For our first trip to mainland (aka "real") Japan, we chose to spend Labor Day weekend in the Kansai region. Flying the gorgeous Japanese skies on JTA (part of the JAL group) from Naha to Kobe (an airport that has only been open since 2006), we snapped some awesome shots on our way there, mostly thru the plane windows (good thing it was a bright, clear day):
The
Kansai region's 2nd largest city,
Kobe is known worldwide mainly for the disastrous
Great Hanshin earthquake that struck in 1995, which is only now evident to the most thorough of examinations. Taking the
Port Liner train from the airport into the city, we got to admire the
Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (the longest suspension bridge in the world). Around the
Sannomiya station we discovered bustling
city scenery, so we walked around a bit (snapping photos all the while, of course) before finding a yummy lunch at a crowded (so we knew it was good)
sushi restaurant (the term "dive" would apply in this case). Bellies full & knowing only that we wanted to utilize the
Japan Railway (JR) line to reach neighboring
Osaka, we then headed back into the station & successfully boarded the
appropriate train & headed east in search of a
larger metropolis.
We had decided to focus the majority of the weekend on the
Kinki region's largest city (& Japan's 2nd largest metro area),
Osaka! We arrived on Saturday afternoon & promptly purchased some 1-day passes for Sunday, then made our way from the
Osaka train station to our nearby home for the next 2 nights, the
Hotel Kinki, in the
Umeda district of the city's
Kita-ku ward (north borough). We found it conveniently located on one of
Osaka's many covered pedestrian retail streets, the Hankyu Higashi Nakadori arcade, situated very close to the well known
Hep Five building's huge red ferris wheel. Restaurants & city life surrounded us. After settling into our cozy room we ventured out & strolled thru shopping malls that
reached up into the sky as well as others that
dove down into the ground. We ate a yummy dinner in an
underground shopping mall. We had 2 of
Osaka's famous dishes, typical
okonomiyaki followed by some
oshizushi (literally "pressed sushi"; Osaka's alternative to the more common Tokyo-originated
nigirizushi, literally "pressed in the hand sushi"). We slept well that night!
We hit the ground running on Sunday, our only full & complete day in
Osaka. Bearing 1-day
Osaka Unlimited Passes for unlimited subway usage & 24 city sights, we made our way southeast to the appropriately famous
Osaka Castle. Josh enjoyed a breakfast of
takoyaki (literally grilled octopus, colloquially octopus balls) while Betsy chose a Pepsi Nex in a funky aluminum bottle. Nearby we found
Peace Osaka, a museum detailing Osaka's devastation in WWII & plenty of convincing reasons to avoid war if at all possible. Next, we visited the Umeda area & checked out the magnificent
Umeda Sky Building. We found lunch on the basement level in a fun maze called the "Takimi Lane of Restaurants" that reproduces a street from the early Showa era, before marveling above the city from the lauded
Floating Garden Observatory. From there, we discovered ancient
Shitennoji Temple's serene beauty, among its gardens, ancient treasure building & main temple courtyard. We then strolled to the nearby
Shin-Sekai neighborhood, finding a very crowded
Tsutenkaku Tower, which afforded more aerial
Osaka views & a very popular good-luck-to-rub-his-feet statue of a funny-looking god named
Billiken. After a rest back in our hotel room, we ventured to brightly lit
Dotombori in the
Minami district, where we ate a wonderful dinner of negiyaki & modanyaki at
Chibo okonomiyakiya (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED).
We slept late on the 3rd & final morning of our trip, thoroughly exhausted from previous days' exercise. Wisely we had only one destination for the day, the heralded
Osaka Kaiyukan Aquarium. After checking out of
Hotel Kinki, we had no trouble arriving at the
Osaka Bay Area & the little island that boasted
Tempozan Harbor Village. We gawked a bit at the huge
ferris wheel before stowing our backpacks in a rental locker. Then we made our way thru the 8 stories of
impressive aquarium. Rather than taking the
Okinawa Churaumi approach of focusing on one or two of the earth's environments thoroughly, the collection spanned multiple continents in 15 distinct enviroments of the "Ring of Fire", basically running the perimeter of the earth's largest body of water, the Pacific Ocean. Our favorite animals were the enormous Ecuadorian freshwater
Pirarucu (or
Arapaima), fat hungry
sea otters, freakish
ocean sunfish, waddling Antarctic
King &
Gentoo Penguins, & many fascinating
jellyfish. Since the awe & wonder of such creatures is so involved in their motion (& because our camera's battery was running low), we used our cell phones to capture 37 short videos of the creatures. It's actually hard to believe that we only spent about 2 hours in the aquarium. In the next-door
Tempozan Marketplace retail mall, we ate a yummy lunch of
kitsune udon (literally, "fox" but actually fried sweet tofu pockets, when referring to
udon) &
tempura udon. Then we strolled around
Tempozan Park, boasting Japan's
lowest mountain,
Mount Tempo-zan (what?! it's man-made?! does that count?!), before leisurely making our way back to
Osaka's JR train station & then to the Kobe airport.
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