Osaka - city of shopping and cool

07.05.2008 -17 °C

Took the shinkansen (Nozomi) from Tokyo station to Shin-Osaka (2.5 hrs on a bullet train!). Once we got to the Shin-Osaka train station, we had to navigate our way to the subway with 2 pieces of luggage and catch the Midsoduri line about 7-8 stops to Namba station. Going to look into the luggage forwarding service for the next couple legs of the trip..
We're staying at the Cross Hotel right in the Namba area (amazing hotel and location), about 2 blocks from Dotomburi - this whole area is filled with tons of shopping and boardwalk-like walks with lots of neon signs and huge plastic models (of octupus, clown faces, etc..) on the fronts of the restaurants. Great place to people-watch and nice and lively at night. There's also a big hostess-bar type area one street away running parallel...jokes.
Tried the Okonomiyaki (like a pancake)..not a fan...similar to the Takoyaki tried earlier..
Floating Garden Observatory (Umeda Sky Building) - this Umeda Floating Garden Observatory is a doughnut-shaped structure in between two towers, about 45 floors up. Close to the top, you take a glass elevator up and then a glass escalator to see 360 degree views of Osaka. About 700 YEN (7 CDN) to go up the building towers.
Standard business wear for Japanese women - black suit with above-knee skirt, white shirt with collar butterflied out...seriously we saw so many of them today and Japanese men in fitted black suits, white shirt and tie. Saw a ton of these at the floating garden office towers..
Day trip to Himeji Castle (as seen in The Last Samurai) - WOW. Actually i don't even remember this in the movie but this castle is about 6-7 floors up and towers over the city of Himeji. You have to remove your shoes when going up the main tower and step on classic nightinggale floors that creak when you move abruptly on them (sort of an early alarm system for intruders...). It is a 400-yr old castle that has never been destroyed in any wars and thus is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Rinku Premium Outlets - lol, yeah we had to...about 30 mins by local train, close to Kansai airport. Lots of unique stores and the usual brands but the funny thing is that i am an XL (usually) in Japanese sizes, so it was pretty hard to try anything on..hahah. What's great is that each store has it's own style and after a while, it actually gets a bit tiring/overwhelming to see new store after new store and thinking what the heck is 'in' and what is 'out'? Overall, it's easy to see why Japan has a huge variety of fashion and wearing absolutely anything (or combination thereof) can work and nobody gives anybody weird looks about what they're wearing...and trust me, we've seen some off-the-wall stuff already..now if only i can sneak a pic of them lol.
Namba Parks - very cool modern shopping centre that is connected to Namba station and Swisotel Osaka. Will be going back there for sure to check out some stores. The usual stores like Diesel and even Onitsuka Tiger are very well laid-out and everything is in perfect order. Oh boy, might do some damage if we go back..
Checked out a local pub next door, Pig and the Whistle - very english-style pub and funny because it had lots of non-Japanese guys with Japanese girls there. One thing about Japan, and i asked the bartender, is that there is NO tipping. So a pint of beer cost me 700 YEN (7CDN) and it works out the same as in Canada!