Hello hello, so I am supposed to continue on with the Kyoto posts and pictures, however, my Macbook has been sent away to get some repairing done so I can’t access my old external hard disk that has all the Kyoto pictures! Hence, this week, let me show you Osaka! Osaka is really beautiful and interesting, especially at the shopping arcades and Osaka Castle, scroll down for a ton of pictures!
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Alright, advertising done. Now, compared to Tokyo, it is much easier to find more affordable food in Osaka. Here are just some random pictures of food that we had. Highlight? Um, we are pasta with chopsticks, nothing too crazy.
Ooh, this is one thing I LOVE bout major train stations in Japan. They have coin lockers!!! This is such a good thing to have in any transportation hub! Our Osaka AirBnb’s check-in time was quite late, so we had to find a place to put our luggage till then. See how cozily my stuff fit into the locker! This is the smaller locker, there are larger ones. You can also pay for the locker with your PASMO card.
After we dumped our luggage, we went straight to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. I have no idea who’s idea it was, just followed the dudes.
There appeared to be a Legoland and Ferris Wheel in the area!
There was also a dinosaur expo at the time so we got some kind of a package that got us tickets to both the expo and the aquarium. Everything was cool except that everything was in Japanese. So we couldn’t get alot out of the dino expo except, touch real bones and see these huge skeletons.
The aquarium was interesting. We got to see whale sharks, manta rays and other interesting marine life. It was quite beautiful and we would probably never have a chance to see these even if we scuba dive, however, it did feel a little sad to see for some of the larger sea creatures in enclosures. It’s like no matter how large the aquarium is, it just isn’t the ocean, you know?
It wasn’t all that bad though, some creatures did seem happy, like this funny little seal. It was hanging out with it’s tail in the surface looking at us upside down. It looked like it was smiling and enjoying interacting with us. One guy took a tissue and drew a large “O” shape in the air which made the seal do a spin in the water. It was adorable to watch. Too bad I didn’t get to catch that on camera.
We walked over to the happening Dotonbori Shopping area on most nights when we were there just because there’s so much to see! Â What we saw a lot of were shoes! Especially the trendy Adidas ones. Apparently the new NMDs at the time was gonna launch the day we were leaving Osaka! Oh well. Found the mint green and pink stan smiths quite cute, but they were almost RM800!
Above are other interesting shops we saw. We found a Malaysian restaurant, a Sakae Sushi that isn’t the Sushi franchise in Malaysia. We saw bath bombs! This shop smelled fantastic but didn’t buy anything *regrets*. We also stumbled on Rikuro Ojisan’s popular bouncy Japanese cheese cake! We finished the huge cake in a matter of minutes because it was so warm and light-weight!
On the last day in Osaka, we decided to check out Osaka castle. Here are the boys checking the map. Osaka Castle grounds were HUGE and very beautiful. Keep scrolling for my million and one shots of the place and some interesting sites! Click to enlarge!
I’ve never been in an autumn climate so naturally took alot of pictures there heh.
We did not expect to see a Lawson here! It’s like 7 Eleven. But there were only vending machines there. Where we got these ice-creams:
A tour train?
Look at the magnificence of the grounds and the moat.
Even the plants on the walls were cool.
Steps were so cool, the boys became a band.
These were two cute Korean dudes. Damn, do they look like movie stars.
An old man reading under a tree.
While chilling near the castle entrance, an Indonesian women came and asked us some survey questions and gave us green tea kit kats as a reward. According to her, Osaka felt more like home compared to Tokyo. I can totally relate. Tokyo to me feels like the polished Singapore, whereas Osaka is like Kuala Lumpur, where it’s not as shiny but still interesting and huge!
We finally made our way up the Osaka Castle. We spent quite a many hours there because there was so much history to the castle, the inhabitants before and so much more. Most of the stories were sad, some were somewhat “hopeful”. I was quite drawn to the Samurai armors which came in many designs. Couldn’t take pictures of them because they were on a no-photography level.
From the top of the castle.
A building that reflected the city!
This is the last picture on Osaka. Till next time! Subscribe to my YouTube and this blog! Ta!
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