Osaka

Actual date of trip:  1/4/12

It snowed today!!!

Ok, it flurried. But for this Florida girl, flurries somehow confirm that my five layers aren't for nothing.

And it happened twice!

We visited Osaka today in the bitter cold, blazing snow (flurries) and 32 km/h wind (see- metric system blows everything out of proportion!) It's only a 30-minute train ride from Kyoto to Osaka, which was nice since we slept until almost noon and lost half of our day. I woke up feeling very sick, and that feeling lingered most of the morning.

Breakfast in the train station didn't help.

The ride to Osaka was similar to the other train rides we’ve taken through the countryside, but it seemed to be more densely populated. Villages were tucked into the mountains and valleys with little room to share. Houses and graveyards and farmland seemed to fight for the same plots of land.

In one spot, tombstones overflowed from a fenced yard and flooded into yards and gardens, a testament to the enormity that is the Japanese population.

Once in Osaka, we took some pictures of the Umeda Sky Building and walked around the gardens, then headed to the Osaka Castle, where we spent most of the day. The castle is an 8-story (after interior refurbishing) that is separated from modern-day Osaka by multiple walls and two moats.

 It makes quite a statement.

The top floor has an observatory with a wrap-around deck for viewing the Osaka area. It was there, of all places, we met our first American, who happened to be from DeLand (60 minutes south from our hometown.) Small world.

It started snowing while we were on top of the castle. Nothing stuck on the ground, and I don’t know that it actually snowed on the ground, but being so high up was to my advantage… for once.

We spent a lot of time going through the rest of the castle, which has been turned into a museum dedicated to the history of the area and the many families that ruled (and fought over) the area. It was very interesting and informative. One of the most interesting things was how tiny (and this is NOT a racial stab!) the people were from that era. The suits of the warriors were 5 feet at most, and the full-scale replica of the tea room used by one of the rulers would not have allowed me to stand up straight.

We had planned to head to the Osaka Aquarium, one of the largest in the world, after the castle to see penguins and a whale shark, among other things. Unfortunately, we spent so long in the castle and had such a late start that by the time we got there we only had an hour to spend, and there was no way we would have gotten our 40,000 yen’s worth.

There will be more penguins on Saturday in Tokyo.

Instead, we walked around the pier near the aquarium and ate dinner, and became the center of attention when we thought the jazz music was meant for dancing in the park... apparently, they don't dance here. The largest Ferris wheel is located in Osaka, so we took pictures and contemplated taking a ride, but it was so windy (and so high!) that we decided against it and headed home… back to Kyoto and more snow!

Yes, it snowed (well, heavily flurried) all the way home. It melted almost as soon as it hit the ground, but there was a lot of snow falling… especially for being 36 degrees! We’ll stay in Kyoto for the next two days and return to Tokyo for a side trip Saturday then Tsukuba for the weekend.

We still plan to see Fuji at some point and next Wednesday in Tokyo, where we’ll tour the botanical gardens of the Imperial Palace and see a Sumo wrestling tournament. I was hoping to take dip in an onsen (hot spring) during my stay, but that may not be possible—apparently, tattoos are associated with gang activity and subsequently banned. My sea turtle clearly screams “danger!” It’s bittersweet, since you go naked with a bunch of other people into an onsen. Call me old fashioned, but there are certain things I like to keep to myself (and keep from myself, if you know what I mean.)

We’ll find out for sure when we visit Fuji.

I can’t believe I’ve been here two whole weeks, with just over a week left. Officially, it’s my birthday in Japan in 45 minutes—I’m possibly the youngest 25 year old (since I’ve lost 14 hours on my year). I plan to celebrate through the end of my birthday EST, so it could be the longest birthday ever. Not a bad way to have a quarter-life crisis.

I wonder how they celebrate birthdays in Japan?