Travelogue: Japan- Osaka: Osaka Castle, Aquarium, Tenjin Matsuri (Day 3)

In the early morning, we paid a visit to Osaka Castle. Initially we planned to visit Himeji Castle which is a highly rated castle in Japan. Too bad it's under renovation, and it's quite a distance from Osaka, so we decided to drop it and visit Osaka Castle instead.

It's really a big let down, it was not up to my expectation. It's more like an exhibition hall/ museum for me, rather than a traditional castle. Hmmph!

The view from the top floor.

Some display explaining the wars encountered by the shogun in Osaka.

Nothing much to see at the castle though, but the surrounding is actually quite beautiful. We then moved on to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan by train, it's just a stone throw away. Before entering the kaiyukan, we had our lunch in the mall at the building adjacent to it. Curry rice! Not so bad, but a little sweet for me. 

Our most exciting moment! Kaiyukan! All time favourite :)

Look at the one day pass which included one-day free train rides in Osaka and kaiyukan entrance fee. So cute! How I wish we have these cards in Malaysia. Even our touch-and-go cards are so unattractive wth.

Let's see how their aquarium looks like...

Ready for the largest rodent in the world? Let's see...

 Penguin feeding time!

The scenery of Osaka Bay, looking from the inside of Kaiyukan

I really really love their aquarium.. it's the best one I ever visited so far! The management is soooo good, the building is magnificent, and the aquariums are actually huge that extended for several floors. I even saw divers cleaning the aquariums meticulously inside. So cool.

The visit didn't wrap up our day in Osaka. Our next destination of the day- Tenjin Matsuri! It is one of the three greatest festivals of Japan, is also the world's greatest boat festival. It is a summer festival held at the Tenman Shrine dedicated to Sugawara-no-Michizane (845-903), who is deified as Tenman Tenjin, the patron god of learning and art. The festival involves inviting the deity out of the shrine and parading him through the city, carrying out various exuberant festivities to entertain him, before taking him back to the shrine. Hence, it includes a land procession and a river procession with fireworks. We are so lucky to actually witness this event, which is actually not in our plan, but we got to know that when we reached Osaka.

My first time participating a matsuri! I always see this in Japanese anime, with lotsa stalls with foods, games etc. 

Our noob faces hahaha

 And some interesting games.. and look at the pretty Japanese ladies in yukata :)

Lastly, the processions. We did not manage to see the fireworks, since the place that we were standing was actually the best place to witness the processions, but not the fireworks. The fireworks were blocked by the buildings around, and the we couldn't get through the huge crowds.

The bridge- best place to witness the river procession.

 

Next post: Day 4: Kyoto- Arashiyama. By far my most favourite place for my Kansai trip :) 

Travelogue: Japan- Osaka (Namba) (2)

As a continuity from the previous post, this is Shinsaibashi shopping arcade :) A lot of local or international brands are available here. The outlets of Forever 21 & H&M are located at here as well.

After shopping for quite a while, it's time for desserts! Oh my, I fell in love with their desserts lols. I might as well grow fat and die of craving the desserts here! Red beans konnyaku and chestnut cake :) Really cater my sweet tooth, not so sweet though lols.

Then, we went to Amerika-mura. Why it's Amerika-mura? Look at the photo below hahah! It also features all the western outlets.

Lego! ;)

Spotted the lego flowers that I used to play last time when I built house with lego! Ended up all the flowers were missing due to the small sizes :'(

Japanese people are so creative. Their creativity can be even shown through an ordinary pole =D

Alright, back to Dotonbori area after a short visit to Amerika-mura. At night, Dotonbori is dotted with neon lights and exaggerating advertisement boards :) Look at all the cute seafood ;) You can know what's the shop selling from far hahah.

A random photo of the cute costumes for adults. They actually wear this?! I doubt it....... lols. I guess it's for TV show or what not ;P

*drum rolled* the famous Takoyaki!!!! I really really love this infinitely! This is so different from the takoyaki in Malaysia! The outer layer is chewy and a bit crunchy, then the hot inner fillings are so soft and smooth with a big chunk of octopus. Omg they melted in my mouth, I missed them so much!! Lovely and delicious takoyaki! No joke!

Our dinner- ramen! Springy noodles with tasteful pork rib soup. I miss this too :'( In Osaka, the foods are not really expensive. Of course it's more expensive than the hawker foods in Malaysia lol. The prices ranged from RM15-30 for most of the food outlets. However, the price is extremely reasonable for me in terms of the fresh and varied ingredients that they put in the dishes and the big portion! The foods are tasty too no matter which shop that you choose, they are all good in quality and quantity!

 Alright, this is the ending of my first day in Namba, Osaka =D These are my shopping haul of the day!

Most of the sunscreen only cost around RM20, and the same price goes for Kate eyeliner, Kissme mascara (free mascara remover) and Liese hair treatment oil respectively. 

Till then, xoxo,

Su Fang