7/14/2023

Hello Blog Readers,

For our second day in Japan, my sister, brother-in-law, and I enjoyed a great breakfast at our hotel in Osaka before heading out to explore. Our hotel is phenomenal, by the way! An attorney acquaintance of mine recommended it to me a few months ago, and I’m so glad that we went with the recommendation. The hotel is classy, right in the heart of Osaka, and literally built on top of an Osaka metro stop making navigating the train networks a breeze. Here are some shots of my room and our breakfast this morning from the top floor restaurant and bar.

After breakfast, we headed out into the city and walked our way over to the nearest Pokémon Center – because Pokémon Centers are a thing here in Japan, with each one being unique in terms of the layout and Pokémon merchandise being offered. Instantly the place offered peak doses of nostalgia and cuteness, with Gameboy era Pokémon music playing the entire time in the background. I definitely recommend a visit to a Pokémon Center if you find yourself in Japan.

As a random aside, in case you didn’t know, each generation of Pokémon Games relates to a real world place. Osaka rests in what’s called the “Johto” region in Pokémon, and Tokyo rests in the original “Kanto” region of the games. Anyways, I bought plenty of Pokémon merch at the Center, including some Pikachu-themed chopsticks, a Fuecoco plushie for my office, plenty of Pokémon cards to help supplement my retirement portfolio, and a “mystery” shirt in-a-bag giving the purchaser a random, limited edition Pokémon t-shirt (you don’t get to pick the shirt that you get – it’s kind of luck of the draw, and well…let’s just say that I wasn’t very lucky…I need shirts though for the week and this will be one that I’m wearing at some point while here!).

After visiting the Pokémon Center, we took the Shinkansen up to Kyoto. This was our first time ever riding a bullet train, and we all couldn’t believe the experience. They travel soooo fast, and within all of 12 minutes we found ourselves nearly 40 miles away from Osaka in the heart of Kyoto. From there we went to the Gion District, which is well known for its classic Japanese architecture, temples, shrines, narrow roads, and of course for being the de facto home of the legendary geisha. We didn’t see any geisha wandering the streets while in the District, but we saw plenty of people enjoying traditional Japanese kimono and partaking in Shinto rituals. We had a great lunch at a phenomenally good soba and tempura restaurant and spent the entire afternoon exploring the District. I think that I’ll let the photos tell the story of our day. As you can probably tell from the shots below though, the experiences today I’m going to cherish forevermore. This is what we were looking for when we came to Japan.

After exploring this amazing dream of a place, we…did a thing. An expensive thing, but something ranking high on my bucket list. We had an authentic Kobe A5 Wagyu filet dinner at the famous Mouriya restaurant, which has been around since the 1800s. Our meal offered a roast beef starter, pumpkin soup, bread or rice, a miso salad, scallops, fresh veggies, the legendary wagyu, and an after dinner sorbet and tea with fresh fruit. It was 100% the best meal of our lives, 100% worth the expense, and in many ways just mind bending at how good beef and a meal in general can be when the food is both expertly raised and expertly prepared. Sorry American cowboys, but you’ve got nothing on Kobe A5 wagyu. It really is the best beef on the planet, and something that you just need to experience for yourself. If you ever make it to Japan, and you have the resources for it, then make sure to book a reservation at Mouriya.

After the best-dinner-ever, we taxied back to Kyoto Station and navigated the evening traffic to a Shinkansen taking us back to Osaka. It was another amazing adventure in Japan, and I’m looking forward to sharing our further adventures tomorrow. For now though, I’ve got to get some sleep.

Cheers,

-Rob