Willows and Castles

For our last full day in Japan (😢) we got the train over to Osaka Castle. We visited in last time although I remember it was an overcast day so it was beautiful to see it on a perfectly clear day. 

It is basically located in the middle of the city, but surrounded by some parkland and water. In spring the cherry blossom trees grow, but we got to see many trees turning orange and red which was beautiful. We even saw some willow trees - quite fitting next to the castle!!

Willows and Castles

It was first built in 1583 but was then destroyed in 1615 so they rebuilt it in the 1620s but then it was struck by lightning and burnt down in 1665. The poor old Osaka Castle couldn't catch a break. So they finally rebuilt it again in 1931. 

So we wandered around the grounds for a while, which were lovely. And then we went on a big long walk back towards the area where our apartment is. It was such a long walk that Willow fell asleep on the walk, so we looked for a place to pull in for lunch. I think we were stuck in a bit of a business area so we didn't just stumble across many places to eat like we normally do, but we found a station which are always filled with places to eat as they are like underground cities themselves. So we found one, but there was zero English written and virtually zero English spoken, but we just pointed to the fake plastic meals out the front like at every other restaurant. It was fine, but not our finest meal in Japan, although it was definitely our cheapest haha!!!

After lunch we wandered all the way back to the apartment, along through Shinsaibashi-Suji shopping street, passed Dotonburi, and back for some brief chill time before heading back to Dotonburi for the last time 😭. Of course we went back to the riverside bar with the coloured tables, and Willow's friend was working again so she got some more presents - another little ring that flashed coloured lights and a glowing necklace! What a lucky girl!

We wanted our last dinner to be a winner, so we looked up Tripadvisor for good restaurants nearby, and we were only a stone's throw from the top-rated restaurant, Hokuto Gems Namba, which was on the 7th floor of a non-descript building so we never would have just stumbled across it. This place specialised in sukiyaki, which we actually hadn't had on the trip yet. So we had a selection of different thinly sliced meats and vegetables which we cooked ourselves (with a bit of help) on the shallow pan on the table, then you dip them into a frothy broth of beaten raw egg (which was actually delicious), as well as a pot of melted cheese, like a fondue. Yum!!

Cheese fondue?!

Frothy raw egg

Willow had chicken and chips

So after our last night in Osaka, and Japan, Willow had a sleep-in while Ryan went out to get some chicken and rice, and we packed up and checked out right on 10am on the dot. Over to the subway, we got on a pretty crowded train with all our luggage, but it was fine, and soon enough we were at Shin-Osaka station. We had a coffee and snack at Dean and Deluca, then onto the shinkansen for a quick trip back to Tokyo for our flight home that evening.

We got off at Shinigawa station, which is another city within Tokyo, and pretty close to Haneda Airport. So we found a locker for our luggage so that we could find somewhere for a late lunch without too much hassle. Ryan got to have one last eggs with rice dishes, and I had some gyoza and dumplings. We then found an outdoor bar and had a drink to kill time until it was time to head to the airport on the subway. 

Check-in was quick and easy. Haneda airport is huge, and it's not even Tokyo's main international airport! So big in fact that we got a bit lost trying to work out where immigration and security was, but we finally did, and after a hug between Willow and the security lady, we found an izakaya/restaurant just next to our gate. One last meal (a simple raw tuna and rice dish for me which was actually delicious) and Willow finally conked out.

Unfortunately she woke up before we boarded with all the movement, but we had good and comfortable seats ad Willow was happy watching her own little TV. She watched Toy Story 4, so there she was at about 1am, with most of the rest of the cabin asleep, exclaiming "You can do it Woody! Yee-haaaar!". And that about sums up the trip :) It was awesome.

The deer of Nara

Tuesday we got off to a bit of an earlier start so that we could go to the neighbouring city of Nara, which in fact was only one 40 minute express train away. Nara was actually Japan's first permanent capital city, in the year 710 (!), before which the capital used to be moved to a new location whenever a new emperor ascended to the throne. There are many temples and shrines, but what attracted us to the area is that the park areas that surround them are full of (mostly) tame deer!

We arrived in Nara at around 10am, and after a short walk we approached the parkland area and sure enough, we soon started seeing deer everywhere. You are only allowed to feed them the special deer crackers that are sold at little drink shacks dotted all around the place. A couple of Japanese women gave Willow a couple of crackers to hand-feed them herself, which she loved, as it tickled her hand. The deer were all quite interested in anyone that had crackers in their hand! We stayed very close, because the deer are not small and you never know what might happen, but on the whole they were remarkably tame.

Sure enough Willow wanted to feed them her own packet of deer crackers. What amazed me, was that all the crackers being sold at the shacks were just out in the open, in plain sight, but the deer would only approach someone with crackers once they had been purchased. Quite some special deer!

And they are - historically they were deemed as messengers of the gods and are still considered sacred. The deer even sometimes bow to people - I saw it. One deer stood in front of Willow and nodded/bowed its head three times. A couple of other times I saw a Japanese woman bow to the deer before presenting a deer cracker and the deer, a wild deer, would bow back. Despite the swarms of tourists walking around that the deer are exposed to on a daily basis (and ignoring the fact that one eager deer nipped Ryan on the butt), it was hard to witness that and not realise the place felt special. 

The surrounds were filled with various beautiful shrines and temples, and gardens with the leaves turning different shades of red and orange. It was soon beyond lunch time, so we headed back through the parks, back past all the deer, and sure enough Willow fell asleep so we found a restaurant for a late lunch. It was actually more of a mix of a Japanese/Chinese place, but we were starving and got to have some ramen, gyoza and fried shrimp. 

After lunch we got the train back to Namba/Osaka, and had a quick refresh in the apartment, before heading back to, you guessed it, Dotonburi - and the riverside bar with the coloured tables! Willow was disappointed that her friend who gave her the toys last time wasn't there though. Deciding where to go for dinner, we agreed that we had loved Gyozaoh a couple of nights before and had wanted to try some more stuff, so we went back!

The famous Glico man

One of the chefs remembered us (well Willow really) which was sweet. And we had another awesome dinner - this time we tried some (very) lightly seared beef. So tender - delicious! And some more takoyaki of course, and some karage, tempura and gyoza. Yes, we should probably go easy on the fried foods when we get home!!

Towers and ferris wheels

Monday morning started off overcast, with some showers forecast, so we set off with raincoats and umbrellas at hand. We walked to nearby Kuromon Ichiba markets, a large covered market selling all kinds of things including a lot of fresh produce - heaps of beef and shellfish and everything in between!

Kuromon Ichiba markets

After a quick coffee it looked like the rain was going to hold off after all so we walked down to another area called Shinsekai, which literally means "New World", easily recognisable by the tall Tsutenkaku tower  (the Eiffel tower of Osaka, apparently).

We wandered around the vibrant town lined with colourful shops and restaurants. The food that is tipica de la region here (within this particular town within Osaka) is kushikatsu, which are various skewered, battered and deep-fried meats, seafood and vegetables. Then we went up the top of the Tsutenkaku tower, which was a funny place indeed! You enter via a studio where there was a small audience watching a man doing tricks with a monkey. You then buy a ticket and enter a small round elevator up a couple of floors to a corridor lined with those capsule machines (capsules with little toys in them - they are everywhere in Osaka and Willow always wanted something from them, so this was not ideal!). So after getting our photo taken, which we then politely declined to buy even though they said how wonderful we looked, and then went up the long elevator ride up to the top, which had a movie playing of the tower exploding out of the earth to the theme of 2001 Space Odyssey. Hilarious!

 So we made it to the top which had a fabulous 360 degree view of Osaka, another sprawling metropolis. Once we had done a circuit, the only way out was to take the stairs down one level, to where you reach a sign saying not to walk down any more stairs as you would have to walk all the way to the bottom and it is just too far. Another option for them would have been just to rope off the stairs because if you didn't read English or Japanese you may not know to stop walking down the stairs.

So down one level, there was another 360 degree view of Osaka, but this level was filled with disco balls and playing loud techno music. So another loop, and then down the long escalator, playing another funny video, and you are ejected into a long winding maze through propoganda for Glico, a Japanese confectionary company, famous for Pocky and for the running man advertisement above Dotonburi, and various other souvenirs. So we sped through there before Willow could focus on anything for too long, and eventually managed to exit the tower. What a strange and funny place!

We then set off for some lunch, so found a place nearby for some kushikatsu! Accompanied with some chicken and rice for Willow, and some takoyaki octopus balls of course! Pretty good! And then we set off back on the walk home towards Namba, where Willow fell fast asleep, so we went back to the apartment for a bit for some chill time.

It gets dark pretty early since they're heading into winter, by 5pm, so we headed over to Dotonburi and since we love viewpoints from towers and ferris wheels so much, we went on the ferris wheel outside the Don Quioxte shop (a massive multi-level cheap shop selling absolutely EVERYTHING). This ferris wheel is a rectangle shape, and only reopened last year after being defunct many years, so I didn't even know it actually was a ferris wheel until I realised it was moving. It was pretty fun in those multi-colour pods, and although we had to buy Willow a full-price ticket (amazingly, Willow has been free for everything else (all the attractions and trains, even Disneyland and the shinkansen) it was pretty fun going vertically up above the city with all the sparkly lights.

After the ferris wheel, we went to a restaurant around the corner, which was probably a bit of a tourist trap, but it was some yummy food and Ryan ventured into trying some beef and horse sashimi (which we both had tried during our last visit, but I avoided it this time). As always, the staff loved Willow and she got a little toy camera as a gift, just for being her cute self.