Osaka

First thing we did was check into our accommodation, and had chosen an apartment this time. After five days of sleeping in the same room at the hostel in Tokyo, we were more than pleased to be down to two per room for a bit more privacy! 

There was only time for one activity by the time we'd dropped off our luggage and we had decided to go to the TeamLabs Botanical Gardens. We enjoyed the TeamLabs Borderless exhibit in Tokyo and everyone was keen to go to another of their art experiences. The exhibit in Osaka is based in a local gardens, with interactive art installations that either enhance or contrast with the surrounding nature. Another activity that Will and I might not have chosen without the push from the rest of the group, but again we found it fun and captivating, despite the rain!

On our first full day we headed to Osaka Castle for the morning. This was one of the things I was most looking forward to seeing in Osaka. I love a good castle and Japanese castles turn out to be even more picturesque than European ones! Usually Will humors me by visiting the local castle on our trips, but even he enjoyed the visit and could appreciate how scenic the castle and surrounding park was.

After a delicious egg sandwich for lunch  (a must-try for Ruby!), we split up and Will, Elly, Ruby and I joined a walking tour with a local guide. He had a really interesting life, having moved to Florida and spent 20yrs giving tours to Japanese speakers, he is now back in Japan giving tours to English speakers! He was super knowledgeable and we learnt loads of information about Osaka and the districts he walked us through. There was lots of food facts for Ruby, some history for me, modern culture for Will and language tips for Elly. 

We ended the day at Tsūtenkaku Tower, which was right by our apartment and we were able to see the whole neighbourhood lit up at night and get a top down view of the food market below.

Sunday we took the train out of Osaka and headed to Katsuoji Temple. This was a suggestion by Fallon and turned out to be a great day trip. The temple is set on a hillside that's covered by trees, giving us a green and red foliage backdrop for the day. The most striking thing about the temple, however, is the shear number of Daruma. These are red dolls that you can write your prayer on and leave on the temple grounds with the hopes that it will come true. The small Daruma cover most surfaces in the temple and larger Daruma are housed within the temple structures. During our visit we made a game to try and spot the ones in the most unlikely places, where someone would have had to climb a wall or wade through water to place it!

In the evening we had a sushi making class. Because Elly is vegetarian, we had to join a vegan class to make sure there was no meat mix up. We were given pre-made bento boxes as starters and they were so beautifully packed and came in really elegant boxes that I almost didn't want to eat mine! Next, we were given all the ingredients to make sushi. Will loved all the extra veggies but as I'm basically vegetable-phobic, it wasn't my favourite meal so far (I still had fun making colourful sushi rolls and feeding them to Will instead)! 

The Monday was a national holiday in Japan so we decided to take the train to Nara for the day to get out of the city. It was still pretty busy at Nara Park but the resident deer were not crowd shy, pushing their heads against you to try and get food. The deer are famous for bowing at visitors in exchange for special crackers which we were excited to see. Will just loved feeding them though and was an easy target for the deer, not requiring a bow before giving them all the snacks. 

We also went on a guided walk through the park, where we were shown some of the temples and taken to some less touristy spots for scenic views and photo opportunities, as well as more deer feeding from Will! Our favourite temple from the day was Tōdai-ji, which houses a giant buddha statue and the building itself is the second tallest wooden structure in Japan (according to our guide).

For our last day in Osaka, we had a temple and shrine morning, visiting one of each. The Buddist temple we visited has a practice where they collect the ashes of their deceased worshippers and use them to create Buddha statues. Each statue uses 200,000 people's ashes and as the temple has many of these statues, the temple is said to house 2.5 million souls! 

In the afternoon we went to the Osaka aquarium. As soon as I found out the city has an aquarium I put it on my itinerary wish list. Will has been made to visit many, many aquariums with me over the years, but this time I had a fellow aquarium enthusiast: Elly! She and I spent hours sat in front of the tanks, watching various fish and sea creatures whilst the others patiently waited for us to get our fill. The main tank had so many giant animals, but the whale sharks and hammerheads stood out for me, having not seen any in real life before. The seal enclosure was Will's favourite, simply because they're always so cute!

Our final activity of our jam-packed last day was a visit to a local second hand kimono shop. Will decided to sit this one out which left me with no one to talk any sense into me and I came away with a full kimono set. Now I just need an occasion to wear it!