Yesterday was one big fulfilment of my desire for pizza. I took the train to Kyobashi station on the very fringes of Osaka (apparently Hirakata is in an area referred to as Osaka, and not the city proper itself, kinda like Manhattan isn't really NYC). From there, I had fun (LIES!) learning all about the subway system, which I used to get to Shinsaibashi, sort of the shopping/corporate business section of the city. I had read that Shakey's, the recommended pizza place, was closed for renovations, but there was another famous one called Slices six blocks from the station. Guess what happened next...
After failing to find anything, I walked back to the station and then headed in the opposite direction. Not one block away I found a proclaimed Italian restaurant that had pizza. I rushed up to the third floor (hey, it was a fast elevator) and proceeded to stare at the menu, hating katakana. There are easily over 50 times the number of kanji as katakana, and I truly believe it would be just that more easier to memorize all of them as opposed to these stupid loan word characters. Luckily, Europe taught me all about Maurgarita pizzas. I got one of those, which redefined the meaning of small; I could have easily held two-thirds of it in my hands! But it what almost exactly what I asked for-sauce, cheese, and one whole basil leaf on each slice (?)-so I was happy, if not full.
Then I walked into a tunnel carved through several buildings that served as a kind of mall, where I found another restaurant with pizza. But this time, it was real food. Pepperoni is called salami over here (can't believe I needed a picture to figure that out) and is exactly the same as back home. The only reason I didn't finish the whole thing in two minutes was because I had to pick off slices of onion. I swear, the person who created onion must have thought "let's make a vegetable that no one wants as a topping but is so transparent they can't pick all of it off". But the Japanese word for onion is tamanegi, so next time I'll just say "tamanegi ga nai kudasai" and all will be well.
Right after I left I found where Shakey's is. And it wasn't closed. It's just finished renovations and is celebrating it's first anniversary. The place is actually pretty easy to spot; just look for the line of over one hundred people wrapped around it waiting to get in. I think I'll stick with the other place until things cool down.
One of the good things about rain is that fall weather has now come in earnest. It is finally cool enough for me to wear long sleeves again. Yay! (short sleeves=hate) I've signed up to go on the Hiroshima trip in two Saturdays from now. With a group discount Shinkansen ticket I had to pay 7,430 yen (roughly $74.30). I don't get a discount for coming back, though, and taking seven hours using local trains instead of the 1 hour 40 minute Shinkansen would only save me ten bucks. And they say America's the capitalist giant...
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You've traveled all of the way to the far side of the world so you can eat Shakey's Pizza. Do they have Krystal hamburgers too?
ReplyDeleteAm currently watching the Shogun series (again!) and saw that there are areas in Osaka where one can find ship-wrecked sailors who can provide roast capon and grog? Of course, you have to watch out for the lice there.
ReplyDeleteShould we send you a care package of food so you don't have to spend so much time looking for food? Ramen perhaps?
Do you know "universal sign language"? I hear (?) that it is one way around having to read written japanese, french, spanish or russian. Heck, it would even be useful in finding your way around in the US what with cajun, tex-mex, and brooklyn accents. We used it during the 1964 World's Fair on our first (and only) subway trip from the Americana Hotel in Manhattan to the fair site.