Sep 10, 2025
Our last morning in Osaka started with what may have been the best mango of Evan's life. He raved about it while he cut it. He raved about it while he ate it. He continued raving about it even after it was gone. Ok, noted. Japan has the best mangos.
After checking out of our hotel, we headed to the train station where we picked up ekiben, the beautifully prepared bento boxes sold specifically for train travel. Eating an ekiben aboard the shinkansen is the epitome of living like a local and we were determined to do it right. Mine contained salmon roe, sea urchin, and egg, three of my favorite things. Evan's came with something we'd never seen before: a self-heating container. By pulling a small string attached to the bottom of the box, a chemical heating pack activated beneath the meal, warming it right at our seats. It was incredibly clever, although the environmentalist in me couldn't help but wonder how eco-friendly it actually was...
As the countryside rolled by outside our window, we enjoyed our lunches, reclined our seats, and settled in for a nap during our longest shinkansen ride of the trip (about two and a half hours back to Tokyo). This time, however, we weren't returning to Akihabara. Earlier in the trip we'd stayed in Akihabara, famous for anime, manga, arcades and electronics stores. For our final night, we chose Ginza, Tokyo's elegant side. Known for luxury shopping, upscale department stores, art galleries, and beautifully designed streets, Ginza feels polished and sophisticated. Our room wasn't quite ready, so after dropping off our luggage we headed back out on what had become a trip-long mission: Finding a very specific bottle of Japanese whisky. We had searched liquor stores across multiple cities without success, so when we finally spotted it sitting on a shelf in Ginza, we could hardly believe it. It was the last bottle. We'll take it! Feeling triumphant, we wandered into the basement food hall of one of Ginza's department stores. Japanese department store basements, known as depachika, are famous for their incredible food halls. I treated myself to a salted caramel macaron that looked better than it tasted.
Once we officially checked into our hotel, we discovered an unexpected surprise waiting in our room: A massage chair. Given how much walking we'd done over the past two weeks, this may have been one of the most appreciated hotel amenities of the entire trip.
Refreshed, after a few chair massages, we set out once again in search of Evan's favorite sake, Two Rabbits. Unfortunately, despite checking multiple shops, it remained elusive.
We needed a pick me up after failing to find Evan's sake, so we stopped for ice cream and enjoyed it in a nearby park. Then it was on to our next destination, an owl café.
Japan is known for its themed cafés—everything from cats and hedgehogs to capybaras—and owl cafés are among the more unusual. We met owls of all shapes and sizes, gently held them on our arms, and carefully stroked the tops of their heads all while side eyeing them wondering how safe this actually was. It was certainly not something that was on our radar before coming to Japan but it was our last day so why not?
For dinner we headed to a ramen shop where ordering happens almost entirely through a vending machine outside the restaurant. You choose your meal, pay at the machine, receive a ticket, and hand it to the staff once you're seated. So, we did just that. However, at another ramen restaurant earlier in the trip, toppings like eggs and green onions had been ordered separately. Assuming this restaurant worked the same way, we enthusiastically added all the extras.
What arrived at our table was two fully loaded bowls of ramen PLUS separate servings of every topping we'd just ordered. Oops. It was absolutely delicious. It was also enough food for about four people.
After dinner we squeezed in one last shopping trip, including a wonderful Japanese antique store where we found a few hidden treasures for gifts. Evan also admired several beautiful haori, traditional hip-length jackets originally worn over a kimono. Once practical garments for warmth and protection, today they're often appreciated as wearable art thanks to their intricate woven patterns and craftsmanship.
Unfortunately, the ones he loved weren't exactly in our budget.
Back at the hotel we curled up in bed and started watching Sakamoto Days, a wildly popular manga that had just been adapted into an anime series earlier this year. The story follows Taro Sakamoto, a legendary retired hitman trying to live an ordinary life as a convenience store owner, even though he still possesses superhuman fighting skills. Within the first episode he was catching bullets with chopsticks. We were hooked.
It wasn't the grand finale to Japan we might have expected when we first landed two weeks earlier. Instead, it was a day filled with simple pleasures: a perfect mango, one lucky bottle of whisky, ice cream in the park, owls perched on our arms, a delicious bowl of ramen, and an evening spent laughing together over an anime we'd stumbled upon.
It was the most perfect, unexpected way to spend our last night in Japan.
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