My Osaka Opening (Part 2)

It was almost 11PM when we finally settled in. The hotel didn't even have any complimentary water. Yup, we paid almost $200 per night and no water. 

I opened the closet and found a bread toaster. 

"We have a bread toaster?," I asked myself. Elmer walks closer to me to take a peek.

"That's not a toaster!," he laughed. I needed to read what's written on it to figure out.

I was probably really hungry so we put our winter jackets on as it was almost zero degree celsius outside.

Swissotel was located right in the Nankai Namba Station. The tricky part is, there are two Namba Stations, the other being operated by Japan Railways. They're about 15-minutes away from each other by foot.

Without any maps, and thinking it's probably too late, considering it was a Monday, we just followed where our feet will take us.

Across from the station is Doguyasuji, which I think means "cooking tools street". It's more than that; actually it's more of a shopping arcade but most stores are already closed, except for McDonalds and Izakayas, bars that serve both alcohol and food.

We made sure we remember every turn we made as we were getting confused since there were so many pachinkos around. 

Pachinkos look like a video arcade, except that the machines are those you'd find in a casino. It's technically gambling, the same principle applies - you bet so you can win tickets you can swap for prizes. And I heard, you can then sell these prizes somewhere. 

It was really cold and it has started to drizzle. Hungry and wet, we went in one of the restaurants still open at that hour. Lucky for us, there was an English menu.

The Japanese are heavy smokers so it was a good thing we could smoke in here. It was really cold and sitting three meters from the door didn't help. We'd start to acclimate and already feel warm inside when a customer would either come in or leave. And I didn't have to explain how that felt on my back.

We have been scanning the menu expecting sushi, sashimi, maki, and tonkatsu. 

But almost everything looked unfamiliar, even with their English translations. 

It was a bit pricey, considering the place didn't look classy. There was even a group of young male workers dragging their drunk friend out of the resto while we watched them laughing.

One at a time, our orders arrived: soba rice (noodles with rice), takoyaki (octopus) balls in a giant cheese taco shell, and a giant fried dumpling. Tonight, we will call this dinner. In the meantime. Didn't want to break the bank. 

We were even "forced" to pay for this pickled veggie side dish (o-toshi). Which honestly didn't taste right for me. Interesting, but I will probably pass next time. 

In the end, the meal set us back ¥3,000 or almost Pesos 1,300.

That included the bottle of cola, as big as what we call Coke Sakto in Manila. It was ¥200. Almost 90 pesos. Two US dollars for a small bottle of cola. We even thought it was refillable, so we positioned the empty bottle on the edge of the table so the waiter could see, hoping he'd grab another bottle for Elmer. Grab he did, but come back with another bottle, nope, he didn't.

They say that experience is the best teacher. So, for the rest of this Japan trip, I just ordered service water. •