turns out patience pays off!!!
and so does having an amazing boyfriend. We struck gold today y’all!
We started off the day getting breakfast at the Konbini and then we headed off to Shitennoji temple in Osaka. It was very rainy and humid today. We were happy to have a bit of a break from the super sun, which I know is crazy to say but we are both a bit sunburnt.
Locals were there to pray and had private services going on while we were there. There were giant statues of deities that protect the historical Buddha and his teachings. They were 5.3 meters tall and weigh roughly 1 metric ton. It was a super cool experience and very mellow.
After walking around that shrine for a bit, we headed for Osaka Castle. This was much busier than our earlier shrine, but upon arrival the sheer size of the castle and how large the moat was had us in awe. We both realized we have never seen a moat in real life before, and we now understand why it was such an effective method of keeping potential attackers away.
After we did the 15 minute walk up to the castle, we got in line to be let in and began to climb the eight flights of stairs to the top, while looking at ancient art and stories they had displayed on every floor. The top floor was an observation deck that showed a view of part of Osaka and the castle property.
After the castle, we were very sweaty, so we headed back to the hotel to pickup our luggage. After we changed and cooled off, we headed to a restaurant near our hotel. If anyone is planning to travel to Japan in the future I highly recommend using a website called Tabelog. It basically yelp for Japanese locals. This restaurant had a 3.3 rating which anything above a 3 in japan is pretty good (and it was close). What we weren’t prepared for were the colossal portion sizes meant for the deities we saw guarding Shitennoji temple. In all honestly they weren’t that huge, but definitely bigger than we were expecting which was a problem because we ordered a lot of food and since not finishing your food is rude we stayed until we were done. Which in the end didn’t matter because Conner decided to try his hand at a large Japanese craft beer (sensing a theme?) it was the size of his head. But he finished it like a champ. Definitely in the top 5 but probably #5.
The hotel we are staying at is on a street that has vintage shops, consignment, and luxury vintage. There is so much American vintage here. The amount of college t-shirts, Harley Davidson Apparel, Levis, and Tommy Hilfiger polos we saw was unprecedented. Also, the majority of shops are menswear dominant which was great because Conner showed up to this trip with an empty suitcase and a dream. We wandered around the shops for a while and Conner hit the jackpot. At the first store we stopped at, he got a plaid t-shirt, and then we headed to this store called Kindal. If you ever get the opportunity to go to Japan, we HIGHLY recommend going to Kindal. It is the best consignment/vintage designer store I have ever been to. The selection was unreal and the prices were unmatched. Conner bought 4 pairs of jeans today from brands like Girbaud, Junya Wantanabe, and a couple other premium denim brands. Also, the one item I really wanted when coming to Japan was the Balenciaga city bag, which we happened to see a similar style (pictured above) by Balenciaga upon walking into the store. My soul left my body. It wasn’t the exact style I had wanted, but it was the same color and very very similar. It looked great so I had to grab it. The store we were at was 4 floors and when we returned to that area later in our shopping journey, they replaced the bag I had just purchased with the mini version of the exact bag I had wanted but in a different color, and my loving boyfriend immediately grabbed it and said you can’t pass this up. I’m not sure what I did in a past life to deserve him/this but it must have been great. After our shopping rampage, we headed back to the hotel to drop off our stuff and head out to Dotomburi.
Dotomburi is a nightlife area and has a lot of food street vendors, so we headed there to grab some dinner. Also pictured below Conner encountered his mortal enemy.
“Cheese Corn”
the name of this was quite decieving because we thought it was a cheese corndog but it was infact just cornbread on a stick. Still delicious 8/10
Mitarashi Dango (soy sauce rice balls)
as per haganezuka’s advice we had to try these rice balls. I loved them, but Conner was not to sure on the texture. Not bad but not what he was expecting. 8/10
Mizo Glazed Gyoza
This was by far the star of the show, way better than trader joes gyoza (by a long shot lol). 11/10
After walking around for a bit, we headed to our hotel as it started to rain. Overall, we are loving Osaka and think it is such a fun place to be if you are in your early 20s and love to party. The energy here is so lively and creatively inspiring. We are now cozy in bed and excited for another day of running around Osaka tomorrow!
✧˚ · .all blog posts are written by merrick bearson and conner couture.·˚ ✧