Americatown

Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Osaka's Amerikamura (Americatown). I've spent enough time in Japantown and Chinatown at home, I wanted to see how Americatown compared.

I wondered among the vintage T-shirt shops and record stores, feeling not at all like I was in America. Then sat to down to join all the cool Japanese kids in Triangle Park eating takoyaki (fried octopus balls) because that's exactly what my friends and I always do on Sunday afternoons in the States.



The takoyaki was a little chewy and tentacly for my taste.



Actually it made me feel a little nauseous. So I gave it to the pigeons and went to order something else to cleanse my palate. I saw some kids eating a taco-like item so ordered one of those. Turns out it was an octopus taco. Maybe there was some confusion when I ordered, the word for octopus being "tako" and all.



Speaking of getting America totally wrong, check out this menu item from the restaurant I went to in Nagasaki.



Funny, in my whole 15 months in New York, I never once ate Kalbi with leek and salt. In fact, I don't even know what it is.