Welcome to japan first stop Osaka


Advertisement
Japan's flag
Asia » Japan » Osaka » Osaka
February 16th 2017
Published: February 16th 2017
Edit Blog Post

The start of my journey in japan was an extremely long day of traveling. I left my hostel in Chengdu at 5am set off for the airport, first i flew to Hong Kong where i had 2 hours to kill then i found out that the second leg of my journey had a another stop that I hadn't realised so next i stopped in Taipei for an hour then finally i arrived in Osaka feeling very weary. I made my way by train to the centre of the city and then with some difficulty found my hostel i can say the directions from the hostel were not the best 'walk for 10 minutes from the station' ok I know that I'm expected to be a mind reader half the time but c'mon walk which way for 10 minutes a clue would be nice.



Finally found it and checked in not a bad little place, my first experience of Japanese mattresses was interesting they are quite thin which would be fine if they changed them more regularly as you know mattresses sag in the middle where you tend to sleep so mine was nice and puffy around the sides then like sleeping on the wood below in the centre... I'm getting used to these hard beds now anyway just not expecting to have any working hip or shoulder joints by the time i get home.



Probably because I was so exhausted from my day of traveling but my first day in Japan was not the fulfilment of my childhood dreams instead it was overpriced overcrowded and not very enjoyable. I went for a walk around the Dontombori area which looked ok i then walked through Shinsaibashi shopping street which had so many shops to choose from but generally they were quite pricey luckily I'm not looking at doing much shopping while I'm here. I then went back to the hostel and had my routine convenience store instant noodles. I think most people here live out of these little stores to the point where they will even boil the water for you in the shop. There is quite a bit to choose from though ready made meals in the fridge, sushi, noodles, bags of a variety of dishes such as curry. So by the end of my 4 days in Osaka I am a pro microwave chef. I did have a look around the local restaurant as while I've been here but i found them to be quite expensive for what they were. If i find somewhere that looks super traditional where i can try true Japanese cuisine of course i will pay the price willingly.



So on my first day i also went to visit Osaka castle and it is beautiful and took plenty of photographs as the sun set it got super cold and i was very great full that id worn my big coat and had my pink face mask in the pocket.



My second day was a lot better I had just been exhausted everything seemed to be a little bit brighter today so i wen on a mission. First i went to visit the Tsutenkaku Tower in Tennoji area this area was amazing and if i came to Osaka again would probably stay down here less of the big brand name expensive shops more little restaurants that looked traditional i had already eaten unfortunately or would have given one a try. I did however buy myself a green crepe with green ice cream and it was amazing! The tower looks so cool when looking up at it in between the streets of colourful chaos definitely worth a visit. From there i jumped back on the subway and went to the Osaka history museum for a quick spy round whilst inside there were some lovely ladies set up and dressing people in full kimono dresses of course i had to partake and then had a few photos taken around the museum. After that i was back on the subway again heading for the Umeda Sky Tower. One of the top 20 buildings in the world apparently architecturally it is amazing and you can see why people would line up to visit it with its glass elevators and suspended escalators. I went up around 4pm while it was still light and got lots of photographs i then treated myself to a cocktail and waited for sunset i got lots of pictures of the sun setting and then also watched the city slowly come to life with lights as the sky became darker. Breathtaking. After an eventful day i treated myself to a bottle of wine with my microwave meal and went to bed.



Last full day in Osaka so i decided to take a trip to the nearby city of Nara i was told that it was originally the capital city. Within minutes of getting off the train i was met with wild deer everywhere i quickly bought some crackers from the street seller and began feeding them with everybody else. They were so funny butting me from behind to get my attention trying to get inside my bag and pockets one was determined to eat my scarf. Then i noticed that other people were bowing at the deers now the Japanese take this bowing thing quite seriously i have seen it an awful lot over the last few days, very respectful and looks very professional as well when people who are obviously in business do it. Anyway so the deer must be getting bowed at from being very young and have realised like a dog giving his paw that if they bow they get a biscuit so as I'm walking through this huge park of hundreds of wild deer i am repeatedly being bowed at this is insane so i join in bowing and they reciprocate now I'm having fun walking around bowing at every deer i see like a plonker but i don't care its so cool. The rest of park had quite a bit of building work going on and Buddha temple was expensive to go in to and ill be damned if I haven't seen enough Buddha's by now to skip one. So after a walk around some of the buildings in the park i headed back to Osaka. I decided to give Dontombori another go as id obviously not been in the best mood on day one so i walked the full length of the street and the side of the river and it is crazy so many lights and people trying to get your attention to eat in the restaurant or people waving signs at you from 2nd or 3rd floor shops trying to make you go up quite what you would expect from modern Japan.



Today I'm heading to Kyoto currently sat on the train watching the world go by. Kyoto is a very old and traditional city with lots of shrines and temples i even watched my favourite film last night memoirs of a geisha I'm going to see that city at last.


Additional photos below
Photos: 19, Displayed: 19


Advertisement



16th February 2017

Travel
Very Interesting place to visit :)

Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0539s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb