October 9- Kaiyukan Aquarium & Dotonbori District
After a great day at Universal Studios Japan, Katie, the Castillos & I were ready for another awesome day in Osaka. We planned to go to the Kaiyukan Aquarium, ride the Tempozan Ferris Wheel (conveniently located right next door), & do some shopping and eat some street food at the Dotonbori Bridge shopping district. We are ready to roll!
We were up and out of the house early again this morning as we headed back to the far west side of Osaka on a 35-minute train ride!
Katie told Kelly that the Kaiyukan Aquarium was on our list of places to visit in Osaka, so Kelly bought Katie and I's aquarium tickets for my birthday! Knowing how much Kelly and Mrs. Cindy love the Georgia Aquarium, this was a great gift! Thanks, Kelly!
We arrived at the aquarium at 10 am; we were required to schedule an arrival time due to COVID-19 regulations. Upon arrival, the Castillos found out that they had also paid for the whale shark feeding experience, so we went our seperate ways once inside the aquarium. I guess that was a bonus for them considering they thought they had paid for a regular ticket on the entirely Japanese website; just another example of the language barriers we face! It ended up working out great though because Katie was happy to slow down and watch the first few animals for longer than necessary!
The aquarium highlights marine & terrestrial life in the Pacific Rim. It is eight stories tall, and was designed so that you ride an escelator all the way up to the top floor, and then work your way down a spiral ramp to the bottom. The top floor is meant to represent the land's surface and showcases surface-level animals and as you walk down you continue deeper towards the ocean floor. There are over 30,000 sea & land creatures encompassing 620 different species on display throughout the eight stories (did I get that info from the website? 100%).
On the eighth floor, we started by hanging out with the sea otters. It was great timing because they started off by napping together, but by the time we made it down to the underwater viewing of their tank, they became way more active and were swimming around.
Following the sea otters, the next exhibit was the puffins; Katie and I had never seen puffins before, so we spent quite a while at this exhibit trying to get pictures. The aquarium was very dark, so it was really difficult to get pictures since we couldn't effectively use a flash and all the animals were moving. Katie basically used the puffin exhibit as her practice for the rest of the aquarium. We spent about 15 minutes just watching them dive in the water. At one point, one of the staff members came out to weigh the puffins. She had to entice them to come over by giving them fish; those fish were almost as long as the puffins themselves! After our photo session with the puffins, we continued forward to the South American Coati and the Capybara. The South American Coati was also pretty active and looked like a crossbreed between a raccoon and a small anteater. It was also cool getting to see the Capybara because Katie and I remembered seeing them during our multiple visits to the San Diego Zoo last year.
Heading further down, we came across the dolphin exhibit; these mammals are so talented. There was a dolphin dribbling a basketball underwater...how cool is that?!?! After the dolphins, we ran into the penguins. Apparently, in Japan, they call Emperor Penguins "King Penguins," so I wonder if that is just a difference in translations. We also took another trip down memory lane when we saw the South African penguin, another reminder of our love for the San Diego Zoo.
We eventually made it to the main tank in the aquarium where they had huge manta rays, hammerhead sharks & whale sharks! This main exhibit tank was designed to showcase the diverse sealife that cohabitates at different depths in the Pacific Ocean. The fact that it is one huge tank was pretty amazing- and that it was the center exhibit for at least 5 floors.
There were several scuba divers cleaning the tank and it made Katie and I think about another to-do on our bucket list- to scuba dive in the aquarium at Disney World's Epcot! Seeing the divers surrounded by all those fish, hammerheads, and whale sharks, really showcased the size of the animals! The whale sharks reminded us of Destiny from Disney's Finding Dory; we weren't the only ones either, because the Castillos' little girls named the two whale sharks Destiny and Festiny (because they both needed cool names!)
One of the weirdest things we saw during our visit was the "ocean sunfish," that we are pretty sure should never see sunlight. This ugly fish didn't even know how to swim like a normal fish. I mean...look at how it's swimming (in the pic below). Why is it vertical like that? Get with the program man! We'll just say it should stay deep in the depths of the ocean.
There were also these giant Japanese Spider Crabs that were massive. They were quite creepy considering they stood perfectly still most of the time we were looking at them. They look like some twisted creature from a sci-fi novel! Obviously, all Katie could think about is the crab legs on that bad boy.
After we made our way through most of the exhibits, we got to the Antarctic portion of the aquarium. There was a model of the Narwhal and I learned that it was a real animal. You may be shocked to learn that I thought this was a fictional animal from the movie Elf, but I guess I was very wrong.
We also got a great pic of a seal smiling at us. No wonder seals are always cartooned with cute puppy-dog faces! They look like that in real life! There was also a great jellyfish exhibit with multiple different species on display, but it was so dark in this area we were unable to get many good pictures.
Overall we were really impressed with the aquarium and all we got to see! It scratched our itch for seeing animals- we were spoiled living in Southern California this past year, where we visited the San Diego Zoo multiple times a month! This aquarium was well designed and showcased a lot of animals we had never seen before.
Following our adventure at the aquarium, we were all very hungry. Chubes had done some research beforehand and found this place close by with good reviews that served pizza and burgers, named Kuma Kafe. It was an interesting restaurant; it had maybe 8 tables inside and the whole place was bear-themed. When I say "bear-themed" I mean bears were all over the walls and each table had a seat assigned to a giant stuffed teddy bear that ate with you! Chubes chose well becase the pizza was fantastic. The six of us split a medium pizza, half Hawaiian and half carbonara, and a large pepperoni pizza. After a great lunch and getting some much-needed energy back, we were ready to tackle the rest of the day.
Following lunch, we headed back across the street to ride the Tempozan Ferris Wheel. On our way, we stopped at the corner Lawson's, a convenience store similar to 7-11s that are located all over Japan, and we bought some Chūhais (pronounced "chew high"). Chuhais are carbonated alcoholic beverages that come in a ton of different fruity flavors; Katie and I's personal favorites are the lemon and pineapple flavors. Chuhais taste like fruity sodas, and range from 3% to 9% alcohol content. Apparently, there isn't an open container law in Japan, so Chubes convinced us to spend the rest of the afternoon day drinking around Osaka. (Great influnences!)
After purchasing our drinks, we jumped on the Ferris Wheel. The views from up top were awesome! We were on the west side of Osaka next to Osaka Bay and on the same side of town as Universal Studios. We had great views of downtown and could even see Hogwarts castle at Universal. We waited a little longer in line to have a carraiage with a clear bottom, giving us great views out all sides and even down below us!
We finished up our Ferris wheel ride and decided to stop back at the Lawson's for round two! After picking up our next round of drinks, we headed back to the train station and made our way to the Dotonbori Bridge.
The Dotonbori District is one of the major shopping districts in Osaka and is famously known for its street food. Osaka is the second largest metropolitan city in Japan, with a metro population of nearly 20 million people (approximately the same metro population as New York City). Trust me, we definitely felt like we were in the heart of the city when we got off the train. There were tons of people around; you could only tell COVID existed because everyone was wearing a mask. Katie learned in her research that the Glica Running Man is a famous photo spot in Osaka, so of course, Katie made me stop and take a picture. With the help from my two chuhais, she even convinced me to pose like the billboard!
In Osaka, the most famous street food is takoyaki, or deep-fried octopus covered in dried kelp and fish flakes. Chubes ordered six takoyaki balls and I gave it a shot; Katie apparently had takoyaki previously when she visited Huis Ten Bosch (the Dutch theme park right by our base housing complex), but I had never had it. Shocker, I didn't love it. Katie took the first bite and gave me the rest of her piece, and right before I put it in my mouth I saw the pinkish-purple octopus tentacle- suckers and all- in the fried dough. It might not have been so bad if I hadn't seen what I was eating.
We also grabbed some spicy Korean fried chicken (delish) and kimchi dumplings (not so good) from several street vendors. For those who don't know, kimchi is a spicy fermented cabbage and its super popular throughout Japan. Katie and I are not a fan, but Chubes loved it. I was impressed that Katie ate an entire Kimchi dumpling though! Not her favorite food, but when in Japan.
It was pretty cool just to walk through the area and look at all the huge signs and billboards advertsising all kinds of stuff! The food street vendors even had elabrate 3D signs to catch your attention and draw you in! It was a loud, hoppin' place for sure!
Following our street food adventure at Dotonbori, we headed back to our Airbnb. The place we stayed at was about a 15-minute walk from the train station and we had to walk through a local street market to get home. Every day we took a different route, so we got to see a lot of the different alleyways and outlets that make up the street market. Thank God I was with Katie, because with her sense of direction, she would never had made it back to our place on her own! I won't lie, it was pretty easy to get lost but it was a cool atmosphere to walk through and see all of the local shops and grocers.
October 10- Osaka Castle & Shitennoji Temple
After a very eventful day prior, it was time to get back out and explore more of Osaka! After our short train ride up to Osaka Castle Park, we found an awesome bakery & coffee shop, R Baker. They had tons of freshly baked pastries for us to select from; and Katie had to teach me how to "shop" at the bakery. You grab a tray and your own pair of tongs, and then get in line to work your way around all the tables and pick what you want. Katie and I got a croissant covered in honey, some kind of cheese bread, a chocolate/chocolate chip scone, and another pastry with a sausage baked into it. The sausage pastry thing was a last minute grab, as they were brought out fresh from the oven right by the register. When I tell you the awesome smell that came off those suckers- we were tempted to get multiple!
We also got an iced caramel macchiato and an iced mocha. I'm pretty sure we bordered on entering a diabetic coma from all the sugar in our coffees, but the fresh bread helped soak up our damage. What a great breakfast!
After enjoying our breakfast in the wooded park, we headed to Osaka Castle! While we were taking pictures outside the castle, two Japanese men stopped us and asked where we were from. After we told them we were American, they wanted to play a game with us where they asked us five questions to figure out what states we were from. Using our clues, the two guys wanted to guess what state we were each from. They asked us what our state is most known for, so we told them lighthouses and Michael Jordan. They knew who Michael Jordan was (but not where he was from) and apparently, lighthouses are called "sea lights" in Japan. The final question was, "What is the abbreviation of your state?" When we told them it was NC, they guessed "North Carolina" immediately. They had a little harder time guessing "New Mexico" for Chubes and Kaiti's home state.
It was cool speaking with some of the locals and knowing that the Japanese people want to learn more about our homes. Katie and I are constantly blown away with the friendliness we encounter from people everywhere we have gone!
Osaka Castle is one of the largest and oldest castles in Japan! The inside has been turned into a museum and it shares the history of the castle. Apparently, it was originally built in 1583 and burned down in 1665. The current structure was built in 1931 and fortunately survived city-wide air raids during WW2; thank goodness because I couldn't read another 35 placards talking about how Americans destroyed another Japanese monument in 1945 (please read our Sendai post if you don't get this reference). I'll spare you the boring details of the history of the castle and I'll get to the best part; the observation deck on the top floor. The views of the city from the top of the castle were pretty awesome. I would argue the views were better at the castle than in the Ferris Wheel because it was right in the middle of the city!
Of course Katie didn't turn down a picture opportuity! We also walked by some landscapers who had collected the fallen leaves and displayed them in this cool circular design that could be seen from up in the castle! It gave off Disneyland vibes with the attention to details!
On our way back to the train station, we found a tonkatsu restaurant named Katsuma. Tonkatsu is a fried pork loin that is covered in some type of Japanese barbecue sauce and served over rice. We waited in the sunshine for 30 minutes to be able to eat at this place, so we were hot, exhausted, and hoped the food would be worth the wait. Fortunately, it was better than we could have even anticipated! The food was fantastic! Katie had a cabbage salad with her meal and she loved the dressing so much she had to take a picture of it so she could try and find it in our local grocery store. Since I didn't order the "seto" (entire meal set,) my tonkatsu came with just rice, meat and a raw egg that cooked on top of the tonkatsu as they brought the meal to the table. We were also plesently surprised by how light the meal was- knowing it was fried pork, we thought it would be greesy and heavy, but it wasn't. To say we were impressed with this meal is a severe understatement!
With full bellies, the Castillos went back to the Airbnb for some rest and relaxation with their girls, while Katie and I took the train a few extra stops to visit the Shitennoji Temple. When we got to the temple, the first thing we noticed was that they were having a "shrine sale," and guess what they were selling...books! Katie was so excited! We found a Disney book about "White Day," a Japanese holiday celebrated on March 14th. In Japan, women traditionally give gifts to men on Valentine's Day and men reciprocate the gift-giving on White Day. The Disney book was written in both Japanese and English, so it was pretty cool! She also bought Japanese versions of We're Going on a Bear Hunt and Where the Wild Things Are. Katie was very excited to get American children's books in Japanese since she'll soon be starting her elementary library job. Once we paid for our books, we went inside the temple.
The Shittennnoji Temple was founded in 593 AD and was the first-ever temple, in Japan, to be built by the government. For reference, since we went to Osaka on Columbus Day weekend, this temple was founded nearly 900 years before "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492."
The temple had some pretty extraordinary structures and statues inside. It was pretty unique with the 5-story pagoda and several temple-builings within the walled area. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the temple rooms since it can be distracting to people trying to pray, but since no one was inside, Katie used her best spy skills and snapped a couple of quick pics. You can see the massive 15-foot gold statues of Guze Kannon, the Buddha of Infinite Mercy.
The temple was really beautiful and I'm happy we made the trip over there to check it out. Katie and I are always cautious when we visit temples, knowing we are visitors to another culture's sacred areas. We truely are appreciative for the chances we have to see into another world while traveling around Japan.
At the end of the day, Katie was estatic because she left with three extra books from the pop-up shrine sale! We couldn't have planned it better!
After our visit to the temple, Katie and I headed back to the AirBnB to meet back up with the Castillos. On our walk back, we followed the sound of drums and found a ceremonial cart loaded up and deorated with men dancing, singing and pulling this cart through these tiny side streets. We followed it a few blocks and watched as one guy danced on top of the cart while the rest of the men pulled and pushed the cart along. It was another unplanned sight we got to witness! As we backtracked to our home, we made some extra turns and ended up in a new area of the market- the kimchi (fermented cabbage), fresh fish and raw meat part of the market. This was a whole new world we found and it was much less desirable for sights and smells. Whew! Just thinking about it makes my stomach flip.
Once we got back to the house and chilled for a little while, we headed back out for dinner. On our way to the train station, we decided to walk through the more desireable street market area and found an awesome little bakeshop that sold awesome macaroons. Katie got a strawberry macaroon that was amazing and I got a double chocolate cookie; I will admit, Katie's macaroon was better than my cookie!
Before our trip, Katie found a recommendation on a Sasebo Facebook group, for a Texas-style barbecue restaurant in Osaka called Chop Hits! It was a 35-minute trip via subway and walking to get to the restaurant, but it was so worth it! The six of us ordered a family pack which came with 1/2 lb of ribs, 1/2 lb of brisket, 1 lb of chopped barbecue, 1 lb of chicken, pinto beans, potato salad, coleslaw, and cornbread! The meat was so good that I would argue this restaurant would be successful in Memphis, TN; Austin, TX; and eastern NC. I'm so happy we were able to find a place to eat that made me feel like I was back home! I can't recommend this restaurant enough! We then had to walk 10 minutes back to the train station when, what I really needed, was to go into a food coma.
October 11- Flying Home to Nagasaki Prefecture
After a great three days in Osaka, we had to say goodbye and head back south to Sasebo. At 10 am, we left our Airbnb and headed to the train station so we could make our 12:55 flight to Nagasaki. After our hour-long train ride to the airport, we decided to grab some lunch at McDonald's. I know, we were those people getting McDonalds, but after a weekend of being adventurous and trying all sorts of new foods we were ready for some chicken nuggets and french fries! We were surprised to learn our cashier spoke very good English, so ordering was super easy and further confirmed that we made the right lunch choice. We finished our lunch and then headed to our terminal.
The flight took a little over an hour and we landed in Nagasaki at 2:10. Once we disembarked (again) on the tarmac, we found our car and began our hour drive back home!
We had an excellent time with the Castillo family and we hope we get to travel with them again soon! Osaka was a beautiful city where we got to make great memories with great friends!
From the Land of the Rising Sun, yours,
Bryan
The castles and monuments are beautiful! I am so glad you are posting pictures and educating all of us back home. I forget how young America is... the rich history of Japan opens my mind to how sheltered I am in the states.
As for the food... I am not trying anything that has a tentacle hanging out of it... and esp. not if it looks like moss is growing on the side of it. Are y'all checking the safety ratings before ordering :)
I would be bumping into everyone while walking the city... so busy looking at the establishments and people watching. Wow... and such a huge city. It's so clean and bright! I think I would love it.…
I must admit, I looked at the pictures before I read the post, and figured it was the 2 of you in the tanks with the sharks!!! Next time be sure to pack your scuba gear :)
The hammerhead shark must have made you think of WHAT DISNEY MOVIE???? Hint, Jack Sparrow! I have never seen one that close. Poor guy... with a head like that! And the crabs.... Now I know where the "Aliens" movie with Sigourney Weaver got their inspiration!
I am buying B the Narwhale book series for Christmas (I can't believe your library wife has not introduced you to this character! Your mother-in-law will teach you how to draw him on the next visit !)