Smells Like Kansai, part 1 —関西のにおいがする パート1—

I, my wife, and my seven year old son took a four day trip to Kansai recently.  We left on Christmas Eve, making sure to leave a window open a crack so that Santa could find a way in while we were absent. 

I have previously lived in Osaka, Kyoto and Akashi, and I used to work in Kobe, so I had a number of places I wanted to revisit.  To get my son excited about the trip, I said we would go to a special room of smells, a room of sound, the place of one million steps, and the best restaurant in Japan.  We managed to get to all of these places in the end. 

First was the room of smells.  Just near Shin-Kobe Station, there is a cable car which climbs up Mount Rokko.  We took this cable car to the top, to enjoy Nunobiki Herb Garden.  They have a room full of different jars of herbs and perfumes, and you can have fun comparing all the different smells.  I didn’t like jasmine, but the traditional Christmas scents of frankincense and myrrh were nice.  Surprisingly, though, everyone’s favourite smell was that of the tobacco plant.  It really does smell nice before it is put into a cigarette! 

Because it was Christmas Eve, there was a Christmas market.  It would have taken several hours to get to the front of the queue to buy anything, though, so we couldn’t try the German sausages or mulled wine.  We went back down the cable car.  What did we find, but a shopping centre running a much smaller Christmas market?  With no queue at all, we bought some mulled wine and apple cider, and waved to Santa. 

After checking in at our hotel in Kobe, we took the Hanshin Line back to Osaka.  I used to live in Himejima, between Amagasaki and Umeda.  So we went there, to go to Sangokushi, an izakaya still run by my friend Takumi and his wife Yukari. 

“Why do you like Osaka, Daddy?” my son asked. 

“Because the people are so friendly and kind,” I said. 

Sangokushi was as good as I remembered.  We sat at the counter, where Takumi could chat to us when he was not so busy cooking.  We had sashimi, yaki-onigiri, nabe, ochazuke with grilled salmon, potato and cheese, and finished off with udon.  My son tried his first ochazuke and yaki-onigiri, and loved them both. 

I exchanged some gifts with Takumi, and he refused to accept any money for the meal.  He even gave my son an envelope with a little money as “otoshi-dama,” or money to celebrate the New Year. 

My son was incredibly impressed. 

“You were right, Daddy.  People from Osaka are the kindest in Japan!”