Unfortunately, George has become sick so we had a little less of a crammed day. But that’s ok. I think we both needed it.

What we did

Today was more of a cultural day. We first walked from our Airbnb to the Shitennoji temple. This is apparently one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan. It was really quite beautiful.

We then hopped on the Osaka loop to the Osaka Castle and Gardens. This was a beautiful area. The castle itself was so intricate and we really apprecia3 that the signs were in English too so we could learn about the history of the castle.

Actual blossoms! The whole park wasn’t in bloom yet but some areas were .

We sat and watched this fountain for a while.

Such an imposing castle.

Seriously. And surrounded by a maze of walls.

What we ate

On the way to Osaka castle, we stopped off at Tsuruhshi station to try some Yakiniku which came highly recommend. This was Osaka’s Korean town and Yakiniku is essentially Korean BBQ with beautifly marbled Japanese beef. So yeh it was delicious and toasty!

For dinner…we wanted ramen again as it would be good for George’s sick. So we headed to Dotonburi to find apparently one of the best ramen joints in Osaka Hanamaruken Ramen. This is just what we needed. So good. So much food too.

One of the ramens we bought in a set that came with gyoza and rice.

Left is pork rib ramen (soooo good) and right is happiness ramen.

Of course accompanied by sake.

We also found a juice place which we stopped at to get George a berry antioxidant boosted juice because sick. I snuck a sip. It was really yum.

We didn’t buy anything today. We ‘donated’ to a guy dressed as a monk who gave us beads though.