I had a really nice relaxing day, enjoying both urban and suburban Japan. Oliver and I worked on his university applications with his friend Kenta. They are applying to US universities and I gave them advice on their essays and help in filling out the forms. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant serving tonkatsu (Japanese deep-fried pork cutlet). I of course ordered the winter menu set that came with deep fried Hiroshima oysters. The meal is accompanied with miso soup, cabbage, rice, and a special tonkatsu sauce. Absolutely delicious! Although it is deep fried, it is not oily but crispy and it just goes so well with cabbage and rice. The breading is “panko” a white-bread, non-crust bread crumb. The cabbage topped with sesame dressing gives the meal some more crunch.
After a short nap, I went for a long walk in the hills of Saito, above our rental home. I love that we lived in a nice suburb close to nature. It was sunny and cool and perfect walking weather.
Oliver and I then went downtown Osaka to pick up Nadia and Ocean. We stopped at the Hankyu Department Store and watched people and drank a nice craft wheat beer. We then drove back home. Owen went skiing with friends to Hakuba and will be gone for a few days.
Nadia and Ocean were tired so we drove back north to our rental house. I wanted to stay downtown a bit more, but we will go again. Below is a short video of us crossing the street in Umeda.
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