Osaka weekend

It may have come to your attention that I have not posted anything in the last week - apologies.  Here in Japan it is what's known as Silver week - two three day weekends in a row, meaning a working week of only three days :)

Currently it's Saturday on the second of these long weekends.  Last weekend we headed up to Osaka on the shinkansen.  It's funny, we always assume there will be plenty to do in cities.  Then we remember that a) their shops usually sell things we can't fit/don't use, b) we don't understand the signs on any tourist attractions/places we bump into and c) there is only a finite amount we can eat.  Well, that Jeff can eat :D

However, we tested the limits of how much you can eat (apparently it's the done thing in Osaka!), trying butaman (steamed pork buns), Osaka-style okinomiyaki (cabbage pancake), takoyaki (octopus balls), omi rice (omelette with rice), pumpkin flavoured icecream, 'Freshness Burger', frozen yoghurt from Partyland yoghurt store and, er, Subway. 

Our hotel turned out to be a worry from start to finish.  I had booked online, but when we got there they had no record of my booking.  I wanted to jump online and print off my booking info so I could show them, because I was concerned about double booking and they had my credit card details.  However, the computer in the lobby wasn't working and we hadn't brought our own with us this time.  Throughout this, the minimal English spoken by the staff made things more difficult (usually in big cities hotel staff speak English, we have found).  After a lot of hassle they finally got us booked into a room and took our luggage. 

When we returned that evening to actually check in, we went up to our room and were hit with the stench of old cigarette smoke.  We went back downstairs and insisted on a NON smoking room!  Although the room was even smaller than the smoking room, which in turn was smaller than any previous Japanese hotel room we have stayed in, we settled in for the weekend. 

That evening, tired from the day's travel and walking in the heat, we got our takoyaki and took it back to our room.  We figured we could watch a movie on the entertainment channel while we ate dinner and relaxed in our 'huge' bed.  You may see where this is going but... our 1000 yen card for the entertainment channel allowed us access to three porn channels and one fuzzy music channel featuring J-pop.  Awesome.  So... the front desk got ANOTHER visit from the annoyed foreigner, demanding money back for the crappy pay TV card!

The next morning we headed out to the Osaka aquarium, excited about seeing the resident whale shark.  Ah, foolish foolish tourists.  Midday on a long weekend in Silver week?  What were we thinking??  We spent what seemed like days (but was probably the best part of an hour) queuing up outside in the hot sun (we are talking well over 30 degrees here) before we even got in the door.  Inside was only better because there was shade - we were still crushed on all sides by children, parents, grandparents and strollers.  Jeff was still getting cranky with people pushing him and I was still moaning about the sweat trickling down the back of my legs. 

BUT the good news is that by the time we reached the whale shark in all his awesomeness, the crowd had thinned out some and we had plenty of quality viewing time.  Also, less publicised but equally exciting, was the huge manta ray also gliding around the tank.  They were both truly amazing. 

While we were watching them, a diver came into the ray tank to handfeed some of the smaller fish, sharks and rays in there.  Although the manta ray didn't seem interested, there were two huge stingrays that were very, very interested in him (or her?).  They both had a diameter the length of the diver and he spent his whole time pushing them away, trying not to be a stingray sandwich.  With the limited visibility provided by goggles, he wouldn't realise where they were until a flipper kicked the ray beneath him and the tip of a wing caressed his face from above.  The way he pushed them off was like a teacher scolding well-meaning but boisterous children.  You could almost see him clucking his tongue. 

Other exciting moments at the aquarium were seeing sea otters (huge!), dolphins (bit sad in their small pool) amd, our personal favourite, watching huge deep sea crabs fighting.  Jeff alerted me to it by telling me to 'go and watch War of the Worlds over there'. 

So we learnt two important lessons.  Moral one: don't go to big tourist attractions on national holidays.  Moral two: but if you go to Osaka, you must visit the aqaurium.  Even if it is a national holiday. 

Now it's lunchtime and time for us to prepare our supplies for watching the game.  Yup, I am actually going to watch a rugby game of my own free will.  Well, I think I will watch it.  I intend to watch it.  Maybe I will read a magazine while I watch it... we will see.  But being overseas while all the World Cup hysteria goes on has made us rather homesick, so we have beer and chips and WILL watch the game! 

Hope you are all doing well and - for the people back home - enjoying the rugby madness!!