Osaka - Whalesharks and Ferris Wheels

School of 10,000 anchovies and sardines
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We arrived in Osaka late on Sunday night. Our hotel was close to Shin-Osaka Station and we walked out to look for it. After marvelling how a map could be so different to the actual landscape we asked someone if they knew where the hotel was. The young woman took us to the hotel even though it was obviously out of her way. Japanese people were generally very helpful to us.

In the morning we had a Japanese buffet breakfast at the hotel for the princely sum of 450 yen. It was similar to all the other breakfasts we had, except for the addition of fermented soya beans.(Natto) These are a traditional food high in protein and definitely an aquired taste. I cannot recommend these to you.

Diver and fish
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We bought an Osaka Aquarium ticket at the hotel. It also gave us a day pass on the Osaka subway network so we caught the train to the aquarium which was out in the port district on the other side of the harbour from the airport, at Osakako Station. The giant ferris wheel located near the aquarium was the first thing we saw as we flew into Kansai airport last week. It changed colours and patterns like a giant electric firework. it is even bigger when you stand near it.

The aquarium is amazing. I cannot recommend this place highly enough. It is fantastic. Located in a 5 storey building the aquarium houses exhibits from the Ring of Fire.

Ferris Wheel Osaka, the first sight of Japan when landing at Kansai
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After walking through a acrylic tube (just like in Melbourne etc) you start at the top of the building and wander your way back down the five floors to the ground. So there were sea otters from Aleutian Islands, coral from the Great Barrier Reef, penguins from Antarctica, dolphins from New Zealand, sea lions and seals from California, fish from a 8000m deep trench off Japan, and our favourites, a whale shark and manta ray. Its capacity is 11,000 tonnes of water and the walls of the largest tank are 30cm clear acrylic (actually took 1.5 years of the world's production of acrylic to make the tanks)

Aquarium building Osaka
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For 300 yen you can get an English language headset that is activated as you pass various points in the aquarium.

After we came out of the aquarium we headed back into Osaka on the subway, changing train lines three times to get to Tenjimbashi Suji Shopping Street which is Japans longest undercover shopping street at 2.6km. It is so long that there are three subway stations in the length of the street. As it was raining we thought it would be a good way to amuse ourselves. It was interesting to see how Japanese people shop and it is amazing how they ride their bicycles at speed through here.

jellyfish
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They have a fitting on the handlebars of their bikes to hold an umbrella while they ride in the rain. Some people still hold the brolly with one hand and the handlebars with the other. We saw three vintage kimono and fabric shops here but luggage restrictions stopped me from looking too hard.

We caught the train back to Shin Osaka Station in the evening peak hour and picked up our bags from the hotel just in time to catch the Haruka direct to Kansai. Our flight was not due to leave until 9.50 but we checked in at 7.30 and headed out for dinner elsewhere. Dinner was excellent, at a little bar near the airport which was full of Japanese businessmen also waiting to catch flights or trains. They seemed to be consuming large quantities of beer and sake so maybe they were nervous flyers.

Delayed flight
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By the time we made it back into the airport our flight had been delayed so we then had to sit around in the lounge waiting for some information. We were luckier than others on our flight, they thought they were flying to Cairns but ended up in Brisbane.

We finally boarded the flight close to midnight and I was so pleased to see 4 empty seats next to me. I slept all the way to Brisbane. With a shower and some lunch in Sydney we were soon home again. Holiday over!