On my last weekend in Japan (more on that later) I was invited to go on a trip to explore Osaka with my friends and their speaking partners. The trip was arranged by the two speaking partners, Kana and Ayumi, and as far as I knew just involved a visit to Osaka Castle, which I was pretty jazzed about after seeing it on some postcards.
Getting to the heart of Osaka involved the train and several subway rides. Once there we got to walk up to the castle through some beautiful park area. Just outside the subway station was a little plant market (see below) that my mom would have loved. If you didn't want to walk up to the castle you could catch a ride on the train--a shuttle designed to look like a train, very cute.
At the entrance to the castle grounds we had to purify ourselves just like we did at the temple in Kyoto. From there you paid your entrance fee, picked up an information pamphlet (available in English and in Japanese) if you wanted, and went on in. The exhibit was designed so that you went straight up the eight flights of stairs to the top first and then worked your way down. The view from the top of the castle was lovely.
The interior of the castle was completely remodeled into a history museum. Visitors walked counterclockwise around each floor looking at the exhibits. The exhibits detailed the history of the castle so far as the battles fought and the family lines involved. It had very little information about what the actual castle itself had been like, which was what I was most interested in. The first few floors were mostly video presentations but were only in Japanese, and they probably had the most pertinent information about what I was interested in. The other exhibits, such as letters, armor, and paintings had written descriptions both in Japanese and in English. Seeing the different armor was very cool.
After going through the whole museum we headed back for the subway and we realized that the castle was only the first stop of the day. Next we headed to the Osaka Bay area. There was a World Entertainment Festival going on with different performers stationed throughout the area, but we didn't stay to look. We went straight to our destination--the Santa Maria. Yes, a Spanish Ship. Complete with Japanese pirates and someone in a cartoon pirate outfit worthy of Disneyland. I was a little confused that we were there, but apparently the Santa Maria is a popular Osaka Bay attraction. We boarded the ship and it set sail. The ride was very nice in and of itself. A little while into the ride, Sarah and I noticed one of the pirate fellows stealing passengers away to another deck of the ship so we went to see what was going on. They were picking volunteers to participate in their little show--battling against the pirates and other little tasks. All over-dramatic and very cute. Following the pirate show was a magician! A Magician! On a boat! In Japan! I was so excited that my group humored me and we actually went down to the lower deck to watch up close. The magic was little league stuff of course, but I was happy nonetheless. His last trick was particularly impressive, but I won't bore you with the details.
After the Santa Maria, we went in search of food. This is the point where the trip got ridiculous. The food court at the Bay Area was very crowded so we decided to go elsewhere. We ended up in the major shopping district Shinsaibashi. Once there no one would make a decision about where to eat so we wandered around for a long time. We finally settled at an Udon shop. As you know, I'm not a big fan, but I was so tired of just walking around that I didn't put up a fight. I just got tempura and enjoyed myself anyway.
After lunch we were supposed to go to Osaka Tower, but Sarah and I were tired and I was worried about getting back to the dorm in time to finish packing, so she and I begged out and headed back. We were very proud of ourselves for being able to navigate the subway and train to get ourselves back to Hirakata. All in all, it was nice to spend the time with the group, especially my friend Sarah, I will miss her.
*photos courtesy of Dustin Heinrich
