Springtime in Japan is very much like springtime in the United States, often rainy and unpredictable. We visited Japan in early April and for the first half of the trip the weather was mostly cloudy with spurts of sunshine. After Kyoto, we spent one full day in Osaka during which we experienced our first truly rainy day...and then some.
We took an early bullet train (Shinkansen) from Kyoto (read about Kyoto Day 1 and Day 2) to Shin-Osaka. We chose to stay in Shin-Osaka because the Shin-Osaka station connected to more major cities than Osaka. Our hotel, just a short walk from the station, stored our bags for us until we checked in later that day. Read my trip advisor review about the Honkan Shin-Osaka Station Hotel. Overall, for being one of the most inexpensive hotels we stayed at ($70/night) we thought the value was fantastic!
Unlike Kyoto, our JR rail passes worked perfectly everywhere in Osaka. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we took the train one stop from Shin-Osaka to Osaka. Umbrellas in tow, the rain cleared a bit as we approached Osaka castle. Japan rebuilt Osaka Castle in 1945 after being completely destroyed during World War II bombings. You can see from my pictures what a dreary day we had. In my picture album, I have these pictures below beside a postcard of Osaka Castle with trees in full bloom beneath a cerulean sky.
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| Osaka Castle |
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| Osaka Castle |
After the castle, we took a walk through Shitennoji Park then found ourselves some delicious seafood pasta for lunch at a small cafe. As we walked through the streets of Osaka we noticed the skies becoming increasingly unfriendly looking. Armed with only tiny umbrellas, we knew this would do us no good against the wind gusts. Suddenly the heavens opened and torrential rains came down from the sky. We first took cover under some tori gates of a temple. After about 20 minutes, an elderly Japanese lady came out and wanted to close the gates. Unable to communicate, she made some sort of gesture implying that we were welcome to stay after she closed the gates, but we politely bowed and took our leave. Our second place of shelter was under the awning of a Japanese nursing home. We stood there with several others for about 15-20 more minutes (all the while the rain was pouring as heavy as ever with insane wind gusts) until a large bus pulled up and started unloading residents as if returning from an outing. Between the all of the staff helping the residents and the barrage of wheelchairs and walkers, we took our cue and continued on. The last place we hid was under the awning of an apartment building (getting completely soaked each time we ran from cover to cover). The high winds deemed our umbrellas completely useless. As we stood there, we chatted a bit about how few people we saw on the streets. Where did everyone go? Why weren't there more people running and hiding under protective covers like ours? As the rain let up a little bit, my husband recommended making a run for it to try and find the nearest train station. Like Tokyo and Kyoto, he suspected that Osaka too had an entire underground world beneath the city. We didn't even run for a few minutes before we found the entry to the subway. And sure enough we discovered a shopping complex of gigantic proportions. One could walk from station to station completely connected by underground tunnels with restaurants and boutiques for one's convenience. So THAT'S where everyone went! Smart! :-)
*One side note about the rain storm. We saw images of the storm on the news that evening. Apparently we weren't the only ones who couldn't use our umbrellas. The evening's feature showed pictures of the city streets with hundreds and hundreds of discarded umbrellas stacked in piles. No horrible crime, political scandal, or social unrest...not in Japan...just umbrellas. Lots and lots and lots of umbrellas (opened umbrellas at that) left by citizens and tourists trying to escape the unexpected monsoon-like storm.
After the weather cleared and we dried off a bit, we made our way to Dotonbori Street near Namba. A street only for pedestrians, Dotonbori had restaurants, all manner of shops, and Pachinko parlors (aka enormous multi-story arcades with games ranging from ski-ball and pac-man to actual gambling games).
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| Dotonbori Street, Osaka |
Dinner that evening was the most unfortunate of the entire trip. Compared to our delectable, traditional Japanese dinner the previous evening in our Kyoto Ryokan, our dinner in Osaka was barely edible. Our method of ordering usually consisted of pointing to pictures on the menu, pointing to plastic food displays in the front (which were surprisingly elaborate and accurate) or on the rare occasion, the waitress either spoke a little english or brought us english menus. In Osaka, we simply pointed to pictures in a completely Japanese menu. I thought I simply ordered a bowl of ramen with an egg and some pork strips on the top, and this is what they brought me.
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| Ramen dinner in Osaka |
The first thing that struck me as unusual was the fact that the main dish came in a metal bowl. Strange right? After proving myself a true tourist by photographing our dinner, I saw something else that caused some alarm...condensation on the outside of the bowl. Condensation?! Maybe it was just wet from being clean or something, right? Fearing the worst, I placed my hand out the outside of the bowl and then pulled in back in absolute horror. The bowl was...COLD! Cold? COLD!?! Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. Just because it was cold didn't mean it was bad, right? Nope. Not only was the entire dish cold, it was....wait for it...pickled! The broth had a strong vinegar base consistent with the pickled vegetables they served us at almost every meal. It really was one of the most disgusting things I've ever eaten. My husband graciously shared his dinner with me and attempted to eat my pickled ramen, but even his iron taste buds could only stand a bite or two.
After dinner we made our trek back to Shin-Osaka and called it a night. We spent two nights at the Honkan Shin-Osaka Station Hotel in Shin-Osaka but only one day in Osaka itself. On our second full day in Osaka, we took a day trip to the nearby town of Nara. What started off as a sunny, mild day, became blustery and quite unpleasant as soon as our train arrived in Nara. It only took us about an hour by train to get there, and we still greatly enjoyed the day despite the chilly, windy weather.
Positively, the most remarkable thing about Nara was all of the tame deer. In the eastern United States where I'm from, we're certainly no stranger to deer, though they're mostly jumping in front of cars or dashing away from you if you get within 25 feet of them. Nara deer were not afraid of people or cars. In fact many street vendors sold deer "cookies", and you could see the deer casually walking all over the city. For someone from the mid-Atlantic region, this sight baffled and amazed me.
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| Feeding the deer some "cookies" |
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| Tame deer walking the streets of Nara |
The chance of seeing tame deer enticed us to spend a day in Nara, but the temples intrigued us too. We started at the Kofuku-ji temple, but scaffolding covered the main part of the temple as part of an ongoing restoration project. I loved the Toda'ji temple that housed the giant Buddha. I took some pictures of the funny, poorly translated signs (which are everywhere in Japan and make up 2 full pages of my scrapbook) and then we walked across the yard toward the entrance.
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| Toda'ji Temple, Nara |
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| Giant Buddha in Toda'ji Temple, Nara |
The picture doesn't do justice to the true size of this magnificent statue. After the Toda'ji temple, we walked around and saw some more shrines, enjoyed some hot tea in a strange but warm and cozy rest station, and found ourselves some delicious hot lunch in a small cafe. Our friendly waitress spoke surprisingly good english and helped us learn the difference between a few food items which helped ease our food ordering in the future.
After lunch, we walked around a few more shrines and found a covered shopping street with a fun 100Yen store (the equivalent of a dollar store in the US). We got Y420 worth of yummy snacks, enjoyed some confectionery refreshments at a Mister Donut and then made our way back to the train station. We stopped first at Osaka and spent some time in a multi-level shopping mall before heading back to Shin-Osaka. Multi-level shopping malls are everywhere in Asia. The mall is often at least 7-10 stories high with a specialty item on each floor like electronics, apparel, cosmetics, etc. Then they usually have at least one or two lower levels with prepared food and grocery items. We often found our breakfast for each morning in these mega shopping malls.
Our next morning had a super early start, so we grabbed a quick noodle dinner (hot this time) in Shin-Osaka and turned in by 8pm. A super high speed train the next morning took us to Hiroshima, the site of the first atomic bomb. Look for my Japan Part V blog coming up next for a most bizarre experience that still baffles us to this day. Until then friends thank you so very much for taking a few moments of your time to read about my silly adventures abroad.
Thanks for reading!
- Foxy the Traveler
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