Blogs from Osaka, Osaka, Japan, Asia - page 11

So, we went to Japan on December 28th and stayed till January 1st. It was great. Lots of food, lots of drink, lots of walking. Our hotel was right in the downtown area called Namba, so most days we would crawl out of bed and just walk around for hours. Our friends Gary, Amanda, and Patrick also came a day later. Great times! Okay check out the pictures.... read more

Fantastic buffet breakfast at the hotel, combining Western food (eggs, bacon, toast, etc.) with Japanese (noodles, sushi, various tofu, rice, etc.), as well as fruit. Met in the lobby and boarded the tour bus. The airport is an artificial island, so first we crossed an impressive bridge/causeway to the mainland, then on to Osaka downtown.  Osaka is a big city of 2.5 million, the 3rd largest in Japan, very crowded and lots of traffic. However, everything is incredibly orderly and calm despite the frenetic activity. The cleanliness of the city is amazing. Even the highways look like they're swept daily. The transportation system operates on several vertical levels, with highways and trains whizzing above and below and sometimes even underground. Elaborate parabolic shaped sound barriers minimize the noise.  The signage is very clear, usually with English ... read more

Up at 6:30. Repacked and had a quick breakfast (slightly less pandemonium) and off on our bus to the airport.  Endured the long wait to clear customs in the opposite direction, about one and a half hours total for our group. And we're off to Osaka, Japan, at this point not knowing how and if we will get to China. Five hours later, here we are in Japan. The airport is magnificent: huge, very modern and impeccably clean. Apparently, the entire airport is on a man-made island   It takes us a good two hours to get from the plane, through customs, where we are photographed and electronically fingerprinted, and to the hotel, which is attached to the airport. The hotel is also ultramodern and luxurious. Airport and hotel staff are bubbly and polite, bowing whenever ... read more

Well, it might not be the most beautiful city in Japan, but we had fun in Osaka! We had pretty much decided that we wanted to see no more temples and thought there wouldn't be enough to keep us busy for 2 days in Osaka. Enter Osaka Unlimited Pass! Seriously the best deal we have ever encountered in a city, we paid 2,700yen each (roughly 30$) and for 2 days got unlimited use of subways and buses plus free entry into 26 tourist attractions! Since most of what we had planned to do was on the list, it was an obvious choice to buy the pass! August 20 We got up early, like little kids at Christmas, really excited to do some fun tourist things that normally we wouldn't pay the money for! We started out ... read more

Never running out of new things to do is what I always cherished living in a big city. I am sure there are still some temples here and there left unseen and definitely still a lot of nature sites in the bustling city of Osaka left undiscovered by my itchy feet. In my 3 years of living in this city, I intentionally left 2 places for a later visit, namely the Osaka City aquarium and Universal Studios Japan, mainly because I'm waiting for the kiddies to grow up a bit more so they can better appreciate it. We went to the Osaka aquarium, also called "kaiyukan" translated as sea play. This place is a massive seven story structure, that of course contained a lot of sea creatures of various forms and origin. The theme is the ... read more