30/03/18 I want to see the castle of Osaka, and on my way, I quickly stop by the Pokemon centre, which is a big shop for Pokemon merchandising. It is located on level 8 of a massive shopping centre which has at least 13 floors, it is like Myer, just bigger. I thought of buying something for my brother, but as he turned 30 last year, he probably won’t enjoy a yellow Pikachu underwear or cute key ring anymore, so hopefully I will find something else in Tokyo. I also cross the patch of Hello Kitty in kimono (specially dedicated to Sia, if you read me).
The castle is close to a train station, and the park surrounding the castle is amazing. In Osaka, the cherry trees have fully bloomed and the wind makes the leaves fly like in the manga movies. Beautiful! I can’t stop taking pictures of the trees and pathways. There are many people coming here for picnic under the white pink trees and enjoy the view of the castle, the biggest I have seen so far. I stopped and dare to eat some street food, takoyaki, little balls made of wheat flour with octopus bits and other things I could not name, I taste a bit of ginger. It is quite soft and gooey, a local favourite. Then I explored the castle, well equiped for the tourists, as there is a lift that only goes up, little souvenirs shops and a toilet on level 2 (which was quite reassuring as my stomach started to feel weird after the street food). In the castle, there are 8 levels in total, with history, stories and objects from the construction of the castle, legends and tragic faith of the multiple families who took possession of the castle over time. As Japanese and modern as it can be, they have 3D animations to follow if you want to hear and watch the full stories. They light up the trees around the castle in the evening but I don’t plan to be around long enough, so I go back to the hotel to add a few layers on, change shoes before going out to explore Dotombori, famous for night life activities and restaurants. It is a very busy area, around 1 main street, full of lights and ads everywhere. I stop by a sushi train restaurant and queue outside for 20 min, as the queue didn’t move much I gave up and found a little authentic restaurant further, which is cheaper than the main street. The menu is translated in English which is quite handy, even though sometimes you still don’t know what you eat (‘fried hormone’ anyone?). I rely on things I recognise, like chicken, crab meat and edamame (soy green beans).
It is not too late yet, so I decide to explore the streets around, and I stop by a big movie theatre building. As I feel quite cold (it is about 9 degrees at night) and I haven’t spent too much today, I get a ticket for the Black Panther, the latest Marvel Comics movie. The movie was better than I expected, and I walked fast on my way to the hotel to stay warm.
31/03/18 Today is Universal Studio theme park! 2 trains to get there but it only takes about 1/2h. There is a ‘Universal city’ made of duplicates of American buildings and streets even before you reach the park entrance. The 1 day ticket is not cheap (¥7900) but the park is big, well maintained and full of fun attractions. The good thing about visiting alone is that you can take the dedicated queue for singles, which typically reduces your waiting time at most attractions by at least 25%. The longest I wait was 1h, where some queues warned me about 2h wait. I did most of the high speed and thrilling ones and I must say, the park from my home city, which has good reputation is Europe, has a lot to learn from it! The crew organisation, special effects (4D theatres, virtual reality rides, etc) were really bluffing, and the effort in the details to make everything look real was beyond my expectations. The only down size is that all visual and audio tricks are in Japanese only, which is why I focused on the rides rather than the shows. I made an exception for the Sailor Moon show, as I used to watch it when I was young, and the show was exclusive to the Universal Studio park of Osaka. It brought back memories! I wish they used the French track from Club Dorothée so I could have sung along, but it was cute to see the Japanese singing in the queue. The Minions were also everywhere, on tickets, merchandising, cups, even pizzas and they have their own dedicated area in the park. Morgane B you would have lost it there! ? There is also an area on Harry Potter (extra ticket) but I had enough return value for money by riding on all sorts of rides based on movies and games like Jurassic Park, Final Fantasy or Spiderman. Funnily enough I didn’t even feel too old in the park, as there were attractions for everyone.
You are not allowed to bring your own food so I had to spend more than budgeted on 2 slices of pizza, you don’t bother looking for healthy food in a park like this one, where sugar is king. And I just could not resist having a crepe on my way back to the train station, at least this one was almost warm.
