Four Itchy Feet

September 18, 2025. Osaka, Japan.

We returned to Honshu Island, Japan’s largest island. We flew from the small airport in Memanbetsu, Hokkaido, to Sapporo, and then on to Osaka. Upon arrival, we immediately sensed a major shift from the slow pace of Hokkaido to the hustle and bustle of a big city. We arrived at our Airbnb by 9 p.m. and went straight to sleep.

The next day, after a delicious breakfast at Daiban Coffee, we walked to Osaka Castle. It’s a beautiful castle, but it was swarmed with thousands of tourists from all over the world. We decided not to wait in the long lines and instead admired its grandeur from a distance.

We continued to walk around the city, but the intense heat soon forced us back to the comfort of our poorly air-conditioned room. We decided to save our energy for a night walk through the city. By 6 p.m., we were back out and once again struck by the enormous crowds everywhere.

We made our way to the city center, Dotonbori. There, we felt like unassuming salmon swimming shoulder-to-shoulder among the masses. The city was an incredible sight, with thousands upon thousands of people moving about, shopping, and eating.

As soon as we found a small side street, we ducked out of the river of people and found a small Wagyu Japanese barbecue restaurant. We had our first experience cooking fine strips of wagyu beef at the table, and it was a tasty first!

Osaka has a much faster pace than we are accustomed to, and we’ll be moving on tomorrow. We plan to return on Sunday for a theater performance, but more on that in future posts!