Japan Day 15: Osaka is weird for Japan!

Today was Osaka day. We got up late since we didn't have to meet Aleem and Kat until 11:00 at the bar downstairs. Allan decided it would be a good time to take a picture with Mayuko. Apparently, she has a computer virus and we've now been charged with fixing it. Even after I get thrown out of my job I can't escape my job! ;)

We ventured to Osaka around 12:00. Once again, it's interesting to see how the culture there is different. Osaka at first feels a bit more like Tokyo because it's so busy. Then you start to notice other things. The big thing there is people are not so shy. They are very affectionate. There are couples everywhere. It made us feel lonely!

The big thing to see in Osaka was the aquarium (picture on the left). It's quite famous because it's very large and has whale sharks. For some reason, no whale sharks made it into the pictures for the blog though. They were kept in a big tank that was four storeys high, along with rays, like the one in the picture. The other big thing was the turtles. Allan got loads of pictures of them too. Only trouble we had was we had agreed to meet at the gift shop. The problem is there is a small gift shop inside and a big one near the exit. This kept us from finding Aleem for a long time after we left. We also rode the Ferris Wheel next to the aquarium. It's one of the largest in the world. It's stupidly tall and spawned some good pictures, which again didn't make it here (five pictures per blog is a rather small limit, although Blogger would let us have more if we wanted).


After the Ferris wheeel we had Korean barbeque, which shows int he last picture. What you see in the picture is the pile of meat they gave us to cook. In the middle of the table was a BBQ device that appared to be fueled entirely by hot coals. It was very good. We can't say what some of the meat was, though. We had chicken, beef and pork, but some of the parts were hard to identify. We found ears, and what we think were tongues, but we're not 100% on that part. We also found one piece we couldn't identify. I don't care; it tasted good!

Kat and Aleem had to leave today. They spent some kind packing luggage after we came back to the hostel, but did find time for a drink in the bar. We intend to meet up in Tokyo in a few days, if we can. Should be fun. As it stands now, the rest of the trip is pretty thoroughly booked with temples, castles, and people to visit! :)

We spent the rest of the night in the bar with Stefan. He's been doing a similar thing to us. He gets up earlier for his temple-hoppping expeditions though. He also likes to walk and cycle everywhere he can. He must have sun screen because I'm pretty badly burnt from trying that! He's a fun guy to talk with. :)