Neighborhood Hirakata

"Sand dollar" also known more commonly as "obaasan's" by exchange students from Kansai Gaidai. This nickname most probably came about because of the delicious food and relaxing atmosphere, which can have the effect of bringing back nostolgic feelings of going over to grandma's house for dinner when you're a kid. The resturant is owned and run by an older couple, with the husband being the chef and the wife the waitress and cashier.

Outside view of Sand Dollar - it is set inside the entrance of a nondescript apartment building in the Makino area. It would be easy to walk by this place a million times and never realize it exists due to the fact that it is kind of hidden and there are no real advertisements outside except the display case outside which showcases it's dishes with wax models. I didn't go here a single time last semester because I had never noticed it, but upon moving into the seminar house this semester all of my friends who were here last semester introduced it to me and they were really suprised when I told them I had never even heard of it.

Shisen Ramen which lays inbetween Makino and Gotenyama stations. They frequently offer coupon deals and one can usually get a meal of a bowl of ramen, a plate of gyoza, and a plate of chinese fried rice for under 1000 yen. Although this resturant is a chain and does have other locations, I decided to include it due to the fact that it pretty much is literally a hole in the wall and it exhibits all of the necessary characteristics which would define an 穴場: cheap food, good friendly service, and not exactly well-known.

When people think of Japan, images of mega corporations often come to mind: Sony, Panasonic, Toyota, Nintendo - the list goes on and on. However, something many people don't realize about Japan is that entrepreneurship pervades Japan in many respects, and plays a vital role within the Japanese economy. Mom and pop stores and restaurants can be found all over Japan.

This fact became very apparent to me after arriving in Hirakata city back in September of last year. When I first arrived, and before I had a bike, I would often leisurely walk around the neighborhood, taking everything in, and I noticed how many small local shops there are everywhere within the city. This fact became more apparent to me as the semester progressed and I would frequently get lost in the residential area around my host family's house – I would often stumble upon little yakiniku, udon and ramen restaurants tucked away amongst the rowhouses.

Some of these restaurants are actually quite amazing, and in many cases also affordable. There is a word in Japanese for these kinds of places – 穴場　(anaba) which literally translates as hole and place, but is more akin to the english saying little hole in the wall (implying good) restaurant (jisho.org translates it as little-known good place ). While many exchange students in Japan only eat at big name places like McDonalds and かっぱ寿司 (Kappazushi), I find that many of the best restaurants in Hirakata are the small 穴場`s that are tucked away in random places which can be extremely easy to overlook, even if it is a place you walk by every single day! Hirakata is full of these little 穴場`s, and I have decided to make it one of my goals while I am in Japan to try and search out as many of them as possible and find out which ones are the best.

Link the "Life@Kansaigidai" page where there is resturant section with recomendations of good places to eat at from current professors and students
http://www.kansaigaidai.net/Main.action#