Yes, the first thing that hit us was how expensive everything is here. Just one subway trip is more than our average daily expenditure in Beijing.
Actually the first impression we had was on ANA Airlines on the way here. It was the best airline food I ever had. Super simple, but I thought that was better than trying to inject flavor and failing. Fish was cooked perfectly, rice was good, veggies steamed well.
We settled in late. Hardly anything was open in this part of Osaka. So we had to walk around quite a bit to get dinner. Now, I have impossible expectations for Japan. I’ve dreamed of visiting since I was a child. The homes and alleyways looked just as I imagined. But getting Halal-friendly food was hard, even though I had phrases translated by real people beforehand. We finally found someone happy to go back and forth with us to figure it out. Dinner ended up being vegetarian cold noodles and rice with kimchi.
