Osaka really comes to life after sunset!

Day 13

Breakfast was at the train station, at a cafe. I was in need of strong coffee. It's hot in Osaka and I always feel a bit less energetic when it's hot.

Today was a special day. We had booked a cooking class with 'Eat Osaka'. Osaka Street Food was the theme. I was sooooo excited!!!!

Meeting point was at Tower Knives Osaka in Shinsekai.

Shinsekai is Osaka's old downtown, a district that developed before the war and was neglected for decades after the war ended. It is an area of commerce, restaurants, shops, gambling and it does have a vintage feel. Half of the establishments were closed. I have been told that Osaka is a city that wakes up at sunset so I was not expecting much open in the morning.

The Tsutenkaku tower, constructed in 1912 after Paris's Eiffel Tower, is an observation tower with 103m and towers over the area. Tokyo Tower in Tokyo and Sapporo TV Tower in Sapporo were built in the shape of the Eiffel Tower as well. It seems Japanese have a fixation with the Eiffel Tower!

The chef responsible for the cooking class picked us up from the shop and took us to a nearby house. According to her, they use a friend's house for the cooking classes. It did look like a private residence.

There were 6 of us around the table, an american couple from California, an Australian couple and me & Manuel.

Osaka Street Food menu included:

• making udon from scratch. 

• chopstik okonomiyaki. 

• yakitori.

We started by making the udon dough and learned that it is a lot more fun and unconventional than we thought. The dough is kneaded with your feet and the proving is done in your pants (in this instance it was Manuel's pants who proved mine as I was wearing a dress). Worry not, the dough was inside a plastic bag throughout this process! 

We learned how to cut the dough and the tricks involved in cooking them al dente, The chef had already prepared the dashi sauce for it and cut the remaining ingredients.

The yakitori is the easiest dish in the planet. Season, let it stand for an hour and then cook in a pan. As easy as that!

The chopstick okonomiyaki requires a bit more work. Cutting the vegetables, making the mix, cooking in the flat griddle, rolling it and then topping with the sauces and bonito flakes.

In the end we ate what we cooked and had green tea and a typical green tea kit-kat for desert.

The chef gave us the recipes in writing and sent us the photos she took throughout the class via e-mail. The class was great, the chef was knowledgeable, the food was very good and the service (from the booking process to the photos afterwards) was excellent. It is worth the full ¥6500 (£44.5, €52, $57) we paid for it.

After the class we returned to the knives shop. I know the reason why the meeting point was there was marketing but the truth is that I had intended to buy a proper Japanese kitchen knife on this trip. So it was perfect as we used the knives during the class and then went to the shop to buy one.

Tower Knives Osaka sells Sakai knives. Sakai is a city on the outskirts of Osaka that has been famous for it's forged knives for several centuries now.

I had wanted to buy a knife with hand-folded steel but they were a bit out of my budget so I chose the 2nd best option: pre-folded steel but hand crafted. It is called Gyuto (each style and size of knife in Japan has a specific name), 210mm, and it cost ¥29,000 (£199, €234, $256). It was no cheap cookie but it will be my kitchen baby for a while.

The shop offers name engraving for free. My name in Japanese was engraved on the blade for posterity. 

The shop assistant was great. She taught me the technique to cut hard and soft foods and how to sharpen it. I also bought the stone to sharpen it, I know... shop, shop, shop...

We said goodbye to Shinsekai and walked to Osaka castle. It was an hour walk. Osaka is big! It was sunny and sun is always welcome.

Osaka castle stands in the middle of a big park named after itself: Osaka Castle Park. Very imaginative! Around the park are several government buildings and hotels, all very modern and sharply contrasting with the park.

Although the first version of the castle dates from 1583, war and lightnings have destroyed it several times. The present version dates from 1931 and it was constructed with ferro-concrete, not wood. It miraculously survived WWII and it was refurbished in 1997. It is a big landmark of the city and surrounded by secondary citadels, gates, turrets, stone walls and moats. 

We went past a building that was clearly a martial arts hall. There were 2 classes ongoing of the 2 most popular Japanese martial arts: judo and kendo.

The park is very busy, full of tourists but also locals traversing it by bike on what looked like their daily commute. It's worth a visit!

Manuel was feeling unwell again. We're not sure what's wrong with him, Is it the weather? The food? He decided to return to the hostel for the day but I wanted to see more of Osaka so I headed southwest from the castle to Minami area, one of Osaka's major city centres and the most famous entertainment district to check out Shinsaibashi and Dontonbori.

Shinsaibashi shopping arcade and surrounding area is Osaka's premier shopping centre. It's 

600m long and I did what I was supposed to do, I walked and shopped. I finally bought Japanese underwear. Yay!!!! Sorry, my boobs aren't allowing any photos!

Shinsaibashi leads on to Dontonbori street, which runs along the canal of the same name. It's a popular shopping and entertainment district and a food destination. At night is it lit by hundreds of neon lights.

Both Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori were crowded, Osaka really comes to life after sunset! 

I walked for hours, I'm not sure for how long. I was hungry and looking for street food I hadn't tried before but all the street stalls had food I already knew and the restaurants had huge queues. I kept going until 9.30pm and then I quit and went into an okonomiyaki restaurant, It was managed by a lovely old couple. The lady tried to get a conversation out of me and we did managed with my small knowledge of Japanese and her small knowledge of English.

Some photos on the way home: