Trying to do some updating... bear with me... it might take a while to catch up :).
Sometime in June, I made a trip to Osaka with a friend. The main purpose was to attend a certain event but it was a great opportunity to visit the city. Osaka is the 3rd largest Japanese city (after Tokyo and Yokohama; Nagoya is 4th) so it is quite a large city.
We took a local train to get there...
... which was going through various farm lands (rice fields):
... there was a Santa on some building (in June...):
some factories:
A nice park in the mountains along the way:
One station where we had to switch trains:
Our train arrives:
and more rice fields:
Some nice old Japanese buildings:
Small town in the mountains:
Lots of green in Japan:
We finally arrived at Osaka...
right into Korea town:
Small shops with kimchi and other Korean foods:
Got one of these spicy rolls:
and one of these spicy flat cakes:
This was a cute sign advertising a Chinese restaurant:
First stop was at the
Shitennoji Temple - a very old Buddhist temple. First, a cemetery near the temple:
Entrance to the temple:
It was raining a little:
Lots of turtles:
The top of the pagoda:
We didn't go into the center part of the temple:
From there, we headed to the
Shinsekai neighbourhood:
Another temple:
A very modern temple building?
Mix of old and modern:
Finally, Shinsekai:
From there, we took the subway line to go to
Umeda (the north downtown of Osaka):
The Yodobashi-Umeda store:
A Ferris wheel (head on):
Nice international welcome sign:
Clocks:
We walked to the
Umeda Sky Building - a very interesting looking building:
Interesting wall (for construction purposes):
Part of the Umeda skyline:
Tanabata display right next to the Umeda Sky building:
The inside of the building:
Lots of interesting things near the building... like these coloured boxes:
A school trip?
A "painting" inside the building:
Garden by the building:
View from the top elevator:
Lots of construction going on in Umeda:
Looking for a place to eat...
Next stop was the Osaka Castle and Park:
The park was pretty impressing:
The castle was a long walk...
Finally, the entrance:
The inside of the castle wasn't that interesting... looked very much like the Nagoya one.
But the top observation place offered some nice views of the city:
From the castle, we walked for a bit...
And then took the subway to
Namba (the south downtown):
Interesting outfit:
Namba has a lot of people and stores:
Belt sushi:
takoyaki - one Osakan specialty:
Entrance to the NMB48 theater in Namba:
Huge advertisements:
0101 anyone?
School trip?
Entrance to a large shopping arcade:
Huge advertisements on buildings:
Strange restaurant displays:
So many restaurants:
Nothing like a life-size cow hanging in front of your store:
After Namba, we took the subway to the shinosaka station:
And took the shinkansen back to Nagoya:
A busy and enjoyable day!
