Monday, July 25, 2005
A day in Osaka
Ahhh... had a great night sleep in a nice Dormy Inn (really more like an hotel) in the hip part of the town. This place includes nice (but small) room, beautifully built hot-spring/spa, meeting area, free in-room internet jack, and coin-operated laundry (they don't sell detergent though). All this for a modest fee... less than what we paid for in Meiji and with far more amenities! Of course, my dad had advanced reservations here, so maybe that made a difference in price.
My dad bought a really nice camera last night with the help of his friend/consultant Ozaki. Boy, if you think BestBuy has a great selection of digital camera and electronics, you should see this place. It must have carried almost 80% of digital cameras available in the market place. In addition, they have a huge select of watches and other digital equipments/gadgets. It's a geek heaven (or hell if you are a broke geek). I got myself a semi-formal Casio G-Shock multiple-timezone solar charged watch for about $120 US. It's a self-purchased graduation gift from my aunt in Taiwan.
Anyhow, dad had to conduct some business today so Mr. Ozaki took me around town. We first went to Osaka Aquarium. It is a really amazing aquarium where you start at the top floor and gradually wind your way down to the deeper depths of the vertical aquariums. All of the exhibits were based on the Pacific Volcanic rim.
The center piece contained schools of many different fishes, several different sting rays, sharks, groupers, and the most impressive whale shark. I have some pictures, but none of them correctly portray the awe I had. At least this one should show how big the center aquarium is (above-right). I may have taken some good pictures if my camera battery hadn't died half an hour into the tour... oh well.
Later, I rode a huge ferris wheel. Not terrible exciting, but I was able to see great views of the city (left - center building is the Aquarium).
We then rode the subway across town to the Osaka Castle City Park. The castle tower itself was rebuilt in modern time into a simple history museum about the castle area (right - the distortion is from the ultra-wide lens used). It's so modern that it has an elevator to the top (7th) floor. Still, it was neat to go up the tower to take in another panoramic view of the city. The most intriguing thing about the fort is that it's built of giant stone slabs that were cut/broken from even bigger stones about a hundred km away on an island. Some of the biggest pieces weighted over 100 tons.
The day wasn't over yet. We also visited the Osaka broadcasting station (with some TV show sets), Panasonic showroom, and a bit of the Tenjinmatsuri Festival. The Festival is supposed to be one of the 3 major festivals in Japan. The festival (a festive religious/cultural event) lasts 2 days starting with the prologue on Sunday with dances, drums, and various other rituals. Today, the Osaka Temmangu Shrine's divine spirits are transported on portable shrines on land and then on the river. The festival peaks around 9pm with rapidly firing fireworks and ends at 10pm with the return of the spirits to the shrine. I was supposed to see/experience part of this festival, but it didn't happen. I did see a boat preparing to transport a spirit (left). By the time we finished dinner, I was too tired from the day's travels. Mr. Ozaki had a pedometer, which registered over 17,000 steps! Instead of returning to one of the country's biggest party, I relaxed in the hotel's hot-spring pool, worked on this blog, and washed a load of laundry. Sounds great huh?
NOTE: All photo in this posting are courtesy of Mr. Ozaki, with the exception of the first photo, which I took.
My dad bought a really nice camera last night with the help of his friend/consultant Ozaki. Boy, if you think BestBuy has a great selection of digital camera and electronics, you should see this place. It must have carried almost 80% of digital cameras available in the market place. In addition, they have a huge select of watches and other digital equipments/gadgets. It's a geek heaven (or hell if you are a broke geek). I got myself a semi-formal Casio G-Shock multiple-timezone solar charged watch for about $120 US. It's a self-purchased graduation gift from my aunt in Taiwan.Anyhow, dad had to conduct some business today so Mr. Ozaki took me around town. We first went to Osaka Aquarium. It is a really amazing aquarium where you start at the top floor and gradually wind your way down to the deeper depths of the vertical aquariums. All of the exhibits were based on the Pacific Volcanic rim.
The center piece contained schools of many different fishes, several different sting rays, sharks, groupers, and the most impressive whale shark. I have some pictures, but none of them correctly portray the awe I had. At least this one should show how big the center aquarium is (above-right). I may have taken some good pictures if my camera battery hadn't died half an hour into the tour... oh well.Later, I rode a huge ferris wheel. Not terrible exciting, but I was able to see great views of the city (left - center building is the Aquarium).
We then rode the subway across town to the Osaka Castle City Park. The castle tower itself was rebuilt in modern time into a simple history museum about the castle area (right - the distortion is from the ultra-wide lens used). It's so modern that it has an elevator to the top (7th) floor. Still, it was neat to go up the tower to take in another panoramic view of the city. The most intriguing thing about the fort is that it's built of giant stone slabs that were cut/broken from even bigger stones about a hundred km away on an island. Some of the biggest pieces weighted over 100 tons.
The day wasn't over yet. We also visited the Osaka broadcasting station (with some TV show sets), Panasonic showroom, and a bit of the Tenjinmatsuri Festival. The Festival is supposed to be one of the 3 major festivals in Japan. The festival (a festive religious/cultural event) lasts 2 days starting with the prologue on Sunday with dances, drums, and various other rituals. Today, the Osaka Temmangu Shrine's divine spirits are transported on portable shrines on land and then on the river. The festival peaks around 9pm with rapidly firing fireworks and ends at 10pm with the return of the spirits to the shrine. I was supposed to see/experience part of this festival, but it didn't happen. I did see a boat preparing to transport a spirit (left). By the time we finished dinner, I was too tired from the day's travels. Mr. Ozaki had a pedometer, which registered over 17,000 steps! Instead of returning to one of the country's biggest party, I relaxed in the hotel's hot-spring pool, worked on this blog, and washed a load of laundry. Sounds great huh?NOTE: All photo in this posting are courtesy of Mr. Ozaki, with the exception of the first photo, which I took.
