Spirits of Japan

09/03/2025

Fun couple living it up on the streets of Osaka!! Great nite!!

07/03/2025

Nice fam from Cali/Oregon. We did a little trekking around town.....

07/03/2025

06/03/2025

Fun Arizona couple making their way through Osaka

28/02/2025

Waiting for my peeps at ZENTIS OSAKA

27/02/2025

Really fun couple from Australia checking out the Osaka nitelife with me. 🍶🍶🍶

26/02/2025

Getting ready for my tour tonight!

24/02/2025

We visited a Sushi Making Class run by a very energetic man, Mr. Kitamori, in his beautiful home kitchen that blends Western style and Japanese Tea perfectly. As a big surfer, his TV monitor was displaying shots of remote beaches with swaying palm trees, while playing light jazz in the background. His expansive kitchen/dining area provided a lot of room to move around and enjoy the views from his 3rd floor apartment.
 
We looked through his photo book of all the Westerners that have come through his kitchen and in the last year and a half, over 700 have done so. Then it was time for the Tea Ceremony.
 
We first experienced how to froth up a bowl of Macha in his beautifully decorated, Tea Ceremony room. Just a heads up that you will have to sit on your knees for about 10 minutes! We drank our Macha which by the way, was the least `bittery` Macha I have had in my many years in Japan. It was quite nice indeed.
 
After washing our hands, we headed to the open kitchen and were trained in how to slice sashimi right away. His limited English had no effect on how he taught as he gestured on how to cut each piece, even taking the extra time to teach my eight-year-old. His laughter and enthusiasm was very addicting.
 
He provided us with 5 items to prepare, which included items like shrimp, tuna & yellowtail. We learned how to use the water to wet our hands, and make a perfect two ounce rice ball in the right hand and how to hold the filet in the left hand and then apply wasabi and make your nigiri. It was a lot of fun and after making our sushi, he showed off his skills at slicing cucumber and gave us the chance to replicate what he did. My daughter did better than me. We then decorated the plate with flowers and sat down to eat our creations.
 
Served with yet another tea, we ate our sushi and talked with both Mr. Kitamori and his wife, Mami. He then sat down and began writing out some calligraphy on some postcards with our name and his impression of us. Very personal and an awesome keepsake and reminder of our hour with him and his wife.

24/02/2025

We visited an unusual Udon Restaurant that migrated from the island of Shikoku and has been in this same location for 52 years!. This restaurant is located in the area of Hattori Tenjin right next to Hattori Tenjin station on the Hankyu Line.
 
It is a very small restaurant with a handful of seats at the counter and only a few tables that are quite small for most foreigners. The menu is also all in hand-written Japanese and there are only a few pictures to choose from.
 
At the entrance they have their Udon noodle-making machine and they use it every day. The noodles are prepared every morning and are as fresh as it can come. A mother and son team with only two other employees, gives the restaurant a quaint, family feel, but after 52 years, the mom is entertaining the idea to renovate.
 
I am a big fan of curry udon and thirs did not disappoint. Flavorful but not overpowering. Noodles were nice and thick. I order a small bottle of sake and Inari zushi to start with and instead of using the store-bought tofu pockets, they make their own and the vineragy, slightly salty rice filling was amazing! Served with pickled ginger, it was the best appetizer to have with my sake.
 
After I had my Soba, the mother brought out her famous Zaru Udon. It is freshly made udon noodles, topped with ice to keep them cold and accompanied by their homemade `Tsuyu` dipping broth. Great for a refeshing lunch on a hot Summer day! The noodles sit on a bamboo basket to allow the water to escape from the noodles and drip on the plate below. You can request for hard or soft noodles also.
 
The restaurant is located right next door the famous Hattori Tenjingu Shrine, which houses the foot deity, and has been in this location for 1,000 years.

24/02/2025

We visited Izumo Café in Mino where we found some really delicious Panini-style sandwiches and some amazing muffins! I had a Mushroom and Cheese Panini and my daughter tried the Grilled Cheese. My wife had a coffee and my daughter, and I had refreshing juice. The atmosphere was jazzy, and the Owner had spackled his walls with a ceramic style paint mixture that was really a refreshing look for the Café.
 
All of the muffins and cookies were made by grinding rice kernels into a powder and the results were absolutely amazing and good for people that happen to be gluten free.
 
A variety of different plants adorned the room and there was even another room you could rent separate from the main Café for privacy that had a cozy atmosphere with sofas.

24/02/2025

We visited the Midori Ichi Sake Brewery in Ikeda. The factory has since been shut down for a few years as the Owner has fallen ill and cannot keep up with the demand for the Sake. It seems that he is allowing a Brewery in Nara brew his Sake for him and he labels it in his Brewery and sends them out accordingly.
 
I was surprised when Mr. Yoshida, the Owner, told me that from beginning the process of making his Sake until it is bottled, is a mere 3 weeks. The usual Sake Brewing process takes two to three months, so this surprised me. He said it takes about 7-8 people to assist in the process.
 
His concern if that he has had his Brewery in his family, from what I understood, for over 145 years.
 
The building has been designated a National Historical Treasure with a plaque outside and a beautiful 100 year old Cycad Tree in front of the home.
 
We purchased a 1.8-liter bottle of Sake from the Brewery and the lady in charge of distribution was kind enough to label it right in front of me and secure the cap of the bottle with an old-style cap compressor. I took the bottle home and upon opening, the cap fizzed as I unplugged it, telling me the Sake within was still in a state of fermentation.

24/02/2025

We visited the lovely home of Tomoko Tosa. Tomoko rescues old kimono fabric and reconditions the fabric into everything from pants, bags, scarfs and even smaller objects such as brouches and dolls.
 
This day my wife and daughter had the opportunity to attend one of her private workshops and make brouches. This 45 minute workshop was easy enough for my 8 year-old daughter, who though very artistic, was not hot on the idea of working with kimono fabric, as she has no interest in kimonos.
 
The beginning of the workshop was an explanation into what types of kimonos women should wear at gatherings, whether they are married or unmarried. This was a little boring for my eight-year-old.
 
Five minutes after choosing her piece of fabric from the samples Tomoko had laid out, she was completely on board. Using double-sided tape and a little folding, they were able to create two cute brouches from the fabric, the tape and some yarn. She was so proud of her creation, that she gave it to her cousin the next day saying, I made this!
 
Tomoko served us a choice of coffee or tea served with little cakes and we sat around chatting for a few minutes at the end which made it feel very welcoming and cozy.

24/02/2025

We visited a small Roadside Stop in Nose, pronounced, `Nouse`, north of Toyonaka in the northern mountains of Osaka. Compared to other Roadside Inns or `Michi no Eki`s`, it is small and located on a less traveled highway into Nose town. Roadside Inn`s provide a place for locals a place to purchase local vegetables and products at one stop and always have some type of small restaurant and a toilet stop to satisfy everyone on the trip.
 
Keyaki no Sato used to have only tents and depending on the weather, people would not stop for long if it was raining or windy. They have recently built a building and another building located across the Parking Lot, that hs nice restrooms for people to use. The staff evidently have to use the same restrooms as they did not put restrooms in the new building because of location to the road.
 
We went in and of course, there were not many fresh vegetables left to purchase as we got their around 11:00am. There were a variety of products for purchase, from drinks to small hand-made toys.
 
The only food that was being served was Kakiage Udon, a type of Tempura Vegetable Fritter, deep fired and then placed in the warm broth and then served. My fritter began dissolving in the warm broth before I got a chance to eat it, making a mess of my Udon bowl and making it hard to drink the broth. It seems like they could plce the fritter on a separate bowl and allow me to put the fritter in at my own pace, but maybe that is just me.
 
Toilets were clean, food was good, outside of my fritter and it was a very nice all-around atmosphere.

24/02/2025

We visited Jozu Café located in Nose, north of Osaka in the northern Osaka mountain area. The Owners have only been in the area for five years, as their place in East Osaka burned down at that time. They decided to move and relocate to a different environment,
 
The Café is on the first floor and consists of SOMETHING Cuisine. Not only healthy but the presentations are five-star. The second floor consists of a Café where you can get some amazing desserts, coffee and tea. There are books you can literally take from the shelves and read while you enjoy your time at the Café.
 
Back on the first floor is an area dedicated to local artists, from earrings, to drawings and pottery,
 
The really cool thing is in the back of this building which consists of a woodworking shop. Not just any worj shop, but a place with hundreds of table tops, cut and planed to perfection. From 6ft long to over 20ft long and every wood you can think of. The aroma of wood throughout this Showroom is amazing and takes a good half hour just to come to the realization of just how much wood is on these two floors.
 
Just when I was at my max, the Owners wife, who used to work as a J*P Flight Attendant for many years, asked us if we would like to see their main Showroom just a quick walk down the road! What?!
 
We walked for about 5 minutes to not only their larger workshop, but a metal fitting workshop right next door. Then next door is more tabletops, a Sign-making Shop and furniture store! Really not much else to say here. They have a must-stop Café/Restaurant, amazing pieces of wood and items made from wood to purchase and there was even a token Italian man on staff that on Saturdays from 4pm – 8pm makes awesome pizzas!

24/02/2025

We first visited Anrakuji Temple, which is dedicated to the Jodo Shinshu sect or `Pure Land Teachings` sect of Buddhism in Japan. The actual place where the Temple if located, sits atop a hill that back not even 50 years ago, you could see Osaka Castle in the distance, 16km away.
 
Anrakuji has been in this particular location for 381 years )since 1644) and the recent Temple building was rebuilt in the mid 1990`s and is adorned with Gold Leaf on the decorative Lotus Flowers and Lanterns inside. Outside the building there is a 400 year old Cycad tree, usually only found in Kyushu or Okinawa, that covers 25 square meters of the property.
 
The Head Monk, Mr. Hata, is a very light-hearted person, that travels around the area to promote and expound the teachings of the Jodo Sect, founded by Honen, a monk that split from traditional Buddhism and created his own sect of Buddhism in 1175, and the Monk, Shinran, who as a follower of the teachings of Honen, would further develop the sect through much persecution from other Buddhist sects.
 
There is a small graveyard on the property and they have another graveyard located nearby. The Temple has seen suburbian homes surround the Temple over the years but still stands out as a prominent icon in the landscape.
 
Twice a day, followers chant to Amitabha, (Amida Buddha), hoping to liberate themselves from the suffering in this world. Through chanting, called `Nembutsu`, the name of Amida, they are hoping to attain his `mindfulness`.
 
It is important to know that the `Buddha`, or `Enlightened One` for our particular Universe was an individual who passed away over 2,500 years ago; His name was Siddartha Gautama, or more commonly known as `Shakyamuni Buddha`.
 
Shakyamuni in his 50 years of teachings talked about other `Enlightened Beings` from other Major World Systems, and Amida was one of those Enlightened Beings from another World System called, Sukhavati.
 
A beautiful place to explore, though the Temple grounds are small but a nice place to visit if you happen to be in the area.

24/02/2025

Australian traveling alone and he let me take him around Osaka! Thanks Glen!

23/02/2025

Getting ready for my tour tonight. Umeda HIUB British Pub

12/02/2025

Fun family tour of late nite Osaka.