Part 2 (really... parts 3 and 4) of Osaka
09-09-08 Osaka Jyo, Willy, and Karaoke
We all slept in until almost noon, which was fantastic, and then got ready and headed down to the station to head to Osaka Jyo (Osaka Castle). On the way we stopped and got some Ramen, the real stuff, and it was delicious. A gigantic bowl of noodles, nori (the seaweed strip), pork, and a few veggies all sitting in a light pork broth. It was one of those things that once it was empty you were stuffed, but still sad you had to stop eating it. Then, after a quick stop to get some Takoyaki we headed off towards our destination. The castle itself sits in the middle of a big park, aptly named Osaka Jyo Koen (Osaka Jyo... guess... Park!). It was a beautiful park even though there was quite a bit of construction going on. We climbed some stairs and crossed the outer moat towards the castle. We took a seat to enjoy the Takoyaki we had picked up. The best way to describe these is to say a doughy ball with little bits of octopus here and there, all covered with something that was green (not exactly sure what kind of veggie it was), mayo, and fish flakes (very thinly grated bits of fish skin, tasty thinly grated bits of fish skin). After devouring the food we continued up along the path. The second moat is crossed along the main bridge and through the Sakura Mon (Sakura Gate). Right through the gate as you walk in, is the largets stone that was used in the construction of the castle. It is part of one of the walls and is freaking gigantic. I got a picture of it and had to back up a ways to be able to fit the entire side into the frame.
Climbing the steps to the castle door was great. This was the first castle I have made it to and it did not disappoint. The elevator took us to the fifth floor and we climbed up a couple flights to get to the top observation deck. It is the wrap around walkway that goes around the top of the castle and it give an amazing view of the surrounding park and city. Even though the castle has been reconstructed and repaired throughout the past few hundred years, it is still impressive that it could have been built so long ago. We worked our way down to the bottom, floor by floor looking at all the scrolls, books, paintings, statuettes, suits of armor, and models that were on display. The quality of craftsmanship of much of the items was amazing. I especially loved all of the old block printed books they had. Most of them were accounts of the life of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the guy who got Osaka Castle built (took power after Nobunaga Oda and was followed by Tokugawa Ieyasu). Turns out he was the son of a poor peasant family, and was sent off to study at a monastery while still young. He wasn't the most well behaved of students, and eventually ran away after the monks were thinking of sending him home. Eventually he came to Nobunaga Oda and begged him to employ him, and thus slowly worked his way up from the job of carrying Odas shoes to him in the morning. One of his more impressive, earlier achievements came after a battle where a castle belonging to Oda had come under siege. The repairs had been taking days, and were not completed even after over ten days of reconstruction. After hearing
Hideyoshi repeatedly complain about the speed of repairs, he appointed him in charge of it all. He grouped the workers into teams and pitted them against each other and the repairs were done within three days. Needless to say, the guy was pretty good at what he did. As we left the castle we picked up some ice cream in the plaza in front of it. I got so Macha Mikusu (macha, the thick green tea flavour, and half vanilla), Bryce got a chocolate mix (and the chocolate was really rich and delicious) and Akiko got some Osaka Miruku (apparently Osaka is known for this milk flavour, which is basically a heavy cream which one might think only existed in dreams).
We then made it over to Kotoen to meet up with another old friend of Bryce, Willy. He met us with his two daughters Tiffany (3) and Miley (9 months) and we all walked over to his house where we were soon joined by his wife Miho. We ate dinner of quiche, cornbread, salad, rice, avocado chips, and some chicken veggie dish), which was quite tasty and quite a surprise of what it was. Afterwards, we had some donut/custard dessert that we brought with us for them, and then sat around and talked for a while. Well, I was talking when I wasn't being led off by Tiffany to play, or when chasing after her bouncing a Pink Panther inflated ball that was attached to a ring sized loop by a rubber band towards her. A few hours later, we thanked them for the wonderful time and Willy and Tiffany walked us back to the station. Once we got back to Juso we packed up our beer and whiskey and headed off to Karaoke.
It was a flat 1300 en ($13 roughly) for “free time” (otherwise it is a charge by the hour) for our room where we began to sing to our hearts content while enjoying our drinks. We started around 11 or so, and didn't stop until something around 5 a.m. It was kinda crazy that so much time just flew by, but it was a lot of fun even though there were just the three of us. So, once we had to leave we wandered back to the hotel and passed out until 10 when we had to get ready to leave. Check out was at 11, which was hard to come to terms with after being out so late, but we got our stuff together, checked out and headed off for our last destination before going back to the Shinkansen Station.
10-09-08 Mino
This entry really begins with the end of the last one, since they really did blend together. But either way this is where I am beginning to type. We hopped on the trains towards Mino, a place famous for a waterfall that is in the nearby mountain. I love traveling in the trains that go along the surface, through the town, rather than the subway. Not just because I get to see the town fly by as I move through it, but also because of rail road crossings. I love hearing the dinging of the bells as it slowly comes into hearing, and then fades off behind me. We walked up into the town, checked a map, and meandered uphill towards the Taki (waterfall). The trek there was just about as amazing as the actual waterfall. The entire path winds its way up into the mountains along the side of the river through a most beautiful forest. The forest is known for a specific kind of tree and the leaves are called Momiji. During fall months the vendors along the way will actually take the leaves, batter and fry them up to sell. It was really a gorgeous day for the hike, and I really can't see it getting any better unless it was raining (and that would just be an entirely different kind of wonderful). Birds were chirping all throughout the forest and some little fish were here and there in the river. At a few points we actually saw a few gigantic Koi fish that were at least a couple feet long, and two were well over that. We stopped to stare at them and pose our shadows on the river for some pictures, and then headed back along the trail. Somewhere around halfway we stopped at a small restaurant that was owned and run by a lady and her mother. Had some fantastic Sansai Udon for myself (noodle dish with lots of tasty mushrooms and veggies, literally “Mountain Vegetable Noodles), Bryce had some curry rice, and Akiko had some other noodle dish that the lady had recommended. After that we got a dessert of a clear starchy noodle-type thing in some black syrup with a little momiji leaf in it. We downed the dish and I munched on the leaf (which tasted like green) before we headed back up the trail.
The rest of the trail continued on its beautiful way through the forest, with little brooks and pools along the path of the river. After a little while we made it to the end and got to enjoy the waterfall in all its beauty. There was also a place where the path stretched down into a shallower, rocky part of the river and I got to wade into it after a few hours of wanting to just jump over the barrier to take a swim in the beautiful water. I will say though, as pretty as the waterfall was my favourite part about it all was the hike up to it. The forest is truly gorgeous, and it is somewhere I could see myself living and wandering around on weekend mornings for year after year. So, after a few minutes of taking it all in we meandered back down the path. I took a little trip on a side path that looped around a little hill and back and got a few pictures of a little rock house shrine.
It was sad to say goodbye to the mountain, and a bummer that we had to leave Osaka so soon, but I will say that it is nice to get back to Tokyo. I am really looking forward to my time here, and still have moments of joy when I remember where I am. After enjoying some snacks and some ramen after returning to Akiko's house we played some Mario Kart and then I wandered off towards my computer to check my email and whatnot before going to bed. It was a good end to a fantastic trip. Someday I will get back there of course, since I still need to skip over to Kyoto and Nara, two of my main destinations during my time here. For now, my mind has gotten tired from so much typing, and I bid these pages farewell.
I have another couple entries set up already, but I will update them tomorrow sometime. Probably during the day, and then I will type something up about the Matsuri (festival) that I am going to see tomorrow and post it Sunday or so.
We all slept in until almost noon, which was fantastic, and then got ready and headed down to the station to head to Osaka Jyo (Osaka Castle). On the way we stopped and got some Ramen, the real stuff, and it was delicious. A gigantic bowl of noodles, nori (the seaweed strip), pork, and a few veggies all sitting in a light pork broth. It was one of those things that once it was empty you were stuffed, but still sad you had to stop eating it. Then, after a quick stop to get some Takoyaki we headed off towards our destination. The castle itself sits in the middle of a big park, aptly named Osaka Jyo Koen (Osaka Jyo... guess... Park!). It was a beautiful park even though there was quite a bit of construction going on. We climbed some stairs and crossed the outer moat towards the castle. We took a seat to enjoy the Takoyaki we had picked up. The best way to describe these is to say a doughy ball with little bits of octopus here and there, all covered with something that was green (not exactly sure what kind of veggie it was), mayo, and fish flakes (very thinly grated bits of fish skin, tasty thinly grated bits of fish skin). After devouring the food we continued up along the path. The second moat is crossed along the main bridge and through the Sakura Mon (Sakura Gate). Right through the gate as you walk in, is the largets stone that was used in the construction of the castle. It is part of one of the walls and is freaking gigantic. I got a picture of it and had to back up a ways to be able to fit the entire side into the frame.
Climbing the steps to the castle door was great. This was the first castle I have made it to and it did not disappoint. The elevator took us to the fifth floor and we climbed up a couple flights to get to the top observation deck. It is the wrap around walkway that goes around the top of the castle and it give an amazing view of the surrounding park and city. Even though the castle has been reconstructed and repaired throughout the past few hundred years, it is still impressive that it could have been built so long ago. We worked our way down to the bottom, floor by floor looking at all the scrolls, books, paintings, statuettes, suits of armor, and models that were on display. The quality of craftsmanship of much of the items was amazing. I especially loved all of the old block printed books they had. Most of them were accounts of the life of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the guy who got Osaka Castle built (took power after Nobunaga Oda and was followed by Tokugawa Ieyasu). Turns out he was the son of a poor peasant family, and was sent off to study at a monastery while still young. He wasn't the most well behaved of students, and eventually ran away after the monks were thinking of sending him home. Eventually he came to Nobunaga Oda and begged him to employ him, and thus slowly worked his way up from the job of carrying Odas shoes to him in the morning. One of his more impressive, earlier achievements came after a battle where a castle belonging to Oda had come under siege. The repairs had been taking days, and were not completed even after over ten days of reconstruction. After hearing
Hideyoshi repeatedly complain about the speed of repairs, he appointed him in charge of it all. He grouped the workers into teams and pitted them against each other and the repairs were done within three days. Needless to say, the guy was pretty good at what he did. As we left the castle we picked up some ice cream in the plaza in front of it. I got so Macha Mikusu (macha, the thick green tea flavour, and half vanilla), Bryce got a chocolate mix (and the chocolate was really rich and delicious) and Akiko got some Osaka Miruku (apparently Osaka is known for this milk flavour, which is basically a heavy cream which one might think only existed in dreams).
We then made it over to Kotoen to meet up with another old friend of Bryce, Willy. He met us with his two daughters Tiffany (3) and Miley (9 months) and we all walked over to his house where we were soon joined by his wife Miho. We ate dinner of quiche, cornbread, salad, rice, avocado chips, and some chicken veggie dish), which was quite tasty and quite a surprise of what it was. Afterwards, we had some donut/custard dessert that we brought with us for them, and then sat around and talked for a while. Well, I was talking when I wasn't being led off by Tiffany to play, or when chasing after her bouncing a Pink Panther inflated ball that was attached to a ring sized loop by a rubber band towards her. A few hours later, we thanked them for the wonderful time and Willy and Tiffany walked us back to the station. Once we got back to Juso we packed up our beer and whiskey and headed off to Karaoke.
It was a flat 1300 en ($13 roughly) for “free time” (otherwise it is a charge by the hour) for our room where we began to sing to our hearts content while enjoying our drinks. We started around 11 or so, and didn't stop until something around 5 a.m. It was kinda crazy that so much time just flew by, but it was a lot of fun even though there were just the three of us. So, once we had to leave we wandered back to the hotel and passed out until 10 when we had to get ready to leave. Check out was at 11, which was hard to come to terms with after being out so late, but we got our stuff together, checked out and headed off for our last destination before going back to the Shinkansen Station.
10-09-08 Mino
This entry really begins with the end of the last one, since they really did blend together. But either way this is where I am beginning to type. We hopped on the trains towards Mino, a place famous for a waterfall that is in the nearby mountain. I love traveling in the trains that go along the surface, through the town, rather than the subway. Not just because I get to see the town fly by as I move through it, but also because of rail road crossings. I love hearing the dinging of the bells as it slowly comes into hearing, and then fades off behind me. We walked up into the town, checked a map, and meandered uphill towards the Taki (waterfall). The trek there was just about as amazing as the actual waterfall. The entire path winds its way up into the mountains along the side of the river through a most beautiful forest. The forest is known for a specific kind of tree and the leaves are called Momiji. During fall months the vendors along the way will actually take the leaves, batter and fry them up to sell. It was really a gorgeous day for the hike, and I really can't see it getting any better unless it was raining (and that would just be an entirely different kind of wonderful). Birds were chirping all throughout the forest and some little fish were here and there in the river. At a few points we actually saw a few gigantic Koi fish that were at least a couple feet long, and two were well over that. We stopped to stare at them and pose our shadows on the river for some pictures, and then headed back along the trail. Somewhere around halfway we stopped at a small restaurant that was owned and run by a lady and her mother. Had some fantastic Sansai Udon for myself (noodle dish with lots of tasty mushrooms and veggies, literally “Mountain Vegetable Noodles), Bryce had some curry rice, and Akiko had some other noodle dish that the lady had recommended. After that we got a dessert of a clear starchy noodle-type thing in some black syrup with a little momiji leaf in it. We downed the dish and I munched on the leaf (which tasted like green) before we headed back up the trail.
The rest of the trail continued on its beautiful way through the forest, with little brooks and pools along the path of the river. After a little while we made it to the end and got to enjoy the waterfall in all its beauty. There was also a place where the path stretched down into a shallower, rocky part of the river and I got to wade into it after a few hours of wanting to just jump over the barrier to take a swim in the beautiful water. I will say though, as pretty as the waterfall was my favourite part about it all was the hike up to it. The forest is truly gorgeous, and it is somewhere I could see myself living and wandering around on weekend mornings for year after year. So, after a few minutes of taking it all in we meandered back down the path. I took a little trip on a side path that looped around a little hill and back and got a few pictures of a little rock house shrine.
It was sad to say goodbye to the mountain, and a bummer that we had to leave Osaka so soon, but I will say that it is nice to get back to Tokyo. I am really looking forward to my time here, and still have moments of joy when I remember where I am. After enjoying some snacks and some ramen after returning to Akiko's house we played some Mario Kart and then I wandered off towards my computer to check my email and whatnot before going to bed. It was a good end to a fantastic trip. Someday I will get back there of course, since I still need to skip over to Kyoto and Nara, two of my main destinations during my time here. For now, my mind has gotten tired from so much typing, and I bid these pages farewell.
I have another couple entries set up already, but I will update them tomorrow sometime. Probably during the day, and then I will type something up about the Matsuri (festival) that I am going to see tomorrow and post it Sunday or so.