Tokyo and Osaka

As I type this, we are now sitting on the shinkansen from Osaka to Hiroshima, so I thought it might be a good time to catch up a bit. While still in Tokyo we visited the Currency Museum, which told us all about the history of Japanese currency, and how it has been more than a little unstable over the years. We then went to the Tokyo National Museum, which was full of all sorts of Japanese relics throughout the ages. Luckily it also had English translations, which meant we could actually read what they were about. There was quite a variety of exhibits, ranging from pottery to swords, art and poems to hair pins. We even got to make our own postcard by stamping pictures on a blank card. 

 Some awesome Chinese zodiac-animal warrior statues

 Gorgeous pottery

 The detailed back of a mirror

 Japanese sword (I think this one was a katana)

 Part of a screen painting

The next day was Lauren’s birthday. We decided to go out together to the Museum of Nature and Science, and it ended up being quite fun. They had a lot of hands-on exhibits, and although there wasn’t an awful lot of English, we could still understand most of it. At one point we were staring blankly at a rather odd-looking clock, and then the museum attendant came up and explained to us that apparently in the old days the Japanese counted time in certain measures (kind of like an ‘hour’ to us) but that during summer, the ones during the day became longer, and during the night they became shorter, and vice-versa during the winter. This was to compensate for the fact that days are longer in summer and so on. He also then explained that the time would start from ‘9’ (at noon) as 9 was considered a lucky number. It would then go up by multiples of 9 (18, 27, etc) but that they would drop the first digit so it became 8, 7, etc. This is why the numbers appear to be counting down.  It would then restart at midnight. This photo shows the clock as it would appear at the height of summer.

There was a great exhibit full of hands-on science stuff which was heaps of fun, where you played with mirrors and magnets and weights and fans... The place was full of school children too, and they must have been given an assignment to interview English speakers, as we would be approached by groups asking “Do we have some time?” and then we’d answer questions about what our favourite Japanese city was, what food we liked, what sport we like, where we are from, and so on. They were really cute though, and we’d have to write our name in their books to prove they had spoken to an English person. Once we’d been discovered by one group though, word must have got out as they just kept coming. It was fun though, so we didn’t really mind.

 Lauren as a kawaii bunny (although these rabbits were a bit scary-looking)

 Tiny little crabs

 Me with the 'magical leoplurodon' as Lauren and I dubbed it

 Having melon crushed iced for lunch! (Cute school group with matching green hats behind)

 Wild animals in the Japanese Forests exhibit!

Humungous (and I mean it - look at that door frame on the side) skeletons

 The King

 Lily pads in a huge pond we found in Ueno Park (outside the museums)

 Shrine in the middle of the pond

 Some flowers nearby the shrine

Just a side note – the shinkansen is going under quite a few mountains on our trek, but it is messing with my ears a bit. The tunnels are building pressure, which isn’t really that fun, haha.

For Lauren’s birthday dinner we went out and had Japanese BBQ, where you cook your own meat. We ordered a large plate of all sorts of meat cuts, and a okonomiyaki pizza, and several other delicious dishes. It worked quite well because we could chat and eat slowly, cooking bits of meat at a time and trying the other things as they came out. I also had a bottle of hot sake, which was really nice. 

 The battle for the best bit of meat has begun!

 A sample of our dishes (with the BBQ in the middle)

Then it was time to say goodbye to Tokyo and hello to Osaka. The shinkansen ride was smooth and quick. The train tends to average speeds of about 250km/h, and the countryside rockets past pretty quickly. There are plenty of mountains around that it goes through, and they are quite beautiful, and as far as I have seen, rather untouched. Every inch of flat ground is used by people, either with rice paddies or buildings, but the mountains are green and full of trees. 

Osaka felt very different to Tokyo. It feels more friendly in a way, and bustling. There are people on bicycles absolutely everywhere, and traffic men indicating when to cross the road (“Hai dozoooo!”) It’s quite a bit warmer though, and fairly humid. Having grown up in a city with almost no humidity though, I quite feel it. I’m anticipating Hiroshima to be worse. Anyway, Craig and I went walking through the streets of Osaka City, as our hotel was right next door to the main shopping area. There are many, many restaurants selling okonomiyaki (vegetable pancake with meat/seafood topping and heaps of mayo hehe), takoyaki (octopus dumplings) and crab dishes. We stopped and had okonomiyaki for dinner, which was delicious. There also seems to be a giant undercover mall that seems to go forever. We started walking down it, and kept going… and going…. but we never found the end. We also visited a traditional Japanese sweets shop, and bought a couple of manju to try (sweet dumplings with a coarsely textured filling). 

Osaka at night

Our accommodation at the hotel was a more traditional Japanese styled room. When we arrived, we found it to be floored with tatami mats, and furnished with a low wooden table, cushions, and a tea set, ready with hot water. At night time they would come and bring out futons for us to sleep on. I really liked the feel and character of the room, although the super-thick cushy futon quilt covers were a bit much with the heat and humidity. Luckily there was an air-conditioner in the room, otherwise I wouldn’t have got any sleep. It took me a while to sleep anyway though, as it was quite noisy (I’m used to silence at night), so I only ever managed to sleep after I put in ear plugs.

 Craig checking out the new room

 Side view

On our first full day in Osaka we went to Osaka Castle. The gardens around it were quite lovely, and the castle itself, even though it’s only really a rebuilt replica, was very grand. The inside was a giant museum, through which we learned all about the history of Osaka Castle and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. 

 Osaka castle

 View from the top (with one of the roof decorations in view)

 Part of a model battle inside the museum

In the evening, we decided to try a udon-noodle making course we found through the hotel. One of the hotel ladies, Mayumi-san, was very kind and offered to walk us there as it was a little hard to find. When we arrived, it turned out Hiro-chan, the owner, couldn’t really speak English, so she offered to stay and translate for us, which was super nice. The evening was so much fun, as Hiro-chan was a humorous and friendly host, and demonstrated the process before letting us try. First you had to knead the dough with your hands, then roll it out into a square shape, first with your hands and then with a giant rolling pin. Both Craig and I were only successful in making ours triangular, but it still worked. Then you had to fold it ‘like a futon’ and then cut it into strips before grabbing the ‘tails’ of the noodles and shaking them straight and separating them. Afterwards, he cooked our noodles for us, so we got to eat the first lot out of a giant pot that we would then dip into our own little bowl of broth, and then he brought out a fantastic curry udon dish, which tasted amazing. 

 Craig with Hiro-chan

 Me attempting to make udon noodles

 Me with Hiro-chan

 Craig, Mayumi-san and I

The next day we went to Osaka Aquarium. It was pretty fun seeing all the different fish, dolphins, sea lions, otters and jelly fish. There were heaps of sharks and rays, too. Afterwards we went to the shopping mall nearby and found a shop full of pretty Japanese-themed goods. I bought a hat and a tenugui cloth, which I’m sure I’ll show you at some point when I wear it.

 Jellyfish tentacles

In the evening we met up with our new friend Mayumi-san (from the hotel) again, and she took us out to a game arcade. If we had these in Australia, I would be a frequent visitor. We got a 90 minute pass and were let loose into the arcade. There were floors of games. We played heaps of arcade and video games, and then also some table tennis, air hockey and even had a shot on the rodeo bull! There were other things like tennis, bowling, darts, and so on you could play too. Afterwards we went out for dinner to a ‘garlic’ restaurant, and ordered heaps of delicious food, such as a spinach salad, pumpkin soup, crab pasta, steak chunks and garlic bread which consisted of a huge, tall chunk of bread smothered in garlic that you had to mush the garlic down into with your fork. Then we all had dessert, for which I got crème brulee. The whole evening was a lot of fun, and we are so thankful for everything Mayumi-san did for us. It felt great to find a new friend!

This morning we got up early to check out of our hotel, but left our bags behind and went to the Transportation Museum. It was full of heaps of info about trains, complete with compartments from different trains through the eras, and some info on planes, ships, motorbikes and cars, too. It was really interesting, but again, full of children. I was glad I had Craig with me, as he was able to explain quite a bit of the technology to me, since I’m pretty clueless when it comes to trains and transport. I had forgotten to put the battery in my camera though, from when I charged it last night, so I couldn’t take any pictures. 

And now here we are, on the shinkansen to Hiroshima. I hope we find our hotel alright, it’s right near Peace Park so we should be Ok. We’re planning to visit Peace Park and the museum in it for one day, and go down to Miyajima Island for the other, as we’ve heard it’s very good. It’s hard to believe it’s only been just over a week since we’ve arrived here as we’ve done so much! But it has been a lot of fun, so I’m looking forward to what’s to come! Speak soon. :)