Osaka

Shin-Umeda City
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Having visited Peter’s work and talked to one of his secretaries about the ferry to Korea, we jumped on the train again to Osaka. Our first plan was to find a NZ/Australia to Japan/Korea plug adapter (we thought we’d brought one with us, but no). With the help of a shop assistant in a large electronics store, we eventually succeeded.

Knowing that “seats” (we were booking a cabin) were available on the Kampu ferry for Wednesday, we looked for a travel agency where we could book the tickets. Even though Japan produces so much high technology it is pretty backwards at times; we couldn’t book the tickets over the internet or phone, and we were warned we might have to pay extra to use a travel agent. As it turned out, after many questions and a lot of waiting around, we only had to pay the Y12,500 each the tickets cost. We were stoked to have that sorted and not have to worry about it on arrival in Shiminoseki, the departure port.

"Even though Japan produces so much high technology it is pretty backwards at times..."

Us outside Shin-Umeda City
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Errands sorted, we grabbed a quick lunch at Macca’s (we had to, it was so quick and we had little time!), then walked to Shin-Umeda City, a building that has an area called the Floating Garden Observatory at the top. It cost us Y700 to get up there, and the ride up all 140m was almost as amazing as the view! The elevator had glass walls causing white knuckles for some people, then there was a steep escalator ride across the abyss between the two towers of the building. The day was clear, and the only thing inhibiting our vista was the layer of smog sitting on the city.

Escalator - it was really steep and long!
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We jumped on the train again to the Osaka Castle Museum. The sunlight reflecting off the gold on the eaves of this building was beautiful. The castle was surrounded by a moat and had huge walls climbing up from the water. The inside of the castle was quite unlike those of Himeji Castle, it was completely redone, a modern looking museum rather than a replica of what it once was. There were some amazing prints that inspired us to find one of our own before we leave Japan, on the cheap of course! In the castle grounds was a plum orchard.  Unlike the sakura (cherry blossoms), these were in blossom and smelled delicious!

Cool model of Osaka in the old days
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Back near the Osaka train station is a giant ferris wheel. It was something we were saving for the end of the day to see if a ride would fit in our budget. As it turned out, it only cost us Y500 each and just after sunset gave us an awesome view of Osaka at night. It moves very slowly, and Adrienne had to warn Sean that rocking of the carriage at such a great height would not be tolerated!