I don't know a word of Japanese! - A COMPLETED TR!

[BecBennett]

Usually there were displays of the food, with matching pictures on the vending machine, not all of them had that though, so usually the waitress would help

 

[BecBennett]

We were up bright and early today because we wanted to take a day trip to Osaka to see the Tenjin Matsuri Festival.

The tourist information centre was right across from the hotel entrance in the train station, so we went in there to ask the best way to get to Osaka. The lady at the counter was able to tell us the best way to get there, and even the platform to wait at, which was really handy.

We caught the JR Rapid train to Osaka and were there in about half an hour. We had to stand the whole way in a pretty packed train, but it wasn’t that bad, and there were only maybe 4 stops, so it felt like it went pretty quickly.

Once we arrived in Osaka we wandered the train station for a fair bit trying to find some breakfast. There were a heap of restaurants in there, but nothing seemed to take our fancy and pretty much all of the restaurants had long lines of people waiting to be seated.

So instead we again went into the tourist information centre and got advice on the best way to see Osaka. We were told by again the really helpful people when everything was happening for the festival, and given maps and advice on the best way to get there. We decided we wanted to see the street dancing, the parade along the river and the fireworks, but these weren’t due to start until about 3pm, so we had plenty of time for random site seeing.

First we caught the Osaka Loop Line to Osaka Castle.

When we got there we found a cafeteria looking place and decided we’d have a meal there before we went any further. It was another one of the ones where you need to order from a vending machine, and nothing was in English. Luckily we knew what we wanted and the lady there spoke perfect English. We both ordered Takoyaki, and DH also got a big thing of soup.

There weren’t any drinks here except filtered water, so I got us two glasses. The meals came out pretty quickly and they were delicious! I love me some good takoyaki!

There was a couple sitting across from us, and I think they were congratulating us on the fact that we could use chopsticks. That was funny and a little awkward…

We then made our way up to Osaka Castle.

There were two options, you could either line up and get the elevator to the top, or you could walk up the stairs. The line up for the elevator stretched out the door, so we figured we’d just take the stairs. However we soon worked out that you’re supposed to start the tour at the top, and walk down each level to get the full experience…

So we walked all the way to the top floor (I want to say 8 floors..?) and started with the awesome view from the surrounding balcony.

Then we made our way back down one floor at a time. There were a couple of floors that photos weren’t allowed.

Generally my opinions of this place are along the lines of: if you’re interested in Japanese History then this place is awesome, otherwise it’s a bit of a bore…

You could pay money to get dressed in the period costumes.

We’re not that interested in Japanese History… However we looked through everything because I think we felt that we owed it to Japan… Or something. You know? We went over there for a holiday and it somehow seemed wrong to not spend time learning about the history while we were there…

 

[PrincessInOz]

Okay....so what DID you learn about Japanese History?



Osaka Castle looks lovely. Was the tour in English and/or Japanese? I'm guessing from your comments that this is NOT somewhere where my DS12 would be interested to go see (unless they allow kids to dress up!)

 

[battymum]

Looks like another interesting day!

So can you tell me, should takoyaki be gooey in the middle?
I have only had them once, and to me, I thought they should have been cooked more - , but I ate them anyway, cause I'm polite like that! (with no ill effects)

 

[BecBennett]

Okay....so what DID you learn about Japanese History?



Osaka Castle looks lovely. Was the tour in English and/or Japanese? I'm guessing from your comments that this is NOT somewhere where my DS12 would be interested to go see (unless they allow kids to dress up!)

Ummm... Not much, there was a heap of info if you're wanting to learn...

I'm pretty sure the tour was in English, but that's just from memory, it could have been in Japanese with English subtitles... Most of it was on moniters around the place.

I think the period costume was more for kids then adults, we saw a few kids getting dressed up in the big armor and helmets, but no adults. So he might enjoy it.

Looks like another interesting day!

So can you tell me, should takoyaki be gooey in the middle?
I have only had them once, and to me, I thought they should have been cooked more - , but I ate them anyway, cause I'm polite like that! (with no ill effects)

Umm, I don't know... I think it should be less cooked then the inside of a donut, and a little bit more battery... The best stuff though you really only taste the octopus inside, and the batter doesn't really register

 

[minnie mum]

Fabulous photos of Osaka Castle!!!! This place is really high on my list of must see's. But I'm a history geek. And I've just subjected DH to watching a marathon viewing of Shogun. An entire miniseries watched in only 2 nights What that poor man won't put up with....

He's already predicting another trip like our first Europe vacation: an ABC trip (Another Bloody Castle)

 

[BecBennett]

Actually my brother watched Shogun from start to finish a couple of months ago... Ahh, to be young and without a job...

 

[BecBennett]

Any hoo, after we left the castle we started heading towards were most of the festivities were going to be held.

There were already stalls lining the walk ways along the river and the stalls went forever! It was really cool though seeing all of this going on.

I will admit that when we saw the little pool of gold fish right next to food stalls, including one that had fish frying over a fire, we were a little worried about what the gold fish were for… Were they some sort of fresh fish delicacy?!?

Luckily we didn’t decide to be adventurous and try this strange new food, because it turns out it’s a kids game where you catch the fish in nets…

I don’t know about other areas of the world, but here these games are done by using plastic fish with rings coming out of their noses and you hook them with plastic fishing hooks. No real fish here!

There were also super cute baby turtles for sale – we figured these were pets by ourselves, simply because the little tanks were on the table to keep them in. Why didn’t the fish have little plastic tanks?!?

We made our way towards music we could hear playing, and figured it was the start of the street dancing. Sure enough we found a huge crowd of people waiting to watch them pass, and joined the group.

As the dancing came closer we realised that we wouldn’t be able to see anything as it passed, which was disappointing. However I joined in with everyone else and raised my camera up in the air and took some random snaps, hoping that one of them might show us what was going on.

I managed to take several photos of this guys butt...

DH pointed to an open window which was a couple of levels above an open door, and you could see that there was a stair case inside. He suggested that I duck in there, go up the stairs and try and grab a few photos, but I didn’t feel right about trespassing just for some photos. I did stare long and hard at it for a while though trying to get up the courage to go and do it!

Because of this experience, and our previous one at TDL we decided that if we wanted a good position for the fireworks we might as well stake our claim now. So we went into a Lawsons and bought up some supplies for the afternoon. We then found a great spot on the bridge were we figured we’d be able to see all of the boats pass by, and according to the map we’d pretty much be able to see two separate lots of fireworks.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's a pretty nice position from.....behind. Glad you managed to snap a few from where you were.

 

[BecBennett]

It was pretty annoying, my camera doesn't have a digital view finder, so all I could do was put my camera up as high as it could reach and snap away. Maybe 85% of the pics I took are of that bloke, I was pleasantly surprised at the couple I got that were actually of what I wanted to take a photo of *and* in focus!!

I had a whole other post to go up last night as well, but I don't know if maybe the Dis was undergoing maintenance, or just having a bit a trouble, but *poof* it's gone...

 

[BecBennett]

We sat down and made ourselves comfortable, and enjoyed some tasty treats.

Really really tasty and refreshing! The "seeds" were chocolate pieces...

We chatted to a Japanese man who told us that the fireworks would start going off as soon as it got dark, and would continue going off until around 9pm. Another man passing by gave us a brochure to show us what the fireworks would look like from the bridge, and got us very excited because we had picked a prime position.

Then we looked a bit closer at the brochure, and again at our view… It didn’t quite match up… We picked up our stuff and moved further along the bridge, thinking that it was just the angle that was wrong. Nope still looked a little off… We then worked out that the photo from the previous year had been taken from much higher, and decided that it must have been from one of the tall buildings just next to the bridge.

We decided that that was still ok. Our view wouldn’t be as unobstructed as the brochure, but should still be good.

At around 7:15pm, about an hour before sunset, a couple of test fireworks went off.

They were completely behind a building… Devastated!

See that really tall building 2 pics up? That building...

Again we picked up our stuff to try and find a better position. I was so disappointed. We walked along side the river a couple of times to try and find somewhere suitable. It was now completely packed out, pretty much just the pathways still had space on them, but people were told to keep moving when they were standing on them.

Eventually we found a small patch of grass under a tree, which was a couple of meters back from the river, and maybe one row back from a pathway that kept getting cleared.

Look! They set a boat on fire!

I tried to put taking photos out of my mind, because I figured everyone would stand up when the fireworks began, and I tried to just concentrate on enjoying the atmosphere and the moment.

 

[BecBennett]

Turns out everyone stayed seated! I got some alright pics, but they would have been a lot better if I had something to lean against. Like a fence rail, or even a tripod! But my knees were it, and it was a lot of fun.

As the boat procession passed the people on board would call out a chant and everyone on the bank would clap a response. I joined in when I worked out the beat. DH was happy too, because there were plenty of food and drink stalls nearby.

Looked like really yummy donut like things, but were just plain cake things, without anything to give them flavour.

 

[BecBennett]

After the completion of the fireworks we started walking with the masses. We had no idea where we were going, but figured if we went the same direction as everyone else we wouldn’t get lost.

We stopped at a discout grocery like store, and bought drinks, and these deodorant wipes that I’d seen a few times throughout our trip. They really came in handy especially after all the touring we had been doing. I’d been feeling very self conscious about what I could have smelt like on this trip, and this made me feel a bit better about it!

Eventually we found a JR station and managed to get back on the Osaka Loop Line to start the trek back home. Unfortunately I made a split second decision and we boarded a train heading in the wrong direction. It was a loop, so it didn’t matter too much, but it meant that instead of being 3 stops from Osaka station we were at least a dozen stops away…

Meh, we got where we were going in the end…

We then boarded the JR Rapid back to Kyoto. From memory I still think we had to stand the whole way home, but again it wasn’t an issue.

When we got back to Kyoto, again nothing was open. So we decided we’d have room service for dinner. I had hot chips and DH had soba noodles in soup.

This was more then adequate!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice update. I liked that shot of your DH with the beer in hand and that watermelon icecream looks delicious.

Pity about the chase around for a prime picture spot but you got some decent shots in the end.

I would have chosen the soba noodles over the chips any day. Thanks for sharing.

 

[battymum]

Ooh, thanks for the updates, the watermelon treat does look yummy! I too would prefer the ramen, but I bet those hot chips hit the spot!

 

[BecBennett]

They were just what I was craving. Something simple, yet full of carbs. Dipped in tomato sauce - perfect!

 

[BecBennett]

Today we had worked out that busses were the best way to get around Kyoto, and we could buy a full day bus pass for 500Y each.

We went back into the tourist centre to ask how they worked, and were given a map and told where we could buy our passes. We bought today’s tickets from the tourist centre, but otherwise there were machines near the bus stops. I don’t think you could buy the day passes from the bus driver, but you could buy a 1 use ticket from them.

We then caught bus 205 to the Golden Pavilion.

This place is so pretty! And busy! You wouldn’t know it looking at pictures, but there are people everywhere!

There’s a loop track that loops through this park, past the Golden Pavilion and some other structures, and fountains and stuff, and then back out again. It doesn’t take you long to see the whole place, but there are places where you can stop for a while to waste a bit of time.

We picked up some fortunes. If they’re good fortunes you’re supposed to take them with you, if they’re bad you’re supposed to tie them up on strings or trees or whatever about the place. We got good fortunes though, so they came with us. I’ll try and dig them out and let you know what they said.

We then walked along the road towards the Ryjoan Temple. It was quite a nice walk (other then the scalding heat) as the road was lined with dense green bush land.

A museum along the way - we didn't stop in, but I thought the building looked cool.

On the way we decided to take a slight detour and walk up some steps that headed away from the road.

Turns out it was a cemetery. Sounds a bit morbid, but I loved it! It was built with the lay of the ground, so it rolled up and down this hill, with grave stones placed everywhere.

 

[disneyobsessed808]

wow. i love your trip report. i'm going to japan in a week myself and this is getting me so excited! the golden pavilion looks especially beautiful, and the fireworks look awesome. my friend keeps telling me that they are much much better than disney fireworks. LOL

 

[dee slack]

Wow, this is sooooo spooky-we have done almost the exact thing TODAY! Our feet are really tired as we left our hotel before 8am and only a just got back around 9pm but we saw lots of great things through the very busy public holiday crowds.

 

[BecBennett]

wow. i love your trip report. i'm going to japan in a week myself and this is getting me so excited! the golden pavilion looks especially beautiful, and the fireworks look awesome. my friend keeps telling me that they are much much better than disney fireworks. LOL

I wasn't that impressed, there were lots of them, and they went for ages, but they were nothing special. They weren't time to music like Disney, they were just your basic explosions, nothing like the fancy stuff they do at Disney.

Wow, this is sooooo spooky-we have done almost the exact thing TODAY! Our feet are really tired as we left our hotel before 8am and only a just got back around 9pm but we saw lots of great things through the very busy public holiday crowds.

lol, isn't that funny!