May 20, 2005

We have taken a break from shrine and temple touring this week and spent our time at home, taking day trips around the area.  Kobe and Osaka form one huge megalopolis along Osaka Bay, a large inlet of the Pacific.  Trains transect the area and you can get just about anywhere by train.  They run very frequently, are quite easy to navigate, are punctual to the minute and even stop precisely at pre-designated stops.  We have not experienced being shoved into train cars as they are known to do in Tokyo during rush hour, but we have had to stand, crammed in for trips longer than 40 minutes, many a time.

Our activities this week included taking a funicular cable car up one of the mountains on the out-skirts of Kobe.  It was very nerve-wracking to be heading up and down hill at 50-60^o angles on train tracks.  We traversed steep ravines with flowering trees and saw many slope retaining techniques (the Japanese work hard to harden most hillsides).  The area is known for wild boar, but we did not get to see one as they are nocturnal.  The view of the city, port and bay was spectacular.

We also spent a day at Universal Studios, Japan.  It was crawling with school kids in their uniforms, spending like crazy in the gift shops.  While we enjoyed the park, we could not understand any of the directions given prior to the rides, dialogs in the shows or any of the dubbed explanations by the movie producers.  It was very funny to see Steven Speilberg or Ron Howard speaking Japanese on screen.  

Lastly, we had a terrific experience eating okonomiyaki with some friends from the university.  Okonomiyaki is a combination of meats and vegetables cooked either in or under an egg pancake.  It has come to be know as Japanese pizza, however it neither resembles nor tastes like pizza. 

The restaurants have griddles at each table where you cook the pizzas.  We had okonomiyaki with squid, octopus, eel, shrimp, green onion, cabbage and who knows what else.  After the pizza is cooked we put dried bonito flakes on top and the heat of the pizza maked the flakes writhe and curl, looking a lot like worms.  The Japanese love to put barbeque sauce, mayonnaise and other “special sauces” on top.  I could have forgone the toppings.  Beer on the side went very well.

Cheers!!!