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.Monday, September 03, 2007
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2 comments:
I think your trip is perfect to know well about Osaka!
I was so suprised how long distance you moved for only 2 days!
I love Kaiyuukan very much.
I've visited there more than 5 times.
We also have nice Zoo at Tennouji having Koala.
Do you like Osaka?
We Osaka-jin are famous for our hospitality or friendly nature!
Yes, we definitely did MANY things for such a short time in Osaka! We were VERY tired after it! ;-) But we like to travel like that, so I hope you are ready for Kyoto with us next month! ;-)
I wanted to go to the Tennoji Park Zoo also (we could see into it from Tsutenkaku Tower), but we were just too tired & we would not have had much time. But I did not know that they have Koalas there, or else I might have forced myself to find the time & energy to go! ;-)
We agree that Osaka-jin are great people. We really enjoyed our time in the BIG city. We felt a little bit different because people always looked at us very strangely (like something was odd about us), but we know that we look very different than most people we saw in both our clothing & physical features. Also, most of the other gaikokujin that we saw seemed to be in very good fitness, maybe because of the Athletic World Championships, so perhaps many people thought we must be world-famous athletes!? Do you think it is possible? ;-)
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