aloha festival in osaka

Yesterday was the last day of a 3-day event called "Aloha Festival in Osaka", which was held in the courtyard of the Umeda Sky Building. The Umeda Sky Building has a garden area at the top called Kuchuteien, where you can see other buildings for miles on a nice day. (For some reason all the Japanese get excited about the view, but I can't seem to get excited over seeing miles and miles of buildings.) Holding up the garden are two towers which hold offices and other businesses. (Satoshi's German class is in one of the towers. )

Whenever I hear about events or foods that claim to be "Hawaiian", I try not to get my hopes up too high because most times they tend to be let downs. And a lot of times they tend to have pineapples on them....not that I dislike pineapples or anything like that, I just feel that Hawaii's cuisine has a bit more to it than that. Also, a lot of times the Japanese change the taste of things to match their palates.

So, I met Satoshi after his German class and we were excited to see something rare...the lunch wagons. The one on the left called Funky's and was serving hot dogs and nachos.

We bought their nachos with "real" fake cheese and salsa (350 yen = about $3.50). There was also another vendor selling Kona Brewing Company's Longboard Island Lager, Fire Rock Pale Ale and
Big Wave Golden Ale (600 yen each = about US$6)--we got the Longboard Island Lager.

The one on the right was called Yammy's (I wonder if they meant to call themselves Yummy's?) and was serving Loco Moco & Taco Rice. We stood in line for the Loco Moco & Taco Rice. After about 20 minutes we were able to get our food.

Here is Satoshi's order: Loco Moco (600 yen = about US$6). The gravy wasn't the authentic brown gravy, in fact, he didn't think it was gravy at all. He has decided that the only place to eat a loco moco is in Hawaii.

Here is my order: Taco Rice (600 yen = about US$6). Taco Rice is an Okinawan dish that was influenced by the American military there. I thought this was pretty close to the type of taco meat filling we have in the U.S. There were other booths there selling food but they were mostly hot dogs or curry.

There was lots of entertainment.

Lots of hula halau (hula groups) and ukulele players practicing before their chance to perform.

This group was waiting for their turn.

And even a shave ice stand...though it wasn't the same as Matsumoto's...I didn't get one but I don't think you could order a rainbow either....

but there were TONS of people! We went to the German Christmas Market a couple of times that was held in this same courtyard and the amount of people was nothing compared to what we saw today.

Aside from the crowd, we were happy to be able to listen to the Hawaiian music, although we both agreed there is no place like Hawaii (home).

Have a great week!