My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
August 18, 2025
Michele and Steven had a full-day tour booked for our second day docked in Kobe, so on the first day I trained in with them to explore the parts of Osaka that weren’t on their tour. Last year, Diamond Princess docked in Osaka, and my friend Joseph from the Coral Princess was working in China at the time (he was a wizard at an amusement park) and he flew in to meet up with me there.
Now, Joseph actually lived in Osaka but happened to be at a wedding in the U.K. during the few days we were docked in his ‘neighborhood.’ Last year, I’d blindly followed him around, relieved that I didn’t have to navigate the unfamiliar public transportation, and he took me to the place where I had the best ramen I’d had in Japan.
This year, I followed Michele and Steven around – on the condition that we could take a detour for lunch at that ramen place.
I may have been the ship’s Destination Manager, but Michele had done her own research, and boy was I glad she did! After we dropped of their luggage at their hotel, we set off in search of fluffy pancakes.
On our way to the pancake place, we crossed a canal and heard lots of sirens. I messaged Joseph – What is happening in your city? A few hours later, he sent me a news article – there had been a big fire.
Michele and Steven had been looking for the fluffy pancakes Michele had seen advertised on Instagram all over Tokyo, but they hadn’t found them there. We easily found the place in Osaka. There were signs warning of long wait times, but we arrived at the perfect moment! Everyone else in the tiny restaurant seemed to be expats (more Caucasian than Asian).
The pancakes were like clouds! At home, Wendy makes the best pancakes – but these were completely different from hers. One order was enough for all of us to share.
Our next stop was a shrine.
Our next stop was Osaka Castle.
While we were visiting the castle, I got a message from Paolo, whom I’d just seen in Shimizu. He was at a castle in Kochi – we were headed there soon! He sent me some videos that I used in my presentation.
This castle was awesome. It was hundreds of years old, so I jokingly marveled at how advanced the Japanese were – it had air conditioning and elevators! We took the elevators to the top floor and worked our way down.
The view fro the top was spectacular:
I had to get a picture in every direction:
We’d worked up enough of an appetite for lunch!
Next, Michele wanted to check out the shopping area.
We dipped into the shops that drew our interest, but our real target was…
This cheesecake also tasted more like a cloud than traditional cheese cake!
While Michele stood in line to get a piping-hot cheesecake, Steven and I found a department store with air conditioning (we weren’t trying to ditch her- only one person per party was allowed to stand in line). When Michele joined us, we went to the basmement floor in search of a bathroom and found a beer festival! Of course I needed to taste a few of them!
We were having such a great day. I mean, so far we’d had fluffy pancakes, cheesecake, my favorite Ramen, visited a castle, and now we were in the basment of a department store at a beer festival.
It was late enough that Steven and Michele could check into their hotel room. I love the layout of Japanese hotel rooms –
For dinner we had Italian- pasta
And then it was time for me to head back to the ship.
I was feeling proud for figuring out my way home via a couple of trains, when it became apparent that my phone was dying and I wouldn’t have enough battery to navigate the walk back to the ship- I’d already used both spare batteries I brought with me. I hopped off the train and ordered an Uber the rest of the way, appreciating modern technology – and the fact that I was no longer so broke that the cheapest option was was my only option.