Osaka

After leaving Nagoya, we hopped on the Shinkansen (bullet train)and made our way down to Osaka, where I lived during my time in High School. It was very strange to come back there...

Anyway, we found our hotel very easily and settled to then hit the town. It was Monday night and for some reason, we seemed to be the only people who had decided to hit the town on that night, which was a bit lame. We walked around a lot through the shopping centres and over the bridges and just explored a bit. Everything had changed so much since I lived there, it was very difficult for me to know where we were and what the good places to go to would be. Anyway, it was interesting to just look at the shops.

Osaka and Tokyo are so different from each other... Osaka is so busy and very business oriented with lots of shopping and trading going on everywhere, but in Tokyo, it feels more cosmopolitan. I can't really describe it, but it feels completely different.

Got hungry so went into a Ramen shop (noodles) which was GREAT!! The menu is very limited - you can salty ramen, happiness ramen and lots of happiness ramen! I had the happiness and Phil chose lots of happiness! What a feast - lots of noodles and egg and veg and lovely slow cooked pork. Phil was in heaven - his bowl had twice the amount of meat in it than mine had. No wonder it is called lots of happiness heheheh!

I found a drunk man on the side of the ramen shop, very funny, he was sleeping and in a suit looking respectable and quite senior but obviously completely pished clutching a 5000 yen note in his hand about to drop it. We woke him up and he was very grateful - that's how we found the noodle shop in hte first place.

Hit an internet cafe as there was not that much going on and then left on the last tube full and satisfied!

The next day, we had a pretty full schedule and Phil blames me for not getting up on time, but obviously it wasn't my fault at all, it was Phil's :o)

We went to the Floating Garden Observatory, which is a two tower high rise building connected at the top with an observation platform. You are pretty high up above the city and it's very nice. The views were OK, but it was all a bit hazy, so we couldn't see that much. It was exciting though to take the escalators, as you feel like you are riding it through the air, sort of like a stairway to heaven. V cool.

Got ready to meet up with my other cousins and their kids and headed out to their house. Felt bad for Phil because none of them speak English, but he got on just fine and my cousins little boy was so excited about having another boy in the house. He loved Phil and wanted him to play with him the whole time. So cute. He drew him a picture as well with lots of cartoon stamps and got very excited when he juggled with a few balls. The girls were a bit more hesitant but then ran around screaming in a game of tag that involved the entire ground floor of the house. Oh dear... I think we left them with three hyper excited kids and a wrecked home... oops.

Met up in town again with Akiko in front of Big Man (yes, Big Man) - a big video screen in the central station - and went for a explore of Osaka castle. It was beautifully lit up and Phil spent ages trying to get the best picture. After we went on the Hep5, which is a giant ferris wheel on top of a department store so you're pretty high up and get great views. It was a bit scary to be up so high because Phil kept moving about and jiggling the booth - Akiko was so scared every time he did it, she had to hold on to the railing as if it would help when we plummet down to earth... so funny, we did have a giggle about that.

Later on, we went to HRC in Osaka. That's where I used to go after school with my mates and it was a pretty big deal then, because you couldn't really get a lot of 'non japanese' food. We had a massive burger each and a couple of drinks and went for more exploring around the town which was a bit more livelier tonite!

All in all, a good time was had in Osaka and we're off to see my grandma tomorrow - yay. Wonder what she'll make of Phil? All good, I'm sure!