Since I was leaving Osaka for Okayama later in the day, I got up early to have breakfast, repacked and dropped off my luggage at the storage lockers, then checked out of my hotel by 10:00am. I wasn’t meeting my friend Michiko for lunch until 11:00am, so I had some time to kill before heading over to Yakiniku Kitan Houzenji. Last time I saw her she was visiting Canada, so it’s nice to see her in Japan this time around.

There was a bit of a lineup just before opening time, but we were seated immediately upstairs in a private room. I was happily surprised by that as it wasn’t even a super expensive meal. Both of us ordered the seared aged aitchbone beef steak bento for ¥2,640. The meat was soooo good. There are three recommended ways to eat the steak – first on its own, second by mixing the egg with the beef, third by adding the meat and rice into a bowl and pouring the broth over top so it becomes a hitsumabushi. Honestly there’s no wrong way to eat it, so I cleaned my bento box down to the very last grain.

Later we took a walk over to Namba City and Namba Parks. Due to the way my schedule was organized on this trip, I didn’t really have time to do my usual shopping haul before forwarding my suitcase to the airport. I was originally hoping my hotel would keep my suitcase for me as I had another stay lined up, but because they couldn’t I needed to figure out an alternative plan. Since I didn’t feel like paying extra for storage, the next best thing was finishing my shopping early, so I could forward my luggage a week early. Then I would only need to take a hand carry with me while traveling around Shikoku.

Michiko and I did pretty well in the few hours we were at the mall together and I managed to get the last bit of shopping in. I bid her farewell afterwards, then I went back to the hotel to rearrange my suitcase and left it with them to ship to the airport. I later took the subway to Shin-Osaka Station, where I transferred onto a train to Okayama. This was the first day of my JR Setouchi pass, which made it super easy traveling within the region.

I arrived in Okayama around 4:30pm and it’s always a little disorienting navigating around the station for the first time. I somehow managed to Google Map myself to the wrong Toyoko Inn for check-in, before realizing my mistake and walking to the correct location. Later that evening I went back inside one of the restaurants at the station where I got an order of their signature yellow chives ramen with a side of gyoza for dinner. Since I finished early, I took the time to browse inside Bic Camera on the opposite side of the station, before returning to my hotel to call it a night.