Osaka - into the land of sushi (and so much more)

Our last evening in Korea took us back to Hongdae, the university district of Seoul. Once again, we had rented a room in a small guesthouse there, right next to a beautifully landscaped park. Since we had already tried some Korean street food and the typical 'Chicken and Beer', this time we decided to go to a Korean barbecue restaurant. Unlike the usual grill in the middle of the table, this restaurant had an open 'fireplace' where skewers with various types of meat and fish were automatically rotated. A great conclusion to our first trip through Korea!

We got our second country point in a shorter time with Osaka, Japan.

After arriving in the afternoon, we quickly set out to explore the city. First, amidst a hustle and bustle of people in the metro stations, we passed the Pokemon Center Osaka and made our way to America-Mura. In this hip part of the city, filled with small shops, nice bars, and restaurants, we strolled through the streets and eventually arrived at Dotonbori, one of Osaka's tourist hotspots. Osaka and Dotonbori are known for their Takoyaki, dough balls filled with octopus arms, which we had to try, of course! But since we were still a little hungry, we moved on to a recommended ramen restaurant in the center of Dotonbori, where we fortified ourselves with the greasy noodle soup (for the upcoming activities). And after dinner, the evening was not over yet! On the way back to the hotel, Kati found a typical Japanese game arcade, which Philipp initially didn't find very interesting... until he saw the basement. Instead of the claw machines where you can win stuffed animals, here were games that required real physical effort. We couldn't resist a round of Mario Kart, and we even beat two very nice Japanese people in a multiplayer game!

The next morning started quite early because we had booked a bike tour of Osaka. In 5 hours, the tour took us all over the city, and we saw several shrines, temples, the Osaka Tower, and Japan's tallest building (which the Japanese jokingly call the Trump Tower and is only 300 meters high). But our highlight of the tour was something else - a Hello Kitty parking lot that stayed true to its motto with its street lamps and vending machines. Since the temperatures were reaching 35 degrees and the long tour had exhausted us a bit, we took a break in our apartment and ventured out again for dinner. Sushi was still on our list, so we walked through Umeda, the city center, into the subway tunnels to a well-known and reasonably priced sushi restaurant. We started with delicious shrimp and salmon nigiri, but the highlight was whale meat for Philipp and bluefin tuna for Kati.

Tomorrow, our culinary journey will continue to Kobe, where hopefully we can satisfy our appetite for some beef! :)

Until then, おやすみなさい (Good night) from Japan!