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| Osaka Castle in all its restored glory. |
Many years before Osaka's first castle, Rennyo was the head priest of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism. He started a small temple on this site, and over the years it grew and grew. Rennyo hung his clothes on a tree by the temple as a token, to help his temple grow. There is now no trace of the temple, and a cat was curled in the roots of the stump that was all that was left of the tree.
Osaka castle itself is now in its third iteration. The first was burnt down by a war. The second was burnt down when struck by lightening. This one has only ever been a tourist attraction, and apparently has escalators inside. (and hopefully fire extinguishers!)
I returned to the hostel, collected my backpack and checked out. Next stop was Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, one of the largest in the world, which is particularly proud of its pacific ring of fire exhibit, which features two fully grown whale sharks.
The aquarium was more humane than Ueno zoo. I saw one small dead fish, and an obese seal, but seals are fat anyway so maybe it was supposed to look like that! The whale sharks were even more impressive than I'd hoped, one coming right against the glass as I stood there. There was an adorable sea otter and a number of cute fighting river otters in a separate enclosure, but perhaps my favourite exhibit was the jellyfish, which were absolutely spectacular as they pulsed against the side of their tanks, stunningly delicate and yet probably pretty dangerous - I was reminded of the movie Seven Pounds.
Osaka aquarium also gave me lots of stamps! At one stamp point, a Japanese boy was playing with the stamper, he seemed confused by it, so I let him stamp my book, which made him very happy. His mother thanked me and smiled.
I walked from the aquarium to the Tenzopan Ferris Wheel, another 'one of the worlds largest...' Large clouds had come in whilst I was in the aquarium, but as my Ferris car rose from the platform, the clouds broke and I was able to get some photos of the city in sunshine. It was a nice relaxing break, and (because it's Japan) I had an uncomfortably upbeat musical accompaniment the whole way around. I had the car to myself, in fact I may have been the only person on the whole wheel, I couldn't understand it!
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| The impressive view from the wheel, looking back toward Osaka city. |
After bowing my way out of the vegetarian cafe, I took a subway back to Umeda (quite different in daylight) and rode up to the thirteenth floor of a department store for Kyoto(?!) Pokemon Center! I was very excited. The store was a lot like Debenhams or John Lewis, so I felt a bit silly in my backpack, but I considered this a pilgrimage! I was disappointed however, to find it was just a merchandise shop, but I bought a few more gifts, and hurried downstairs to the station, for my train to Koya San.
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| My Pokemon Center shopping bag. Pikachu looking even more Japanese than usual! |
I asked a lady queuing on the platform if it was going to the station I needed (there were three trains between Osaka and Koya San). The lady told me I was fine, and asked me where I was from, and how I was liking Japan. Japanese people speak very quietly so at times it was hard to hear her, but we chatted on the train all the way to my station. She had lived in Australia for a year, and was now on her way to meet her mother to go shopping. I was sad to say goodbye, but went into the station and purchased my (non rail-pass eligible) ticket to Koya San, for Y1200.
On the way, I realised I had got my dates out by one day, and as I hadn't turned up the previous night, the temple had cancelled my entire booking.
To cut a long story short, I booked the Wakayama 'Dormy Inn' hotel, because it was the nearest hotel with rooms for that evening, and boarded the train for Wakayama. As the train chugged through rural landscapes highlighted in the late afternoon sun, I was approached by a Japanese High School student. he was sat next to me and asked me about my travels. We spoke about Japan, Scotland, Scottish food (I tried and, I think, failed to explain what a haggis was!), and British vs American English (I told him that yes, we can understand each other!) he told me he was a fan of Glee!
Presently he left the train, and I eventually arrived in Wakayama. I was surprised to see lots of signs in English - more so than Osaka. I found out later this was because being a port and airport town, Wakayama sees a lot of tourists coming from Shikoku to Koya San to complete the 88-temple buddhist pilgrimage.
The Dormy Inn hotel was bizarrely smart and well ordered compared to the kooky hostels and run-down Ryokan I was used to. There were two onsen for each gender, and when I got to my room on the seventh floor, I almost cried with happiness. It had all the mod-cons. A bathroom to myself, a double bed, a TV, and pajamas included! I had to tear myself away to photograph Wakayama castle at sunset.
I had the castle to myself, and it was surrounded by cherry blossom. I took close up photos of it and of the (uninspiring) cityscape under the colourful sky. I smugly felt that this hiccup had worked out for the best.
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| You wait all week for a castle, and then two come in one day! |
All of the eateries in town had no room for one person, so instead I went back to the hotel to console myself in the Onsen.
The onsen here was on the second floor. It was not cloudy, and lacked the mineral scent of Hakone. I doubted it was a hot spring at all, but it was none the less soothingly hot. Presently a Japanese lady and her daughter entered the room and washed themselves (onsen procedure is to clean and rinse yourself before you get in). The daughter got into the same onsen as me, but her mother went outside, so she left too. I felt a bit put out, as part of the onsen experience is that it's communal. I moved to the Sauna, and then to the cold bath (not as bad as I expected) and then, as I left, they moved to the bath I was in originally. I decided not to take it personally!
I used the facilities to wash and dry my clothes, pre-packed my bag as I had the night before, and bought and drank a strange fruit juice-cum-milkshake from an over-engineered vending machine before returning to the Onsen again! This time it was absolutely packed. This was it! Group naked bathing time! ...I know it's weird. I didn't actually feel self conscious at all, and it was nice for us all to calmly soak together. Afterwards I treated myself to a foot massage that included my legs. It was nice, and I felt very relaxed.
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