Hello again everyone this time I am off to Osaka to have some fun.
Thursday 10th August – Moving day to Osaka
Getting to Osaka was quite easy, but also fun, why you ask well, it was a long trip back through the mountains to Okayama where I had to change to the Shinkansen again and then it was a quick bullet train to Shin-Osaka station. Sound nice and straight forward, right? Wrong. There are 3 different stations with the name Osaka, there is Osaka station (the older one which is currently undertaking an expansion if I read things correctly) and this station has 11 train platforms and connects to 3 different subway lines. Also, on top of this it has another Osaka station called Osaka-Umeda station right next to it which I didn’t go in, but I know it connects to a bunch of different places as well and then there is Shin-Osaka (which means New-Osaka). Shin Osaka was also ridiculously big as well. Having 6 Shinkansen platforms and 10-12 normal platforms, plus 2 subway connections as well. Also forgot to mention that all these stations have loads of shops in and at one point I did get lost in Osaka station and spent about 20 mins trying to find the information desk so I could get my Osaka amazing pass.
The Hotel I am staying at is called ‘S Training Centre’ and it has its own public bath again which was nice to use pretty much every night. It looked a bit outdated, but it was a good hotel, and it has everything I need.
I also went to an English language cafe which was quite fun to go to, and it was only 500 yen + a drink to participate. It was split into 4 rounds of 20 mins with different people and afterwards a bunch of us went out to get something to eat. The trouble was that there is 10 of us and it is a struggle to try and get something to eat something to eat in the Osaka underground after 8pm as loads of people are there. We eventually found an Indian restaurant and had some food, and we all carried on chatting to each other there.
Friday 11th August- Kyoto and Nara
So, I was a bit knackered today and tried to go out to Osaka castle, but time was just not on my side as I had to get to Kyoto to go on the Aoniyoshi limited express sightseeing train to Nara which I had booked about 1 month in advance. So instead, I went to Kyoto and had plenty of time, so I went up the Kyoto Tower (something I had planned for later) and then got something to eat before catching the train to Nara.
The sightseeing train was quite good, and you got a good view of different bits of Kyoto and Nara, but also it was just nice and comfortable.
Now in Nara I wanted to climb Mt Wakakusa, but by the time I got there it was closed (just missed it by 3 mins) as it is a sacred mountain and used by the wild deer in Nara quite a bit. Yes, that is right wild deer (deer oh deer). Nara used to be the old capital of Japan before Tokyo and Kyoto was, so it has quite a bit of history as well. There are temples about and the main reason I was there was also for the candle festival (Nara To-Kae).
Why a candle festival, well there are many fire festivals that go back to ancient times in Nara as they believed that they could look deeply into their own hearts through the fire and prayed to deities. This has been passed down and each of the 20,000 candles that are lit up each night represents a wish for world peace and wellbeing. There were also loads of people out in yukata as well.
Saturday 12th August – Exploring Osaka
Today I went to something that got recommended to go to on trip advisor and that was Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. Now aquariums aren’t usually something I would go alone, but it got recommended so I tried it out and I tell you want, it was well worth the £20 that it cost for the ticket. There were loads of sea life there and it took me about 2-3 hours to get round it all. I was also able to see them feed the penguins (although they were a bit noisy and it reminded me a little of the film ‘Mr Poppers Penguins’).
The aquarium was that amazing, I would highly recommend it to anyone who goes to Osaka and when I eventually move out to Japan, I do plan on taking people who visit here, if I don’t live too far away.
After this I noticed that one of the activities included for free in my Osaka amazing pass was right next to the aquarium so I decided it would be a good idea to go on that. It was the Santa Maria sightseeing cruise that take 45 mins to go round, now I didn’t really take any photo’s sorry as I was mainly using this to have a nice sit down and escape from the sun.
Time to get a move on to my next destination which was the Osaka 70’s Expo Park. But before that, here is a giraffe made from Lego as I passed Osaka Legoland discovery (was near the aquarium).
At this point I discovered on my phone that there was another typhoon heading my way, so this was something to keep an eye on as I just had outrun the last one. When I got to expo city, I went on the Ferris wheel that was there and it was awesome being able to see over the city of Osaka. Just whatever you do, don’t look down!!! Oh wait, too latttteeeeeee!!!!!!!!
I even got a little bit of a reminder of home while here as there are a lot of this type of shop back where I live!
It was getting a bit late in the day now and some parts of the park were starting to close, but that didn’t stop me. They had this big statue of a sun god at the entrance which had a museum under it (all sold out when I got there), there was also decorations and a beer festival that was opening soon after I got there (just a shame I don’t like beer). I headed towards the pedal boats of which I took one out.
I then started to wander around the park and found some gardens including sunflowers, Fir grove, mini bamboo forest and plum trees.
Now by this point I was a bit knackered, but I still had to go out for food and what better thing to when you are out near Kobe beef county is there to do then go and try some of the world’s best beef, grade A5 Wagyu Kobe beef.
I found this restaurant online and it came as highly recommended called Matsuakagyu. When I got there, I was a little confused as it looked like a very small restaurant, but it wasn’t, it covered multiple floors and was kinda spacious. I got seated in my own private booth, the lady came to the double door and explained the menu, including the set menus that are normally for 2 people minimum, but she said I could order off them as well. So naturally I went for the most expensive one (about £82) and boy was its nice food.
There was a small grill in front of me where I could cook the beef the way I liked it and every time that I got brought the next bit of the menu (was like a taster menu) they explained to me what it was and if there was a special sauce, that they recommended I dip the meat into it.
With every mouthful of this lovely meal, I was almost dancing in my seat from just how delicious this steak is. It just melts in your mouth and the marbling effect on it is just insane. It almost put me off having steak back in the UK ever again because there is just no comparison!!!!
On this night as the typhoon was getting closer and after talking to my parents as well, my plans for the next few days got thrown out and changed a bit so I didn’t end up staying in the path of the typhoon. This meant me going to Tokyo for the Obon festival instead of Kyoto. Luckily I was able to get my Kyoto hotel refunded and change my JR seat reservations.
See out all next time in Osaka/Kyoto part 2!!!
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