Singapore has futuristic grandeur. Bangkok has bustle. And Osaka , Japan , knows that the most important thing is lots of places to eat all around. Jodie has an incredible knack for finding accommodation.
We greatly enjoyed our tatami room in Tokyo, and a neighborhood where, within a short walk, we could snag Japanese French-inspired baking or a large bowl of ramen. Others are small, ever-present, okay with being passed by as you do your thing, but ready to delight you when you are ready to notice.
If you turn left from our front door, just before the lane that runs parallel to the tram tracks, a small stone shrine stands at the end of our housing row, at about eye level to me. A speckled gray stone comprises the squared base, the round columns, and the curving roof.
Two one-yen coins lie before the bottom step of the shrine. Inside are also two pops of color against the gray: a small, red-orange torii gate, with something written in Japanese characters on one vertical piece. The other is a little yellow bear, sitting and holding a bowl. The bear looks a bit like Winnie the Pooh. We will be in Osaka for a month. So instead of staying in a hotel, we found a rental house in a quiet neighborhood. Do we have to hop the train or the tram for sightseeing?
Mostly, yes. Yet our neighborhood is its own site to see. Attention to detail is a core component of Japanese culture. And our calm, residential neighborhood has no shortage of little details.
