くいだおれ！

Sunday, July 6
After a late night out with D and H, Chris and I were pooped the next morning. Still, we took a distant trip to Osaka, for the purpose of eating at a city establishment that would soon be closing its doors.

We began the day at Namba Parks, with lunch at a ho-hum Italian restaurant and a little bit o' shopping.

The design was pretty--its tiered gardens, with small benches tucked between the flowers, appeared popular among couples.

From the parks, we moved to Namba Junkudo, where we proceeded to do serious damage with our credit cards. I stocked up on all the JLPT study books I could afford, while Chris attempted to purchase the entire store. As the sun set outside the building's glass windows, we realized we ought to leave. By the time we made it to Dotombori, the famous food street of Osaka, it was dark.

We came to eat here.

Kuidaore Taro (the drum-playing clown) is an icon. Within Japan, Osaka is known as foodie land, a city where all inhabitants are obsessed with eats. "Kuidaore," according to all internet sources, translates as "to ruin oneself by extravagance in food," and the restaurant of the same name, a towering establishment of eight floors of various types of cuisine, might allow one to do so.

A permanent crowd stood in front, tourists lining up to take Taro's picture.

Fortunately, not everyone was necessarily in line to eat. There was a long queue for the escalator upstairs to the floors boasting elaborate trays of sashimi and bubbling pots of shabu shabu, but we were looking for fast and cheap (especially after our debacle at the bookstore), so we waited in a far shorter line for the "Western food" (e.g. steak, omelet rice) restaurant just behind Kuidaore Taro.

We shared a salad and each ate a Kuidaore omuraisu. The steak set had sold out.

Glico Man, another icon of Osaka.
He overlooks the infamous Ebisu Bridge, best known for the crazy Hanshin Tigers fans who first jumped off into the canal depths below after their team won the Japan Championship in 1985.

It's horrible saying goodbyes to cities. At the time of writing this entry, I've even more sadly begun my goodbyes to people, and it hasn't been pretty. It doesn't feel all that long ago that I first arrived in Japan, embarrassed to speak, catching the wrong trains, and awkwardly following Chris in awe through the big cities. I'm at a much better point now, and I wish that this good life could continue on for a little longer!