Osaka, Japan
It was a long day going from Singapore to Japan. We left our hotel at 8 am for Changi Airport to catch our 10:20 am flight to Osaka. Our flight was around six hours, and after going through customs and collecting our luggage, we took a 45-minute train ride to Shin-Osaka station. We had our first taste of Japanese food and dessert at the station. Chelsea selected some giant steamed pork buns and shrimp shumai dumplings while Tom picked out Takoyaki and a cheesecake for dessert. From there we took a 5-minute taxi ride to our Airbnb.
Our apartment is the 3rd and 4th level of a triangular building. It has 3 bedrooms and 6 beds that sit about 6 inches off the floor. It has an awesome roof terrace that we could access from a steep staircase with views of the city. The consensus favorite item in our Airbnb was the toilet with the heated seat and many other amenities like the bum wash as the boys called it. Reacclimating to a life without a Japanese toilet is not going to be easy. Our Airbnb also had some one-speed bicycles, each with a basket and a bell to rent. Tom had a great time riding around the neighborhood and taking the bike to the grocery store.
Across the street was a little park with some playground equipment for the boys. About 2 blocks from us was the Kanzaki River. On our first morning in Osaka we took a nice crisp walk along the riverbed and watched some of the rowers practice in the river. After that, we managed to successfully find the grocery store to get some meals and snacks. It was quite a challenge to figure out what each product was. Luckily we had the Google translate application which could help us read the Japanese characters.
For dinner that night, thanks to a suggestion from Chelsea’s friend, Anne, we set out to find an Okonomiyaki restaurant. Fortunately, there was a little neighborhood hole-in-the-wall place about a 15-minute walk from us. When we walked in there were only 3 booths which were all occupied and four open stools by the main griddle. They made a waving gesture at us to leave since they could not seat all six of us. Just as we were about to leave a group of super nice businessmen got up and moved to the stools so that we could have their table.
Okonomiyaki is a very famous dish around Osaka. It is a savory Japanese pancake with the batter being mixed with lots of cabbage and your choice of many different ingredients. They are then glazed in a sweet sauce made up of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. We tried three; the beef, pork, and the shrimp Okonomiyaki. They paired really well with the Japanese beers! It was a very unique meal and one of our favorites foods that we have tried on our trip around the world.
We managed our first outing on the trains with a trip to Osaka Castle. We rode up to the top for a great view. On the way down, there were historical exhibits, videos, and artifacts to show the history of the castle. Japan is known for its incredible cherry blossoms, but what we saw were plum blossoms. They were just starting to bloom and they were gorgeous and fragrant. We saw trees with white, pink, deep pink, and some that were mixed flowers. We think the plum blossoms should get more attention. They framed the castle beautifully as we walked through the gardens.
Kyoto, Japan
We arrived in Kyoto faster than a speeding bullet. Well, actually it took 15 minutes on the Shinkansen Bullet train which travels at around 200mph. From there we took another train 2 stops and arrived at Fushimi Inari Taisha. Fushimi Inari Taisha is a shrine that winds it’s way up to the top of Mount Inari. There are over 1000 orange Torii gates that you walk through on your way up the mountain. The walk took around 2 hours and had many, many steps. According to Cathy’s Fitbit, we climbed 57 flights of stairs to reach the top landing area. From the landing, you had a sweeping view of Kyoto. We had a quick Udon noodle soup and ice cream snack while sitting cross-legged on pillows without shoes at a low table. Chelsea and Tom decided to complete the final 30-minute loop while the Grandmas took the kids back down.
Before catching the train back home we stumbled upon a street market located at the base of Fushimi Inari Taisha. We were in heaven trying all kinds of new foods like bacon-wrapped rice balls, teriyaki Yakitori, and Obanyaki. We saw many people dressed in traditional Japanese and Chinese clothing. Many came to pray or take photos at the beautiful temples. At the Shin-Osaka station, we grabbed McDonald’s and had a picnic on the curb outside.
Japan has tons of tiny neighborhood bars. You can walk down lots of the quaint side streets and run across one. They usually only seat a handful of people. The Grandmas offered to watch our kids so we could go check out a few of them. We settled on a little bar close by called Mr. Kanso that had two other people at it. Chelsea ordered a lemon sour drink and Tom had Kirin Japanese beer. It was fun to talk with our waitress and bartender using the google translate app. We asked each other questions using the microphone and it would repeat the question in the other language. They wanted us to come back and said we could bring our kids next time.
Kobe, Japan
Kobe beef! What better way to celebrate the emperor’s birthday? You gotta love the train system in Japan. You can get just about anywhere you want to go with a little planning. We realized we were only 45 minutes by train from the city of Kobe. Kobe is most famous for its Kobe Beef. These restaurants fill up quickly. Luckily we had one in mind and headed there right when it opened at 11 am. The meal consisted of a small salad, chips, soup, rice, and steak. The steak was the most tender and juicy thing we have ever tasted. Ruth Chris, Manny’s, and Pittsburg Blue have like this incredible steak. It was out of this world.
A few blocks away we came upon the IKUTA Shrine where we were lucky enough to witness a Japanese wedding ceremony procession.
We had hoped to go to the famous herb gardens where you take a gondola up the mountain and walk down, but the gondola was closed for maintenance. Instead, we jumped on a subway train that brought us to the Sorakuen Garden. This photogenic garden costs about 300 yen to enter, but inside there are wonderful paths around little waterfalls. It was a beautiful and serene space. Many people stopped here to take wedding or engagement photos, but other than that it was rather quite.
Hiroshima, Japan
On August 6th, 1945 at 8:15 in the morning the Enola Gay a U.S. B-29 Superfortress bomber dropped the first-ever atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” over Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb detonated at 590 feet above the unsuspecting city. Almost 80,000 people died instantly and over 90% of the city was destroyed. Tens of thousands more died in the following days and months to follow.
Our last full day with the Grandmas was again part of the national holiday celebrating the current emperor’s birthday. We decided to take the bullet train from Osaka to Hiroshima. We all felt like Hiroshima was something we needed to experience. It took roughly an hour and a half to cover the 175-mile distance. From the Hiroshima train station, we took a tram ride to the Peace Memorial Park. The first thing you see stepping off the tram is the Atomic Bomb Dome that was at the hypocenter of the A-bomb. It was incredibly eerie and haunting to think about what took place that day. Only the skeleton of the building remained. It had been reinforced to keep the building from collapsing to preserve it for generations to come.
Standing next to the Atomic Dome we talked to a man named Kosei Mito who was in utero when the bomb went off. He gives free guided tours of the park and has made it his life’s mission to educate people about that day. Click here to watch a documentary made about his family. Kosei told us his family’s story and gave each of the boys an origami crane.
The children’s memorial was especially touching. There was a bell with a statue of Sadako with a paper crane. If you have not read her story, we suggest you do. She was a 2 year-old at the time of the bombing, but she passed away at age 10 from leukemia, an effect of the radiation from the bombing. Her classmates helped her finish making 1,000 paper cranes for her hospital room. Now children from all over the world make them to remember the innocent child victims and to promise peace for the future.
The Peace Memorial Park is huge and has many beautiful tributes for the deceased, survivors and for future generations. The boys saw many of the exhibits, but not all of them. The event was horrific and gruesome, and we felt like the boys could have an understanding of the events without seeing it all.
That evening we went out one last time while the Grandmas put the boys to bed. We stopped for some awesome ramen at a little hole-in-the-wall place called Tiger & Dragon. After that, we went back to Mr. Kanso for a quick drink. This time they presented us with a little menu in English that they had handmade just for us, and our waitress also gave us some origami that she had made for the boys. Both the bartender and waitress were incredibly nice to us and said that we were welcome to bring our kids to the bar next time.
Hats off to the incredible traveling Grandmas! We are so fortunate to have them in our lives and to have had them travel so far to see us. On our trip, they traversed 3 continents, 8 countries, 50,000 miles (2 times around the world) and spent nearly 2 months traveling with us. What a gift for Cooper and Mason to have them around and to be able to share in this life-changing experience.
