We had a nice final day in Tashkent before traveling to Japan in the evening. I did a lot of yoga in the morning, went to school to close a few pending issues, and packed for the trip. The kids and Nadia were so excited to return to Osaka where we lived from 2014 – 2019. We have never returned to a place where we lived and waves of nostalgia came over our kids as we drove around our neighborhood.
The Tashkent airport was unusually calm with few people flying out. We flew Korean Air, the flag carrier of South Korea. They have 3 flights per week to Seoul and I highly recommend them. Koreans are much quieter and politer than Uzbeks when they are flying. It made for a pleasant night of travel. We made our 90-minute connection with no problems. Incheon Airport is one of my favorite airports, very comfortable with complimentary sleeping pods and plenty of male skin care products. 🙂 Korean is much more western and modern than Japan in my opinion.
Arriving at KIX (Kansai International Airport) brought back many memories. I used the toilets and forgot that the Japanese make the rest of the world look like barbarians when it comes to the bathroom experience. I need to install a Toto toilet seat in my house in the USA. Nothing better! We then took the “limousine bus” to the Hankyu Umeda Train Station in the center of Osaka. KIX is on an artficial island in southern Osaka Bay, a 70-minute bus ride from the center of Osaka. From their we took our old Kita Senri Hankyu train to the end of the line. From Kita Senri Station, we took a taxi to our friend’s home in Ibaraki, a far northern suburb of Osaka. It is adjacent to our former suburb of Minoh, so we are familar the area.
After getting settled in, we drove to our old house and school. We decided to eat at Nishiki Warai Restaurant that specializes in Kansai-style Okonomiyaki, a popular street food in Osaka. In English it is translated as “What you like” – “grilled”. It is basically a flour based dough mixed with yam and cabbage and then add pork, shrimp, octopus, squid, green onions, etc. It is known as “Osaka Soul Food” and the closest in our cuisine would be pizza. There is a hot griddle (teppan) in the middle of the table and the patrons finish cooking it. You can also put bonito flakes, Japanese mayonaise, a dark type of Worchester Sauce. Delicious!
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