Osaka, Japan 28.04

We took the train from Hiroshima to Osaka which took only 1.5 hours, and found our new 'Chuo Hotel'. The hotel was great, with amazing views and clear sounds of the railway tracks outside our window. Loren was thrilled though, because it was another traditional Japanese room.

This time they had special shelves to hide the mattresses in, so we walked into an almost empty.

We were definitely not in the best area of town. It seemed a little dodgy. We wandered down the Dobutsen-Mae shopping arcade, which reminded us of Footscray in Melbourne. We saw a dead kitten behind a barbed wire fence between sections of the arcade, where several dirty cats lived. Despite this disturbing sight, we managed to find a great restaurant that served gyoza.

Osaka-jo CastleOur first sight-seeing stop was to Osaka-jo Castle. The grounds surrounding the castle were enormous. They were filled with flower gardens and manicured wildernesses. They even had a section of fruit trees. Loren could have spent a whole day soaking in the beauty and solitude of the gardens.
We crossed a huge moat to get to the actual castle grounds. The rocks used in the walls surrounding the grounds were huge! Apparently some of the rocks were 10m long! As we approached the castle, we saw an American busker whose music echoed around the whole castle island.The castle itself was huge, seven floors in height, but inside it was a lot like the other castle in Hiroshima. We looked at a few of the exhibits, and learnt about the time when the castle was built, and the eventual fall of the empire.There were some pretty incredible screen paintings that told the story of the war that toppled the castle. We watched a movie that explained each of the sections of the painting. This castle had an even better view over the city, as it was much taller, and the moat and gardens around the castle were so beautiful from above.


The Giant Ferris WheelAfter this, we went to visit the Giant Ferris Wheel, which is apparently the largest in the world! It was 112m tall and each rotation took 15mins! The views were incredible, and there was a voiceover explaining the scenery that you were looking at.

We picked the perfect time to ride it, as the sun was just setting. The wheel was just by the harbour, so you had an incredible view over the water and the skyscrapers all over the city. We could see huge bridges and complicated layers of highways, winding in-between each other.


Ring of Life Aquarium
After the ferris wheel, we decided to visit the aquarium, which was just below it. We were curious because the aquarium was supposed to have the largest tank in the world - 34m wide, 9m deep. It was quite expensive compared to other tourist sites, but when we got inside, we didn't regret paying the entry fee for a second.

The aquarium was built on the theme of the ring of life, which is an area of ocean and land that lies very close to the ring of fire - the ring of volcanoes around the world. So the aquarium featured not only fish and sea creatures, but a huge variety of animals that live next to the water.


We saw some of the cutest animals we have ever seen! The cutest by far were the sea otters. They were so much bigger than we expected, they were about the size of seals. They lazed around floating on their backs, with their hands together like they were praying. Some of them kept their hands together and their heads above water while they rolled over on their sides over and over again.
The next cutest of all was the giant penguins. They stood around in the snow staring at each other and waddling back and forth. Some of them got into little tussles with each other, and it looked like they just stood around in little social circles. One of the penguins parked himself on his stomach beneath the falling snow.
The dolphins and seals were pretty cool to watch. Some of them didn't stop moving, they just kept swimming around and around. One of the seals became friends with Loren. He parked himself underwater near the window and just stared back at her. He was so cute and had the biggest black eyes. Every now and then he'd go to the surface for air and then come back to stare at her.
The biggest tank was amazing! You could view it from 4 different heights as the path around the tank gradually took you down lower and lower. The length of the exhibits was 660m and it took us a good 2 hours to get through the whole thing. The first exhibits showed animals above the water, and as you got lower, you saw the water beneath the tank, and all the other sea creatures that live in the water below.
The size of the big tank was necessary as it housed a huge whale shark. It was quite funny because the whale shark was constantly escorted by a troupe of other fish. They swam above, beneath and behind him.In the lower waters of the tanks, we saw octopus, giant crabs, turtles and in the Great Barrier Reef section there was lots of coral and colourful fish.


Dotombori Nightlife
We finally managed to drag ourselves away from the aquarium, although Loren could have gone to the top and seen it all again quite happily. We went to Dotombori which was supposed to have a lot of great restaurants and famous sights.

We struggled to find a restaurant with an English menu that wasn't exhorbitantly expensive. Eventually we chose place that sold tako-yaki, otherwise known as octopus balls. They were crispy balls cooked with octopus and a creamy sauce inside. We ordered a few varieties, meaning different toppings, same balls. We weren't actually sure what they were when we ordered them, but we liked them.
After dinner we visited the Ebisu-Bashi bridge, which at night looks identical to one from the movie 'Blade Runner'. Artur was very impressed by the neons displayed around the water and bridges.

Next we headed for Amerika-Mura which means America Village. All the teens around here dress like they assume Americans do and party at hip-hop bars. It was quite incredible seeing some of the outfits. Most of them wear colourful vintage style clothes, others wear hip-hop gear, some wear little more than hotpants and boots. In this area, accessories are an absolute must.
Apparently, the reasons for the outlandish fashions in Japan, not just including the American die-hards, is because of the crash of corporate culture. People used to live and breathe for a corporation that they'd work at for their whole lives. The company would pretty much dictate everything that you did. After the corporations had a major crash, people lost faith in that way of life and looked for individualism.
Now most young people find everyway possible of expressing individuality, especially in the way they dress. You can still see the remaining corporate influence in the old men you see on the subway. They seem very stiff and proper and almost unidentifiable from the next salary man. They work long hours and are usually coming home on the trains at the same time we are heading home after seeing the sights of the city.

Socks Glorious Socks
The next morning, we went shopping in the Minami area. Loren was absolutely thrilled by the variety of socks that were available in Japan. There is a sock for every pair of shoes. If you have closed toe shoes, you can get socks with lace edges that will peek out from the edge of the shoe. If you have shoes with a strap, you have socks with a strap to go underneath. If you have open toe shoes, you have socks with no toes, but with lace or patterns that will show around the edges of the toes and the rest of the shoe.

There were a million patterns of stockings, ones with jewels and pictures, and long sock in every shape and colour, not to mention leg warmers and any other type of foot accessory imaginable. Loren struggled with all her might not to take home every pair of socks that she came across, but that still left her with an armful of socks and stockings.

Our last shopping trip was to the foreign language bookshop, where we bought a guide for India and several manga! Loren devoured the manga in a few hours, and was keen to buy the next ones in the series.