Osaka

I just got back from a fantastic holiday trip to Osaka and Kobe! On the way to Osaka, we took the local train service (much cheaper than the Shinkansen bullet train), but it takes 4 times as long! This is one of the rice fields that broke up the vast stretch of urban landscape along the 6 hour train ride from Shizuoka. The first thing we went to see in Osaka was the city castle, at the centre of a huge parkland and surrounded by two moats. Right next door is a concert hall, where a pop goth band was playing, which explained the massive crowd of people wearing "alternative clothing" hanging around (at first I thought it was a regular Sunday afternoon in Osaka). Strangely enough almost everyone was wearing something similar to someone else. Victorian dresses, striped stockings, 6 inch platform boots, and miniskirts were everywhere. The only original costume I saw was nurse who had a realistic looking eye bandage leaking blood which also spattered her dress.

The castle itself was very impressive, with all the walls made from large blocks of stone. It's been rebuilt very well, so it's hard to believe it was destroyed several times by war, fire, bombing raids, and even a lightning bolt. It was originally built by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, a Shogun who was the first to unify the warring clans of Japan into a single nation.

The view from the castle (left photo) was great, and Osaka seemed to stretch on forver. Even better was the night view from the top of the Umeda Sky building, one of the tallest skyscrapers in Osaka. Underneath this skyscraper was a small maze of winding streets full of little Izakayas and restaurants built to look like they are from the early 1900's. We found a great little place to have a delicious katsudon dinner, and then headed back to a place near the train station that had an entire floor of cafes to look for a place to have dessert. My tummy was very spoilt!