{"id":3768,"date":"2001-01-31T23:50:00","date_gmt":"2001-01-31T23:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sch1auh0s7.site.nfoservers.com\/wp_lew1slau\/?p=3768"},"modified":"2022-04-25T23:26:52","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T23:26:52","slug":"osaka-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/2001\/01\/31\/osaka-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Osaka, Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Towards the end of January I had the chance to visit Japan with my brother Philip. It was a holiday simply to get away from all the worries in the past few months, as well as a chance to see each other after two years apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passing of our mother made me want to weave a better web amongst us brothers, Philip, Kevin, and I, simply because the original bond, my mother, isn\u2019t here anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am sure mom would want us to stick together, through good and bad times as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this trip, Philip and I travelled through Kyoto, Osaka, Shusenji (in Izu), and Tokyo. These are the pictures that describe our fun times during this two-week trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After our dinner with Philip and Jamie, Hiro and I went on to meet Silvia, a friend from Minneapolis whom I haven’t seen in years…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Silvia Ban… hey you look more “grown up” than a few years ago! It’s a\u00a0compliment<\/em>…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hiro, Silvia’s friend Yana, and Silvia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hiro is ignoring me and asking Silvia and Yana what they want to eat…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Silvia still amazed by Hiro’s boasting of his escapades.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After Philip, Jamie and I leave for our hot spring tour by ourselves, Hiro has to continue with his “tour guide” duties and show Silvia and Yana around… the\u00a0exact same temples he saw just days before<\/em>… Thanks Hiro!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“I feel like a tour guide, and I don’t even get paid!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Yana and Hiro checking out pictures Silvia took with\u00a0her<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0digital camera, the Sony Mavica…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hiro writing down his telephone number for Yana, while Yana is shocked by Hiro’s “forwardness”…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My taxi ride back to the hotel, stuck behind none other than the Japanese SUPERCAR – Nissan Skyline GT-R…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next morning… we had lunch at a specialty noodle shop in Osaka’s Kuromon Market \u9ed2\u9580\u5e02\u5834 – they were famous for their Tonkotsu soup base… and when it runs out (after approximately 300 bowls), they close down… their taste sure lived up to their reputation…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yummmmmy ramen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Philip checking out some puppies at a nearby pet shop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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That evening… we walked through another 1-dollar-shop – this one has things that are slightly more “usable” – for example, check out the following dishes (usual retail in the U.S. would be about $15)… each for only US$0.80!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Walking around, looking for a good Korean restaurant, since Osaka is a city famous for its Korean immigrants… we were looking for some food that “kicks our mouth in the butt”…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After about an hour – we found our restaurant – tucked away in a little alley – the only visible sign was\u00a0in Korean<\/em>\u00a0– we figure that is definitely an indication of an authentic Korean restaurant…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Spicy! Kimchee, spicy pickled cabbage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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and even more spicy food…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We even get to grill our own food – those are raw garlic cooking inside the aluminum foil dish… yum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the things we ordered – fresh grilled octopus… before leaving we see one of the victims giving us a “dirty look” for eating its friend.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One thing about Japan – they somehow learned to grow the BEST fruits on the planet – here we have NON-GENETICALLY-ENGINEERED Grapefruits the SIZE OF HIRO’S HEAD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Since space is limited in Japan (especially “wasted” areas such as parking lots), the creative Japanese engineers invented the “parking stall elevator”. This is how it works – a car pulls in…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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and a vertical elevator takes you to the floor with a vacant spot…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Up, up you go!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After dinner, we meet up with Silvia and Yana one more time – tomorrow Philip, Jamie and I are moving on to Shusenji, where we will spend two relaxing nights at a hot spring resort!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hiro posing next to a cutesy garbage can…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We stop at the “trendy” bar-hopping spot in Osaka, the exact name which I can not remember…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A cool white RX7 picture for my friend Bill…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Can you see that Hiro is looking more and more tired as he spends the 5th day without much sleep…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We finally stopped at a bar and talked for a while…

Yana started drinking like she was born in a bar…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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As I look on…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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… and Silvia starting to get worried…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Yana still having fun…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Last picture of Yana smiling – after her body-shot of tequila… she got sick and took a cab back with Silvia…

Good-bye Silvia and Yana!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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An upside-down Manekin-neko – the lucky charm cat… this one is super-sized and UPSIDE-DOWN…

They sure are creative in Japan when it comes to window displays.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Towards the end of January I had the chance to visit Japan with my brother Philip. It was a holiday simply to get away from all the worries in the past few months, as well as a chance to see each other after two years apart. The passing of our mother made me want to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/image020-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3810,"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3768\/revisions\/3810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewislau.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}