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My First Trip To Japan 03

A short hop on the clean and on time trains (take note Britain) from Kyoto and I found myself in Osaka…

...where the giant shopping arcades have everything you could ever wish for. Hmmm socks.

Central Osaka seemed to be the seediest place I’d visited in Japan so far. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there was even something slightly amiss about this Santa.

I’d already indulged quite heavily in snacks on the trip already but couldn’t resist popping into Mr Donut and sampling some of his caked delights. Three donuts were shared with my friend over black coffee. The brown one was the best. The pink one has some kind of strange goo inside of it and the green was nice but nothing special. Having said that, I could of happily eaten several more but that’s because I’m greedy.

My friend who joined me on this trip should get a slight mention. You can see him here, smiling away, over our breakfast meeting the next morning. Little did we realise at this point that the hotel actually offered free breakfasts.

The breakfast meeting resolved that we would head over to the Osaka aquarium, which if the guide book is to be believed, is the second largest aquarium in the world and has fish in it.

As well as the fish (that were housed in what suspiciously looked like the same tanks they have outside of restaurants) there were otters, sea lions and penguins.

The aquarium was cool but after a while, like all zoos I guess, it was quite sad to see the animals locked away inside of a small space. This little penguin stood motionless whilst his pals slopped about in the fake snow, staring out into the reflected distance. He was a long way from home.

After the aquarium I made quite the culinary discovery. I ordered fried potatoes, expecting some sauteed and spiced tattles, only to be presented with a plate of fries and a bowl of ketchup. Chips with chop-sticks, what kind of topsy-turvy world was this?!

Osaka also has a big castle with a moat, the outside of which has massive walls made with giant stones. The biggest stone is called the Octopus Stone which I didn’t photograph, but these stones, which look the same, were pretty big too.