01.14.2011 China Visa, Hep Five ferris wheel and Floating Garden Observatory in Kita North Osaka

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To start off I had no idea that I was required to get a Chinese Visa in order to visit China’s mainland. Today was all about getting that visa since yesterday was picture and application time! I found out that even though I am in Japan I can get my visa at the Embassy of the Chinese people Republic in Osaka. Kaori was very kind with helping me track down the location and find the destination after the train ride to Kita Osaka. We had to walk for about 20minutes or so, but made it just in time to apply for the visa, the open hours are from 9:00 – 12:00. Kaori knew we were getting close after seeing 10 police or so patrolling the area. The wait was about 10 minutes and the application process was another 10, lucky I made sure to bring duplicates of everything including 3mm x 4mm photos. The women told me to come back in 4-5 days to pick up my visa from the embassy. They offer many types of visitations such as one, two, or multiple entries; however I was only able to get one since I didn’t have proof or cause of using the visa more than once after 3 months. I thanked the women and out we went.

After the embassy I really wanted to get some coffee to keep me awake for the day and sure enough we had a voucher to get a free large anything at star bucks. We ended up getting a green tea with espresso and I must say it was amazing and a great choice by Kaori, I never would have thought to try it on my own. Kaori needed to get so cash to we hopped over to the bank and grabbed some, then it was off to get some food and find a place to stay warm. Since we were in the area we ended up going to Umeda Underground Whity mall and have some window shopping fun. There were plenty of funny English translated shirts and cloths to choose from, be sure to check those out on an earlier blog. Some included a shirt that said “beat you”, another shirt said “I love jacking and cookie”, I couldn’t help but smile and laugh the whole way through. Kaori was being funny by showing off different weird Japanese shirt combos, shoes and hats. It was a lot of fun walking around and talking about so plans and Ideas for travels and what else we can do in Japan. Eventually we got hungry and I was craving Jimmy Johns, an American sub shop, but the closest thing was subway which isn’t bad. The meal was indeed very good and I finally got to order my food from and English speaker behind the counter! Kaori also ordered a melon soda which is another great drink to try in Japan. Our bellies were full and our trek continued to other parts of Kita. I had my tourist guide book with me and pointed out some places to visit and check out, so away we went. One stop was the Floating Garden Observatory. This was one of the largest new age structures I have ever seen, which offered unprecedented views of the city and environment. I had to set my camera on the ground just get a shot of the tower from ground to top. We didn’t go to the top of it since it was not the best day to do so and I wanted to see the city while dark!

Later that evening we walked back to Shin-Umeda city and grabbed some more coffee to keep our minds and bodies moving, defiantly love coffee. I heard about the Hep Five which is basically a large Ferris wheel in the middle of Osaka that is supposed to be outstanding at night. Kaori knew were to go so we hoofed it to the wheel. On the way we stopped by a book store to grab some books for our upcoming Korea trip. This has been a great adventure and it seems to be getting better and better with each passing day! The wheel was defiantly large and in charge of Osaka but there was no really good vantage point to take a picture, after 20 minutes of walking around I ended up just grabbing a picture from the ground level. It was creeping further and further into night time so we ended up going home. On the way home I found a funny construction sign that I have never seen before, there should be a video with this blog so check out what it does. It was defiantly getting colder and before you knew it we were running to keep our selves somewhat warmer. The train ride back was calming as always and the nap was better than ever.

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