SpaWorld, Namba and Dotonbori, SWING Sushi

This morning we got up and threw on our bathings suits, excited to go to SpaWorld. It was only two blocks from our hotel so after a quick walk we entered the monstrous building. We had received a discount from our hotel so we paid only 900 yen each (or approximately $9) for entrance...a good deal if you ask me! Spas usually cost hundreds of dollars haha. Nick and I were told to take off our shoes and we were given bracelets that kept track of what we spent while inside SpaWorld. Nick was sent to the 4th floor (Europe zone/men only) and I was sent to the 6th floor (Asia zone/women only). The men/women floors were full of different types of saunas, hot springs, spas, massage rooms, and mineral baths. They were fully separated by sex. We put our belongings in the locker room and met up on the 8th floor, where the indoor water park was. We went on tube rides and played in the pools and hung out in the lazy river for a few hours. We hit up the rooftop hot tubs and dunked each other in shallow bubble pools. It was a lot of fun. We weren't allowed to take photos inside so I pulled some of the ads for the waterpark from the SpaWorld website to show everyone.


After several hours enjoying the spas and the amusement park we changed and ventured out towards Namba again. We found Dotonbori, a district in Osaka famous for restaurants and nightlife. Dotonbori runs along a small river that cuts through Osaka and there is a series of bridges and streets that run all over and around the river. We were still in awe of the lights and sounds that swirled around us in a neverending stream as we walked down alleys and up main streets. We perused the high fashion shopping district and wandered through the streets as night fell around us. The buildings came alive with lights and gigantic ads that boasted purses, shoes, beer and smiling contorted faces. Anime jumped out at us and colorful characters hung off all the buildings. It was like the lights and sounds of Vegas had blanketed a city the size of New York.


We were getting pretty hungry and started to search for a decent restaurant to eat at. We stopped in a main intersection of one of the big arcades to wonder what to do. Above us was a robotic display of drums and flutes and swirling circles with a man who popped out from a curtain every few minutes. We had seen him many times before and used him as a reference point since we could not read or say any street names. As we stood there, wondering where to eat and watching the robot man, we noticed he had something in his hand...a piece of sushi. And the giant spinning circles weren't just circles...they were plates...of more sushi. Delicious looking sushi. With large light up 100 Yen signs everywhere. A plate of sushi...for a dollar? 50 cents per piece? We thought it was too good to be true, considering how expensive everything was everywhere else.



We walked inside and gazed upon the largest sushi boat restuarant we had ever seen. The boat held some delectable looking nigiri and gunkan (seaweed wrapped) sushi and snaked around ten rows of tables and bars. The place was full of people and the sounds of drums and flutes repeated endlessly in the background noise. We were seated and it became apparent to us that yes, EVERYTHING was a dollar. We watched the plates of sushi march by us in an excited awe. Salmon, tuna, crab, shrimp...it was all we could have hoped for and more. We learned by watching other hungry customers that we did not have to wait for the sushi to come to us, we had an interactive television screen at our table that had the full menu on it. It even had some english descriptions of the fish! We just clicked the pictures of the sushi we wanted and a waitress would come by with freshly made sushi for us. It was delightful! Fantastic! The best we've had! Well...short of the bluefin and yellowfin tuna we had in Korea, haha. But Swing Sushi, for the price and the taste, beat all other boat restaurants we had ever been to. We gorged on fatty salmon and bincho tuna, fried shrimp and crab with mayo sauce. We enjoyed so much we thought we'd have to roll ourselves out of the restaurant! And at the end of our massive sushi feast we realized...it had only cost us $20. Hooray!!! This was for sure the best find of our trip so far!




Tomorrow we are doing a sightseeing day, we are excited to visit some castles and ruins and also make the trek into Osaka City, the proper downtown of Osaka. We can't wait!