View of Nara and the Ikoma mountains beyond the Yamato Plain
Although I have traveled extensively in Japan, I do not profess to have deep insight into the culture or the people. As a westerner (and a Texan, for God’s sake), Asia is blithely enigmatic.
There are certainly cultures in the world that strive to remain apart. The Japanese, for all of their western trappings, do not have to work hard to remain distinguishable. The radical differences in language are, in part, responsible. Although English is commonly seen in Japan, most of it is related to the perplexing English tag lines, slogans, and non sequiturs that Japanese marketing whizzes concoct. Otherwise, Japan is for the Japanese.
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Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka – Thank the Gods, The War is Over!
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Takoyaki
How often do you cook with a blowtorch? Not canned heat (the fondue pot type), but an industrial grade blowtorch? We have now eaten our way across half of Japan, but tonight we witnessed a new style of Japanese cooking – flame thrower.
We left Nara around 11 AM, and arrived in Osaka in the early afternoon. I am behind in my accounts, but I must again take a side track and tell you about the food. Cassady has a good friend in Osaka, Besu, and we met her for dinner. She wanted us to go to a local takoyaki restaurant, the Pizza Ball House (Takonotetsu). The translation is loose. Trust me, there is no pizza in this cuisine other than melted cheese.
