Osaka was a surprising discovery as a cultural & entertainment hub. We’d changed our plans as we’d intended to stay a few days in Tokyo but this had been deemed off limits by DFAT. An unkind travel guide suggested the best place to stay in Osaka was Kyoto. We found this far from the truth in the Minami (south) area. Plenty happening, lots of places to eat & be entertained. Den Den town with its mix of electronics and manga was an amazing discovery and more than made up for missing the cancelled Tokyo Anime Fair.

Ordering food was an interesting experience. We discovered 2 issues to navigate, the first being that in certain eateries one orders by purchasing a ticket through a vending machine, the second being the ever so helpful Japanese would give us options (eg: Udon or Soba, wasabi or mustard, etc) to which we (not understanding that we were being presented an option) typically answered ‘yes’ which made the Japanese very confused. Or perhaps confirmed their estimation of our Western appetites…