Japan 2024 (again) Day 9

Another day in Osaka. We started out with a breakfast at Drip Cafe in the Hotel Vischio. It was surprisingly underwhelming. The ham and egg toast was bland but the bread was a little bitter. And the large coffees weren’t close to being full. I mean, it was OK but I think this might be why I had several hot dogs for breakfast at the same cafe last year.

Next we went to buy train tickets and the guy screwed up our discount. It’s kind of complicated so I don’t blame him, and I don’t know how much we would’ve saved. Whatever.

It was also the day we went to visit our cousins in Nishinomiya. We rode the Hankyu train which was the train I rode to get home when I lived near Osaka so many years ago. We usually take it to get to Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens, a semi-fancy mall, walk to my cousin’s, and then take the JR train back since it’s closer to my cousin’s “mansion” (Japanese for apartment/condo).

We did a bit of shopping at the mall which is pleasantly not crowded, especially on a Monday. Muji, Uniqlo, Hankyu, and I think I bought something at the Joshin electronics store as well. For lunch we went to Tokyo Soup Stock where my sister had the keema curry and I think the Hokkaido soup. She ordered potage, but with 2.4% unemployment you get what you get.

I indecisively asked for suggestions and got the limited editions which included the Hokkaido soup and the mackarel and eggplant curry. It was a bit fishy but tasty.

We had a nice long chat with two of my cousins and then headed back to Umeda where we did some more shopping and had dinner at a soba shop. Both of us got the unlimited soba set and we only had what they brought us (those are stacks of soba). I had one of my sister’s soba plates. You’ll also notice that neither of us have shishito pepper tempura on our plates because we both ate it before either of us remembered to take a picture.

On our way back we went to check the gacha machines which led to us walking into the middle of a free idol concert. I would describe it as “pitchy”. The stairs we needed to use are to the right of the stage and I feel bad that I had my finger in my left ear as I walked by.

And that was about it for the day. Tomorrow we’re headed to Yamaguchi Prefecture where our family is from.

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