Japan: Tennō-ji

Tennō-ji is one of the more dated areas of central Osaka. It’s where you go to see the weirder people of Japan’s second city apparently, although there didn’t seem to be many of them hanging around on Sunday afternoon.

The main attraction is quite hard to miss - Osaka’s answer to the Eiffel Tower: Tsūten-kaku.

It was built in 1912, then rebuilt in 1969. This was once the heart of the city, but now it’s surrounded by seedy Pachinko (gambling) parlours and the like.

There was one shop that caught my eye though. They offered to buy my muscles from me, but then realised that their storage area wasn’t big enough. 

Japan: Viva Cerezo!

I was lucky enough to get to see a top-flight Japanese football game at the weekend: Cerezo Osaka v Nagoya (Gary Lineker’s old team). It was actually a really entertaining game and the atmosphere was way better that I’d anticipated.

The match was played in the 20,000 seater stadium on the left, right next to the ground where England played Nigeria in the 2002 World Cup.

Osaka ended up winning 2-1, but the Nagoya striker hit the bar from about ten yards out with pretty much the last kick of the game.

The only downside is that they play in pink…

This was the atmosphere as I walked in about 20 minutes before kick-off. I had to laugh during the first few minutes when the Osaka fans started singing “here we go, here we go, here we go.”

One of the best tackles I saw all night, glad I got it on video!

Japan: Well's Café

I came across something very interesting and unexpected today about 15 minutes walk away from where I’m staying – a British café.

It’s part of a garage just off the road which specialises in Minis and other British cars and it’s run by a couple who are in love with all things England. Unfortunately they don’t speak a word of the Queen’s.

The café itself is in this small wooden hut…

It’s quite surreal inside. Everything has a British theme, but there’s no consistency at all. For example, they had a wartime propaganda poster next to empty Tesco egg boxes from their 2011 visit to London.

I soon forgave them though when they gave me the best pot of tea I’ve tasted since leaving home over a month ago. I don’t know whether it’s because I’ve forgotten what good tea tastes like or what.

Japan: Umeda

A bad thing happened…

Yes, last night was the night I discovered the Irish bar. I felt terrible when I woke up, but with Sunday being my only day off I figured I really should make the most of it, so I went off to another part of central Osaka: Umeda.

The underground station in Umeda doesn’t feel like an underground station at all. There are no hobos, it’s clean and there’s even a water feature (and no, a man peeing up the wall at Kings Cross doesn’t count as a water feature).

I saw this building next to the station. Space must really be at a premium if they’re building around train lines.

A little way down the road is the Umeda Sky Building. It’s fairly new and fairly weird. The thing that looks like a crane in the middle is actually a fire-escape – I think I’d rather die than have to tackle all those stairs.

There’s also a ferris wheel mounted half-way up a building…

…and a bar with a Nazi chicken as its mascot.

As if the Irish bar wasn’t enough already, I came across a German bar too. At roughly £7 a pint, this could be an expensive couple of months coming up.

Japan: Barbecue Time

I was invited by my new co-worker, Rob, to a barbecue on Friday. It was a national holiday in Japan called “Kempō Kinem-bi” (constitution day), so the place was packed. We headed down at about 9am and I watched Rob wrestle with a gazebo in the wind before he gave up and we started grilling.

The top priority was to claim the beach in the name of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, naturally.

After we’d finished turning Osaka’s beach into a British protectorate, we got to priority number two: liquid refreshment.

People started turning up during the morning so we got to the grilling. Only in Japan would you find rice on a barbecue.

Rob’s baby boy had started to attract a group of nearby girls, so I didn’t realise that my face was slowly being cooked by the sun. I think, having spent most of my life in Hull, I was so shocked to meet girls that could hold a conversation (even in their second language) and not be total über-mega-slut-bitches that I forgot to put on sun-cream. Here’s looking at you Annie Sarj! (There, I’ve mentioned you, now stop bugging me about it!)

Our multi-ethnic barbecue posse.

The strange thing about Japan is that they don’t have a daylight savings time like we do in the UK, so it gets dark at about 6pm. Brilliant sunsets though!

After a full week of sightseeing it was nice to have some time to relax. I met some new people, both Japanese and Western, and I achieved a sun-tan level that can only be described as “bronze”.  Back to work on Monday unfortunately though!

Japan: Kōya-san

Perched high up in the mountains about an hour away from Osaka is a small town called Kōya-san, which is home to a large Busshist temple complex founded in the 9^th century.

The road to Kōya-san is steep and winding, but the scenery is absolutely amazing.

 

We arrived and found a parking space next to a cemetery, so we went in to have a look. Every plot belongs to one family and a memorial is added for each new family member that dies. The wooden blocks in the background represent people whose memorials have had to be removed to make space for new arrivals.

Nearby we found this thing. I’m not sure whether it was a grave or not.

It’s customary to throw water onto these statues apparently…

…I don’t think I’d mess with this guy though, so I didn’t bother.

Around the corner was possibly the coolest memorial I’ve ever seen. Some Japanese guy obviously thought “screw tradition, I want a space rocket as a grave.”

Near to the graveyard was the temple complex itself.

This huge wooden temple is the main attraction in Kōya-san…

…I felt I had to violate the “no photographs” rule to get a snap of this.

We finished off the day with a nice lunch in a local restaurant - tempura shrimp with rice and seaweed, pickled cabbage and miso soup.

Japan: Osaka Aquarium

Supposedly one of the best in the world, Osaka aquarium is located in the port area of the city. I’m not generally a fan of aquariums and zoos – I think once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all, but this one was actually quite impressive.

The main building.

And the giant Ferris wheel behind the shopping centre opposite.

You enter the building through the middle of one of the fish tanks…

…and you come out into a forest area full of things that live in Japanese rivers.

There’s one huge tank in the centre of the building with sharks and all kinds of other fish in and you work your way down a gentle slope with other tanks and displays around the outside. Rather than upload all 50 pictures I took of the various fish, I’ll just do a few.

These are sardines and anchovies – good in a tank, but probably better on a pizza.

An Octopus…

…and the café next to it serving Octopus dumplings.

Huge crabs.

They even had a tank for humans!

Of course, what aquarium would be complete without penguins?

You could even touch a stingray or shark if you felt the need to.

Japan: Kitanoda

During my first week here I’ve been living with my boss and his family in an area of Sakai City called Kitanoda. Because of the threat of earthquakes here people tend to knock down and rebuilt their houses quite frequently, and like a car in the UK, every house will begin to depreciate in value as time goes by. A lack of space means that houses are also quite small, so the suburban landscape is totally different to any I’ve ever seen.

I had a spare couple of hours the other day between lessons, so I went out for a walk and took some pictures. Here they are!

Garbo. I’m guessing it doesn’t sell cheap Estonian beer like the one in Hull.

The local bread shop - they don’t have Kingsmill, I asked.

A Kitanoda street. I have to violate the “never walk over three consecutive drains” rule quite frequently here.

I can see mountains from the road – quite a change from living in Hull.

These people obviously didn’t get the memo about rebuilding their house.

Kitanoda apartments.

If “Nishikawa” translates as “the nude” then I’ll be frequenting this alley very often.

Typical Japanese house with cherry blossom tree.

Choose your starter Jeff!

Local advertisement for the school.

The order of the day is lines, squiggles and dots apparently.

Nearby apartments and the main road.

I thought these were Hugo Boss vending machines at first, but apparently it’s coffee!

Cheap petrol - ¥149 is just under £1.

I’m hoping to get some proper exploring in the centre of Osaka done next week, and maybe a trip out of town, so watch this space!