Osaka

The train journey back to Osaka was four hours; Denis had a much shorter journey and was meeting us off the train. Unfortunately we got off at a stop which wasn’t the one Denis was waiting for us at. So we reverted to Plan B and met him at the hotel instead. It’s a reasonable hotel in a central location.

Unfortunately it doesn’t have a bar and we really wanted to have a drink together so we decided to head out to find somewhere. And the weather was atrocious- it rained continuously all day. So we found an Irish bar and settled down for a couple of pints.

At 18.30 we returned to the hotel to meet our guide for an evening food tour. Another excellent tour. First we had some various different skewered dishes. Then we went to an Osakan curry house and then had some gyoza (dumplings) and finished with some fruit and ice cream.

By this time the rain had, thankfully, stopped and we walked through the heart of Osaka. A busy, vibrant, hectic place.

By then Anna and Denis had had enough and decided to go back to the hotel. But I stayed out. There is a Premier League to be won. I was off to the nearby English Pub to watch LFC v West Ham- hopefully to see us make a start on those 9 points we need

Despite a rather nervy second half performance Liverpool hung on to win 2-1. And so only another 6 points are now needed.

Tomorrow we return to Tokyo for our last day in Japan.