 pm and Eriko arrived a few minutes later. Her daughter, Runa, had been coming with her but was running late so Eriko left her and arranged to meet her in town. We walked out of the hotel and around the corner where Eriko hailed a taxi that took us to her rendezvous with Runa.

Once all five of us were together Eriko led us off to see some of Osaka. We began by walking past some older buildings and through some narrow lanes lined with colourful shops. We paused for a while at a shrine where Eriko presented Majella with a gift from her mother, a folding book for collecting stamps from shrines as they are visited. Majella collected her first shrine stamps and Eriko stepped us through the process of ceremonial washing and lighting incense.

A short ride on the metro took us to another area where couples and families were picnicking in a park with games for children and some older. Runa and Lucas played a simple pinball style game that offered a small prize to every player. There was a dance troupe performing at the far end of the area and when we got closer it became apparent that it was not Japanese dance. Evidently the Japanese have a love for Hawaiian dance and it was an Aloha festival. We paused for photos among the flowers.

From the park we could see Abeno HARUKAS, the second tallest building in Japan. Eriko told us that her son, Rio, was attending classes there today.

Walking back toward the building, we paused at a store selling anime and manga items. Lucas was happy to spend time looking around there and came away with another souvenir.

We then walked on and went up to the 60th floor for the panoramic views of the city. While we were at the top I video-called Hannah via Facebook, a tradition that stems from her fondness for Sleepless in Seattle and her own visit to New York in 1999 when she called us from the top of the Empire State Building. Eriko and Hannah were excited to speak to and see each other.

After walking around the top of the building for the views we sat in the open to the air atrium 2 floors lower for drinks, coffee for me and variations of lemonade for the others. From our seats in the atrium we could watch the people above experiencing life on the edge of the tall building – firmly secured, of course, as for bridge walks and the like.

We rode the metro one stop to walk in an area that Eriko described to Majella as ‘deep Osaka’. She said that she had never walked there before. It was a series of narrow lanes lined with bars and various forms of amusement. One that caught our eye was archery. Lucas tried his hand with 10 arrows but had little success because the bow was set up for right-handed use and he is left-handed.

Eventually we came to the base of the Hitachi tower where we were met by Hidenori, Eriko’s husband, in his Toyota Voxy hybrid van with rear seats better than any aircraft. It was only when I sat in the van and looked up through the rear moonroof that I noticed that the underside of the tower was painted with flowers and birds.

Hidenori drove a circuitous route to a parking lot where we got out and walked a short distance and found ourselves near the Abeno HARUKAS building. We entered and went up to the 17th floor where Rio came to join us from his classes.

Eriko then led us down escalators to a restaurant, Tonkatsu KYK, where we ate dinner. Their specialty is pork and the dish recommended by Eriko included pork, scallops, and shrimp, all crumbed and fried and served with a variety of accompaniments. As we sat down we were served cups of hot black tea and there was a hot towel for washing hands at each table place. The meal included a shredded cabbage salad with dressing, an egg cooked and served in a ceramic bowl, a bento box with beans, radish, and tofu, rice, two sauces, miso soup, and iced tea. There was a small spoon for the egg but the rest we managed with chopsticks. Afterward there was lemon sorbet mixed with touch of cumquat and a cup of warm green tea. It was an excellent meal.

Rio had to go back to class after dinner and would not finish until after 10:00 pm. Japanese cram schools are hard work. There was a suggestion that it might be raining outside so Hidenori went to bring the car closer while Eriko led us down via a floor with a view of the city at night. As Hidenori drove us back to our hotel I was watching the navigation on his phone and wondering why he persisted in ignoring instructions to turn. It was only when we rounded the corner approaching Osaka Castle that I realised he had taken a roundabout route so we could see the castle lit up at night.

Hidenori dropped us in front of our hotel and we said goodbye and thank you for a wonderful afternoon and evening. We were not the last guests to return to their left luggage and were quickly checked into our room with real beds – no more futons.