We got out of the hotel late again, Guy still headachy from the backpack that fell on his head. We had some pretty gross breakfast in the area on recommendation of the hostel staff, then went directly to Umeda to buy the Osaka Amazing ticket, which gave us free subway rides and some free attractions. Sadly many of the museums we were interested in were closed on this day.
We immediately went to the Hep 5 Ferris wheel, which was close to the station and offered some nice overlook on the city. There wasn't anyone on it but us, and the staff were accommodating. It was a lot nicer than anticipated and had a little speaker that Guy could plug into his phone to play some music.
We then went back to Dotonburi street in Namba, to finally see the famous billboard of the Glico running man. At the same time we signed in to a queue to a famous crab restaurant. We had over an hour to wait, so we went to shop for souveniers and other things in one of two local Don Quijote discount stores, nicknamed Donki. We bought a lot of Pocky and some umeshu (plum wine), that was very cheap there.
Before our late lunch we still had time to get take-away takoyaki octopus balls, but we still didn't think this was very good. Some local hobo tried to hassle us with questions while we were eating our hot creamy balls. Our lunch in the crab restaurant was really nice, we had some crab sushi and a Japanese style crab hot pot.
After lunch we wanted to go to the Osaka castle museum but it was closing when we got there, so we just sat in the park eating giant pocky for a little bit and got bitten by mosquitos. We did see some children practicing Kendo in the martial arts dojo, but they had only kendo classes on this day, not naginata classes, so we went on.
We went to another part of the city to try the Onsen, which is the Japanese bath house or spa. This particular one was located in a Pachinko building and was also free with our pass. Small hand-towels were sold in the counter and those were essential since we did not bring our own. The bath house is divided by gender, since bathing is done nude. People with tattoos are not accepted in most onsen, including this one. Before going into any of the baths people take showers on a little plastic stool with shampoo and other toiletries provided by the spa. It is considered very rude not to shower before, as it is viewed as contaminating the water. Baths in Japan are for relaxation more than for hygiene.
There were many types of baths or hot tubs. Some very hot and with jets, some outdoor tubs, some small enough for a single person, and there were saunas and also one cold bath for a refreshing shock after the saunas or hot tubs. It was relaxing to spend about an hour there. Being apart was also refreshing and we were happy to see each other and eat ice cream in the lobby of the spa afterwards. Guy knew exactly which flavors I would pick.
We went back to Namba station and looked for a yakiniku restaurant Guy found on an earlier visit. It was good beef, grilled as we like Korean style. Afterwards we went to get more of the neighborhood sushi that was recommended to us previous time we were in Osaka. We sat in the very same spot at the bar, and it was nice to end the day this way.
We returned to the hostel, had some of the Ume Shu to toast farewell to Japan, and packed our things.
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