#Japan16 Osaka etcetera

Waking ag 7.30, I realised I had missed my alarm (it was a buzz from my FitBit) but I had packed the night before so as not to wake the other girls when I left. I put on the like of clothes I had prepared and grabbed my day pack for the short walk to Osaka Castle. The morning was bright and cold, perfect for photography.

Osaka Castle in all its restored glory.

I was gratified to see that the 'Sakura' was much more populous here, and I wandered around the large, star shaped castle grounds, snapping photos of the castle and buildings with cherry blossoms in the foreground. I came across a small monument, where the Priest Rennyo laid his clothes.
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!

The impressive view from the wheel, looking back toward Osaka city.

From the wheel I spied a vegetarian cafe, so after a quick stop in a shop for 'kawaii' where I bought presents for my sisters, I treated myself to a vegetarian lunch buffet. The staff all welcomed me as I entered which was nice. They spoke no English but the sign said Y850 all you can eat. That's about £5, and I ate my fill for once! I was pleased to find Osaka living up to its reputation for good food.

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.

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.

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.

#Japan16 Hakone to Osaka

After the best night's sleep I'd had in a week, I went straight downstairs for an early morning dip in the Onsen. It was just as relaxing as I'd remembered, and again I had it to myself. I pinched another ice lolly on the way back to my room, admiring the view out over the valley from my balcony. The steam from the hot springs was rising up to merge into the clouds. It was beautiful.
I had breakfast arranged, and I had my own vegetarian breakfast of tofu, rice, pickles, omelette, beans, miso soup and steamed vegetables (cooked in a little heater on my table). It was all good excel for some weird mushrooms in my soup. I thought my soup was a bit fishy, but I know it is common to use fish stock in food over here. The mushroom I ate seemed to be the sauce of the fishiness though, and the texture was... Odd. I carefully finished my mouthful before inspecting another one. No, it was definitely some deformed sea creature! I felt quite unwell, but I finished everything except the soup, knowing my next meal was uncertain. I left the hostel, boycotting the funicular (now I knew the route) to enjoy an atmosphere walk through misty Goya. I took this time to appreciate that I was really in Japan, and it looked just as mysterious and beautiful as I'd hoped. The weather was cool and damp, perfect for hiking, but Osaka was calling, so I got on the train!

The offending 'mushroom'. Just looking at
it makes me feel queasy!

It was a long journey to Osaka, but on the way I befriended a young Chinese -American man, who waas telling me of his love for Akihabara (Tokyo), where he had bought a suitcase, and a suitcase worth of video games! He was studying to become a composer of music for video games, and we exchanged soundtracks, which made the journey much more pleasant, and we exchanged details before we parted company at Osaka station.

I didn't linger in the city but got a local train straight out to the suburb of Mono -o/Minoo/Minoh (depending on who you ask). There I bought a Japanese sweet, a green putty made of rice, with a core of sweet beancurd. The ladies at the cafe who had enticed me in were very friendly and also gave me a sort of gelatious bean sweet, and a cup of bean tea. Now that is exotic even for my kind of teas! I can't say I enjoyed it but it was interesting!

Bean cake, bean sweet, and bean tea. Yummy...

From the cafe I walked into Minoo park, a serene place tracking a clear, shallow river for nearly three kilometres. Signs warned me of wild monkeys, but sadly I didn't see any. The walk culminated in a beautiful red bridge over the river, begin which stood a tall waterfall. Three boys were filming each other boxing on the bridge, but they left after a while and I got some photos. Unfortunately the foliage was still a bit barren from winter, but it was nonetheless worth the trip.
By the time I got back to the city centre, dusk was falling. The buildings we passed looked spectacular in the lowlight with their rainbow signage, so I impulsively decided to take my camera for a wander around the Umeda area of the city.


Setting my camera down on any stable surfaces I could find, and playing with the shutter speed, I got some fantastic photos of neon Osaka. I stumbled into my new Hostel, Guesthouse Morizou, at 7.45. It was a tiny place, cosy and very cute, covered in handwritten notes secured with Washi tape saying things like "please mind your head! :)", and plastic figurines. The beds had curtains with friendship bracelet tie-backs, and the staff were very friendly, the girls even called me "kawaii"!

So much neon. And so many bikes!

 I ditched my bag there and messaged my new friend from the train. He was staying with a friend, and the three of us agreed to meet for dinner, so I hopped on the Japan Railways train to Namba station, where I came across several young people dancing in the street. Literally. It was like a scene from one of the Step Up movies - some cool break dancing street gang. I wanted to stop and watch, but didn't want to put them off, as I was a lot more conspicuous in Osaka than in Tokyo (Osaka is less touristy) and I had people to meet! I walked "Namba walk" which was a strange underground shopping and food arcade, and also an art gallery! At the other end was the station where my new friends were waiting, and we went to Dotomburi. Dotombori was recommended in my guidebook as one of the best places to eat in Osaka, a city renowned for its food, but we were limited by my vegetarianism. Finally we found a place with a number of meat free small dishes, and to my delight we ordered by vending machine! I entered all of my small change, selected the numbers of the items I wanted, and received three tickets, which I then presented to the waitress inside the restaurant.

My first vending machine dinner. Not sure how I missed the cat!

I had rice, Kimchi, and beansprouts. Although rice is rarely exceptional, the Kimchi was quite nice and the beansprouts and seaweed which came with it was absolutely delicious! After that we wandered down to see the famous Glici "running man". I thought he was a poster but it:s actually an enormous neon sign. Of course it:s neon - this is Osaka. Osaka was such a vibrant, happy city, I liked it much more than I expected. The guys dropped me at the nearest subway station and I made it back to my stop just in time for curfew. As I hurrid back to the hostel, someone came up behind me and made me jump. It was one of my room mates, a Korean girl who I had chatted briefly to as I unpacked.

She was lovely to talk to as we strolled back. She had discovered that he two Japanese girls in opur dorm were in Osaka for the same reason as her - to watch a Japan Idol concert live in Osaka Castle Park the next day! Unfortunately I didn:t have the spae time to join them, but we laughed at the thought. She asked what I:d had for dinner, and when I told her about my Kimchi, she explained that Japanese Kimchi is different to the original -  less salty, less spicy, and sweeter apparently. Personally I thought Japanese sounded better, but I wasn't going to tell her that! She also identified my strange breakfast sea creature as a clam!!