Osaka

If you can believe it, today was my last full day before I flew out. How time flies! 

After grabbing a quick bite from a cafe in the station and a very delicious matcha latte, we headed to our first stop in Osaka - the Osaka Castle. 

The Osaka Castle has had a turbulent history from ruler to ruler and has been rebuilt several times. It now stands as a symbol of the city of Osaka. The castle was first constructed in 1583 by the ruler Toyotomi but after his passing the castle fell. It was then reconstructed in 1620. It was once again destroyed in 1665 by lightning. After it was rebuilt it had to be restored following the World Wars and has since then been converted to a museum. The first thing Suyi and I noticed immediately was how high up the castle was situated. There was a moat built around the castle that was built on top on a mound of rocks. This base of rocks was for the fortification of the city and keeping out intruders. Compared to the Hiroshima castle, this one was much larger too.

This castle had a very royal look to it. The emerald green and gold ornaments contrasted nicely against the white castle. The gold ornaments depicted two big tigers and gold fish on the tip of the roof. Inside, there was a life size copy of these ornaments so we could see up close what they looked like. On the second floor of the museum there was a dress up booth where you could try on the clothing the emperor would wear and take photos so both Suyi and I did it. The lady dressed me quickly in a kimono while Suyi was dressed in a fancy vest with a big helmet and sword. It was fun to put on all the clothes for pictures. 

The second floor of the museum was filled with manuscript letters exchanged throughout the different wars and regimes. The penmanship was very impressive and the Japanese read right to left and up to down which was different from the way English is read. The other floors had many scenes depicting war. The most impressive piece of art was a room separator or divider that depicted the summer war in Osaka. What was most impressive about this piece was the detail. There were thousands of soldiers each dressed in their clans' respective colors and each soldier was so tiny but when you looked closer you could see an impressive amount of detail. There were screens and videos zooming in on the art piece just to show the complexity of it all. 

From the top of Osaka Castle you could walk around the terrace for views of the city around and the skyscrapers. Osaka felt much like a smaller version of Tokyo with its high rises and giant billboards with massive advertisements.  We spent quite some time at Osaka castle admiring the beauty and learning about the different Japanese rulers. 

For lunch we ate at a cafe I was super excited about - a Ghibli themed cafe! The Ghibli cafe was about a 30 minute walk from the castle and was known as Noodles & Shaved Ice Dogyan. The cafe had Ghibli themed food and normal noodle dishes but what drew most people in was the Ghibli shaved ice. I ordered a curry ramen dish that came with a side of rice. It also came with pork that I immediately removed and gave to Suyi. I accidentally ordered an extra egg but ramen eggs are superior so no complaints. I enjoyed the curry noodles and it was my first time having Japanese curry here. Tasted very similar to the one I make at home! It was so filling but our dessert stomach is separate so we were definitely having shaved ice dessert. I had suggested to Suyi that we share but he wanted something else so we both ordered our own shaved ice. I ordered the Totoro Christmas special while Suyi just got a normal Strawberry one. The table next to us had ordered a Calcifer shaved ice and it had arrived covered with yellow whipped topping on the exterior with shaved ice underneath. It was huge but looked so cute with its little mouth and eyes. Our desserts were also huge when they arrived and Suyis eyes widened as he thought he was ordering a cup of shaved ice. My Totoro creation had a ball of strawberry flavored shaved ice covered with whipped topping and whipped cream at the side. On top Totoro was making a face with a little marshmallow buddy and a Merry Christmas sign. The whole presentation of the dessert was amazing and I am pretty sure I could have spent all day admiring it! The waiter had even brought along all the little Totoro toys to take pictures with as well! The shave ice was divine! The meal may not have been that great but the shave ice 1000% made up for it. As the shave ice melted with the whipped topping it tasted like ice cream! The portion was huge so I had to take breaks in between and munch on the strawberries in between. Definitely one of the cutest spots in Japan for themed food! 

We had time for one last activity so we headed to the Shinseki area where the Tsūtenkaku observation deck was. By now we had seen enough observation decks so we had no interest. We just wanted to see the area and explore the shops nearby. The street leading up to the tower was very well decorated and I am sure at night it comes alive with all of the big neon signs lot up and street vendors selling Takoyaki. It was advertised there was a Pringle store nearby so out of pure curiosity we stopped to see what flavors they had. They had a Takoyaki flavor, Taiko flavor, and a Japanese beef flavored one. Neither of us was a Pringle fanatic but it was fun to see what all combinations they come out with these days. We spent some more time just wandering around and into random shops to escape the bitter cold outside. Of course Suyi saw his gatchapon station and went crazy over them as per usual. 

The train back to Tokyo where we stayed for the night took about 2 hours. We knew for our last meal we wanted to have conveyor belt sushi so I found a place at the nearest station. The restaurant, Rotating sushi Edo Kanda, served so many different options it was hard to choose! They mainly had a ton of sashimi so we ate a lot of fish! After trying what felt like every type of fish from tuna, yellowtail, salmon, scallops, shrimp, and more I decided that the best one was still the salmon. I tried shrimp raw or slightly raw for the first time too! They had whale on the menu but it looked a little terrifying and whale is not considered pescatarian. Overall the sushi was very good quality! Was definitely very pricey and our most expensive meal in Japan! But hey it was our last day!