Rainy Day at USJ – April 30th, 2013

The 29^th of April and the 3-5^th of May are Golden Week here in Japan. Golden Week is the time of year where are few different holidays occur following each other, so most people take the whole week off. So I was happy to have a nice beak from work for a week.

I decided that I was going to take a trip to Osaka to go to Universal Studios Japan. I invited my JT Yuko to come with me and she agreed. So on the 29^th of April we took the ferry across the Seto Inland Sea to Osaka. The ferry ride was ok, if not that comfortable for sleeping.

We arrived in Osaka at 6:30am on the 30^th and it was raining. I knew that there was a possibility that it could be raining, but that it would likely stop by noon. We waited on the boat until 8:30 and then caught a bus to USJ.

After getting into the park we both purchased ponchos to keep us dry, I picked the snoopy one and Yuko the Elmo.

We also picked up the fast pass, which was great for getting on the rides a little faster. It was really great for the Hollywood Dreams – Backdrop, because the line up was a 200-minute wait.

I also was able to meet Ernie, my favourite Sesame Street character. And Yuko's favourite cartoon the Pink Panther.

The rainy weather meant that there weren’t that many people at the park. The fast pass still came in handy, but we were able to go on all the rides at least 2 times without having to wait for too long.

Hollywood Dreams.

My favourite ride was the Hollywood Dreams roller coaster. They are currently doing a Backdrop, which is where the coaster goes backwards instead of forwards. I rode the ride 4 times, twice forwards and twice backwards. I also heard that had we come the day before they closed the Hollywood Dreams ride line at 11am because the line up was a 7-hour wait.

Still the scariest movie creature ever.

There are two rides that I had gone on when I visited Universal Studios Florida – they were the Jaws boat ride and the Back to the Future ride. All the others were different.

Heading into the Jurassic Park

After going on the rides, we also went to do some shopping. Well not a lot of shopping mostly just looking at the numerous stores and seeing the different movie labelled products, like food and treats.

Dino Bacon

Spider-MEN... playoff of the word ramen

Jaws Headband

An hour and a half before we had to go I decided to ride the roller coaster one last time. It was just as fun as it was all the other times, but then we had to run to catch the bus back to the ferry port to catch the ferry home. That was exhilarating.

Overall it was a great day at USJ and I had a lot of fun.

March Adventure Day 5: March 9th, 2013 – Osaka

My last day with Mom and Donna was our most relaxing of all the ones that we spent together. It was the only day that I didn’t have anything set in place for us to do. It was a going to be a day for Mom and Donna to choose what they wanted to see.

We ended up spending the last day in Osaka, shopping and then visiting the castle. It ended up being quite a warm day and so we were able to ditch our jackets and spend the Saturday in the sun.

After our late start in the morning I took the ladies to the famous Shinsaibashi shopping street. It was great because it was right next to our hotel. Even though we had a late start we were still there before all the shops opened. So we walked south down from Shinsaibashi station to the Dotonbori Canal where we got to see the Glico Candy running man sign.  After snapping a few photos we turned around and headed back up the store-lined street. We did stop into a couple of the stores and I was able to add a few new clothing pieces to my wardrobe.

After our shopping excursion we grabbed a bite to eat and then returned to the hotel to decide what we were going to see next.

After a little bit of a rest we made our way to Osaka Castle. We started at one end of the castle park grounds. In the heat of the day children were out and playing in the fountains, some people were enjoying ice cream but everyone was out enjoying the sun on a lazy Saturday.

As we were walking I noticed a crowd of people by a fence and I was intrigued as to what they were looking at. So I made my way over and saw what was a field filled with plum, cherry and apricot blossoms. It was beautiful even from a distance to see the sea of pinks and white. We decided that we would see the inside of the castle first and then take a stroll though the grove.

The castle was quite full. When I got to the top to look out at the city I could hardly find a spot to look out. We didn’t spend too much time inside the castle, just took a look out at the city and then made our way back down the stairs, stopping every once and a while to read up a little on the castle.

Osaka Castle from the grove.

From the castle we made our way back down to the plum tree grove. Seeing cherry blossoms is nothing new for me, as we have a cherry tree in the back yard, but seeing so many together in one place was quite beautiful. The garden was full of people milling about or taking photos of the pink and white blossoms and some even were sitting under the trees enjoying a bite to eat. The whole grove was quite astonishing, though I can imagine it to be even more beautiful when the petals begin to drop and gusts of wind blow them up like small bursts of snow. Cherry Blossom time is a great time to be in Japan.

We had gotten our fill of blossom and then decided that it was a good time for dinner. Heading back on the subway we made out way down close to the Namba area. Here we had our last dinner together in Japan and we decided on yakiniku. Yakiniku is Japanese or Korean style bbq, where you cook the meat and veggies yourself. We got a huge platter of meat, enough to satisfy our hunger. The restaurant we went to was somewhere on Sennichimae-dori between Nipponbashi and Namba subway stations. The style of the restaurant was done to reflect Japan of the 1930s and the atmosphere and food were delicious.

When we had eaten our fill we made the walk up from Namba to our hotel. It was a nice way to enjoy seeing Osaka at night and in one of the busiest areas of the city.

The next day was saying our goodbyes with Mom and Donna heading back to Toronto and me back to Niihama. Overall it was a great mini vacation and I had a wonderful time, sharing with my Mom some of the parts of a country that I have truly come to love.

March Adventure Day 1: March 5th, 2013 - Kaiyukan - Osaka Aquarium

When I found out that my Mom was coming to visit me in Japan I requested time off from work to show her around. The next few entries are going to be about the short break she spent with me.

The first day was March 5^th. Mom and her friend were getting in later in the evening, so I had the day to myself to explore. I decided that I was going to visit the Osaka Aquarium.

I got to the aquarium a little late in the afternoon and spent a few hours enjoying the peace and calm of the place.

The outside of the Aquarium

The entranceway to the main part of the aquarium is a water tunnel holding a few small sharks, rays and fish. It sets up the atmosphere of the aquarium quite nicely.

Water Tunnel

 The animals that are shown in the aquarium are Pacific based animals. Which is nice because many of the aquariums that I have been to displayed animals from the Atlantic Ocean. The aquarium goes through the Japan forest and then through other Pacific coasts, the Seto Inland Sea, Japan Deep and in the centre the Pacific Ocean.

The first few displays are of animals that can live both on land and spend time in water. It starts of with Asian small-clawed otters and Giant Salamanders. The otters were quite cute in their little tree as well as diving in and out of the water.

The next displays were the Sea Otters, Seals and Sea Lions. It’s hard to capture a picture of some of these guys as they glide through the water.

The next little section was that of the coasts along Panama and Ecuador. Here there were monkeys, Iguanas, fish and even a Capybara.

From there it was my favourite display. The Penguins. The group was having “lunch” so they were all out on the rocks waiting to get some fish. It also meant that there was quite a crowd in front of the glass. There were a mix of King and Gentoo penguins and I stayed and watched them for a while.

It was the happy Pacific White Sided Dolphins next. They were having fun and even playing around with an orange ball.

Two of the interesting tanks were the one for the Seto Inland Sea and Deep Japan. Both of these tanks were cool because they displayed the animals that live close to Japan. The Inland Sea display was very informative, seeing as Niihama is on the coast of the Inland Sea. The Japan Deep had the giant spider crabs, which are scary looking things. There was a little fight between two and one kept his spot on the top of the cage.

Crab Fight

The real draw of the aquarium is the Pacific Ocean tank. A giant tank in the centre that can be viewed as you walk through. Inside the tank there is a whale shark, Manta Ray, Blue Fin Tuna and a few other rays and sharks. It’s quite a sight to behold as all these animals circle and swim. I ended up finding a spot to take a quick break and watch the fish swim. It was relaxing and a great place to think.

I quite enjoyed my afternoon at the aquarium.

Upcoming – Day 2: Nara and Inari.
As always more photos on my FB page!

Kyoto, Nara and Osaka – Decemeber 29th/30th/31st, 2012

After a long drive from Nagano we made it into Kyoto. Kyoto is my favourite city in all of Japan; I fell in love with it during my previous trip to Japan. This time however we didn’t get to see as much of the city or the surrounding castles or other historical sites. This was because we got into the city later in the evening and the next day we were leaving to visit Nara.

Our evening in Kyoto was nice. We were very close to the famous Gion district where you may be lucky enough to spot a geisha, so we took a nice walk in the area and had a delicious dinner. We then walked on to the main shrine of the area. The Yasaka Shrine sits at the end of Gion and the busy street leading up to it was built up to accommodate the many visitors to the shrine. Inside the shrine grounds there is a centre building that is surrounded by three levels of paper lanterns. After our evening walk we headed back to the hotel.

Green Tea Mousse

The next day we woke to rainy weather, which continued all the way to Osaka. Before leaving Kyoto we went back to Gion to do a bit more shopping. After finishing with the shopping we got into the car and headed an hour south for the city of Nara.

On my trip to Japan 3 years ago the best day that I had was the day trip out to Nara with my friend Alex. It had been something that I had wanted to see after learning about Japanese Buddhism in school. Nara was once a capital of Japan and a major centre of Buddhism. So on this trip we made another stop there.

The city is famous for the deer park in which shrines and one of the world’s most famous buildings. The central thing to visit at the park is Todaiji Temple. This temple is the world’s largest wooden structure and within the structures is a giant seated Buddha statue. This statue is larger than the one in Kamakura and unlike Kamakura you cannot enter the body – they do though have a pillar with a hole carved in it with the exact size of the statues nostril. Seeing this Buddha was just as awe inspiring as it was the first time and I was happy that I made another trip here. The one thing that I hope is on my next visit it won’t be raining.

From Nara we made tracks to Osaka. Osaka has quickly become a favourite place of mine in Japan (the train station at Umeda is my favourite place to be). We got into Osaka later in the evening and checked into what has been the nicest hotel during our trip. If you ever get to Osaka I recommend staying at the Hotel Monterey Osaka-Umeda. Being in the Umeda area we went into the Osaka Station City and had dinner at one of the department stores there. I wish that we had had more time in Osaka, but seeing as I will be here for at least 6 more months I know I will be going back to explore more of the city.

Check back for the next update when we see a little bit of Hiroshima and maybe some New Year’s Eve Festivities.