Osaka Trip

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!