Ly and I decided to check out the nearby megacity of Osaka (well, I find it a megacity). Osaka is the commercial heart of the Kansai region (which includes other cities such as Kyoto, Kobe, Himeji, and Nara) and it has a rivalry going on with Toyko - it's just like most major Canadian cities vs. the evil city of Toronto. :P For example - on a Tokyo escalator, you stand on your left and walk on your right; on an Osaka escalator, you stand on your right and walk on your left.
We decided to check out Osaka-jo, or Osaka Castle. It's another well-known castle in Japan, and like Nagoya-jo, the castle is a replica. Inside the building, there is a history of the castle as well as the history of famous shogun Toyotomi Ieyasu. It's kinda odd as to how he was a pretty good person in real life (for the most part), when in the video game series Onimusha, he's an evil subordinate to the demon Oda Nobunaga (another famous shogun). Ah, the powerful influence of video games to ruin my mind on Japanese history.
After exploring the castle, we were to meet up with Ly's husband for some lunch. I'll give you a very brief description about Kei... basically, he is a real nice guy. He works in Osaka, and his job is to promote tourism in Japan to Swiss customers. Damn - I want a job like that. I work for the tourism industry...
 |
A view of Ly's apartment. Her place is on the top floor at the right-hand of this picture. However, the column (which is where the stairs are located) is blocking the way. |
 |
Yeah - a Canada flag! |
 |
A sign indicating a boarding point for ladies only. Japanese men can be quite the perverts; they tend to grope women in crowded public places. This happens frequently in trains because with so many people in a contained area, it can be hard for the woman to identify the culprit. Therefore, at peak travel times, some trains will have a compartment or two that would only allow women in the train to prevent sexual harassment. |
 |
Osaka-jo in the background. |
 |
I'm guessing this stone inscription is to describe the castle, the bridge, or the moat that surrounds it. |
 |
The bridge walkway leading to Osaka-jo. |
 |
An entranceway to the castle. |
 |
Another view of the castle. |
 |
Eskimo Ly. As we walked closer to Osaka-jo, the area was getting quite windy and it was quite cold outside. |
 |
A crowd of people heading towards another bridge to Osaka-jo. |
 |
POST TRIP JOKE: My sister Brenda said that before this picture was taken, the Japanese must have heard about me being The Cursed One; therefore, they ran away and I was left alone to have a solo pic of myself taken. |
 |
A front view of Osaka-jo with an elevator for wheelchair people. At this point, the winds were very strong and pebbles and sand were starting to fly towards our faces. |
 |
A vending machine to purchase entrance tickets. |
 |
The front doors to Osaka-jo. |
 |
A carp statue hanging on the rooftop. |
 |
A view of the city of Osaka - with a fence somewhat blocking the way to prevent suicidal people from jumping off. |
 |
The Osaka subway system. |
 |
Ly waiting for the subway to arrive. |
 |
At a subway station where we had to transfer to another train so we can meet up with Kei. |
 |
Well, we finally met up with Kei. We decided to go up to the 28th floor of a building for the food courts - for me, it's quite odd to go up that high in any building for the food section... anyways, this happens to be the restaurant that we decided to hit up - look at the great quality of plastic food displays here! This restaurant served some good dishes at a reasonable rate - also, it serves all-you-can-eat cabbage, rice, and all-you-can-drink miso soup! For me, I loaded up on the cabbage (with the special salad dressing) - I needed more fibre in my diet! |
 |
Kei and Ly Kimura - a happily married couple. |
 |
Patrick Kwan - a happily single person (for now). |
 |
Looking out the window of the restaurant - that HUGE ferris wheel is located on top of a shopping building. |
