February 5, 2025: Third and final full day in Osaka!

Had my pre-pre-pitch at 7:30 a.m. this morning and looks like there is one more pre-pre-pitch in the cards (scheduled for Monday, while I’m back in Tokyo) prior to moving on to the pre-pitch.  I celebrated/consoled myself with a late morning visit to Glitch coffee where we sampled two more beans…in addition to our favorite strawberry-fermented Columbian.

An Ethiopian coffee and a Pina Colada-washed Columbian that smelled (and tasted) divine.

We went back and forth on our lunch choice between an Indian Curry restaurant and Japanese curry restaurant and ultimately ended up going with the latter, Watanabe Curry, a tiny place with a cute diner feel.

Akemi claimed she wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, so she just helped herself to a third of my order (a beef and pork katsu combo)…as well as her entire order of chicken curry.  My meal was accompanied by this delightful Curry Lover Ale.

Overall, a fine meal, but we both found the curry too soupy (apparently a style in Hokkaido) and overall prefer the more typical thicker style.

Later, we walked over the Hanky department store where we stumbled upon an insanely well-attended chocolate festival that had taken over an entire floor.  They had everything: ice creams, cookies, bars, terrines…

And this chocolate burro.

I was fairly restrained, limiting my purchases to a few bars from some local vendors.

And this smoked triple cacao soft cream topped with caramel nuts

Probably the only thing rarer than a public garbage can in Tokyo is somewhere you can actually eat something you casually picked up.  Eating in public is frowned upon, but this little station seemed to be built for that purpose.  Still, I’m conditioned against this sort of behavior – thus my paranoid expression as I consume my sundae.  Is anyone coming?!

Stopped by the Michel Cluizel booth and met his youngest son, Francois, who is in Osaka for a few days for the show.  Michel Cluizel’s chocolates were a mainstay at my famed chocolate parties back in the day.

Absolutely love the fruit here in Japan.  You’ll find some very high-end stuff, but even the cheapest grocery store offerings are miles beyond what we get in North America.

Akemi got this drink that purportedly contains over 30 fruits and vegetables, but the only flavor I could discern was “healthy”.

Akemi was excited to check out Pet Paradise that felt more like Pet Purgatory

My guess is that they originally wanted to go with Good Sleep but couldn’t because it was already taken.

Not sure.  I’m guessing he’s there to deter shoplifters.  Don’t even think about it…

Every year it’s a different theme.  This year, ichigo strawberries are all the rage.

Our last night in Osaka saw us enjoying a final dinner with Akemi’s family.  We hit the 15th floor of the Hanshin Department store for soba – and a horumon appetizer that only Akemi and I would touch.

Yuba soba for Akemi and the duck soba for your truly, while Akemi’s sister, Hiromi, went with the cold sudachi soba.

Last supper in Osaka

The soba temple’s winter guard

Finally, ended the evening with a trip back to the Godzilla pop-up where Hiromi gifted me a t-shirt.  Very kind of her.

Tomorrow, we’ll try to squeeze in a final Osaka Glitch coffee visit before catching the 10:00 a.m. bullet train back to Tokyo where I’ll be meeting up with my cousin Matthew, an airline pilot stationed in Guam, and his girlfriend Natalie.  Should be fun!

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