For our final night we stayed at probably the “kitschist” and pinkest hotel in Japan. It is a popular wedding destination and had pink lights and decorations all around. They even had a princess theme with Cinderella’s chariot and glass slipper on display. The breakfast restaurant had a sea of bright flowers with a white piano set in the middle.

For a final day, I had organised a food tour through the streets of Osaka. Our guide picked us up from the hotel at 11:00 a.m. and we headed to the Dotonbori area. It was the same street we were at yesterday. However, this time our guide took us to all the little streets and restaurants hidden at the back. We started with a Kobe beef sushi street cafe where they prepared the meal in front of us. I’ve never had beef sushi before and it was quite a unique taste.

We followed this up by going to try Okonomiyaki – Japanese pancake/pizza. We had a mixed seafood version and the chef par cooks it and then puts it on a hot plate at the table to finish cooking. It’s topped with mayonnaise and spices and was quite delectable. Apparently different areas in Japan have different types of Okonomiyaki and you can tell the region by the way it’s made.

I had wanted to try Puffer Fish on this trip and the guide took us to a wet market where it was being served. Originally Bron wasn’t convinced but decided to try it anyway. The cafe we visited has been in the same location for over a 100 years and the skills to remove the poison from the fish has been handed down the generations. We had Fugu sashimi, which didn’t taste much different to Kingfish Sashimi, and we lived to write the blog.

Our final stop was at a Deep Fried Everything cafe which had crickets, Scorpions, frogs and lizards on the menu. We went with the safer mixed platter option that had a variety of vegetables and seafood.

One of the things I have been amazed by is how small some of the eateries in Japan are. I took a video as we walked past some cafes in Osaka today and they literally only have room for a cook and standing room for patrons.