The Ritz-Carlton Osaka

... Bay of Japan, going through a small gap between two of the main islands with big city lights lighting up the night sky on either side of the boat with those crazy japanese light displays. We`d made it across two continents without a plane!<br><br>The following morning, with me still feeling seasick, we got off the boat in the morning at Osaka, arranged to meet for some drinks with the rest of the boat travellers later that night and headed off to find our hotel. We ...

... Viimeiseen paikallisjunaan kohti Shin-Osakaa ehdittiin juuri ja juuri, aivan täysillä juoksemalla ja aivan hirvittävän pitkältä matka tuntui verrattuna luotijunan 14 minuuttiin. Todellinen Pitkäperjantai. Lauantaiaamuna käytiin katsomassa yhtä Japanin hienoimmista nähtävyyksistä ja aivan pakollinen homma jos Kiotossa vierailet. Nimittäin upea Kinkakujin kultainen temppeli. Kinkakujilla juotiin myös perinteiset vihreät teet, joka on ...

... my anxiety I had almost memorised the lonely planet by the time we left for Japan and decided on a route that would take us through the Kansai area (which is around kyoto). Starting with Osaka an continuing to Nara, Koya-san and Toba. Landing at Kansai Int. (which is on an artificial island near Osaka) we where immediatly confronted with the fact that ...

... in the 60's and 70's, China refused. Finally control passed back to China in 1999. Established as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) like Hong Kong, China brought control to the triad gangs and then removed the monopoly on gambling that existed. With that, casinos shot up, now totaling 14. Out of the ferry terminal, I head up Avenida Do Dr. Rodrigo Rodrigues and turn up the hill towards the Fortaleza do Monte. This giant hulk of stone bricks has views over all the sea ...

... been able to actually visit a few of these places. They offer something the bigger cities don't. And that's, well, I guess... Awesome?<br><br>But first up is Osaka. Its not really a 'small town', In fact, it's the second largest city in Japan. If Tokyo is all bright lights, and Kyoto is all about sophistication, Osaka is about nightlife. Loud, Merry nightlife. Osaka is a Japanese Vegas. Yet it lacks the tackiness associated with Vegas and instead teams up with all things Asian ...

... l tre*sures *nd world herit*ge sites, most of which within the be*utiful N*r* P*rk. The town is *lso, like Miy*jim*, overrun by free ro*ming, docile deer who *re respected by the people of N*r* *nd considered messengers of the Shinto gods. I person*lly, consider them nothing more th*n tot*l dudes. One look *round the p*rk, however, *nd its not h*rd to see why the deer find the pl*ce so *ppe*ling. Despite its *we inspiring n*tur*l be*uty, forested regions home to trees liter*lly hundreds ...

... which you c*n boil eggs in. The *nnoying thing is th*t you don't re*lly get to see the hot springs in their 'r*w st*te' but they *re still quite *we inspiring even if the one with *nim*l's m*de you feel s*d. (Are hippos supposed to e*t pot*toes?)<br><br>To wind things up we found ourselves *t *n Onsen in the outdoor 'Mud b*th'. And it w*s deffin*tely muddy. Although it m*de it * little less *wkw*rd when sh*ring the pl*ce with * whole lot of n*ked str*ngers. Murky ...

... to place their bets on virtual races. There was even a badass little area setup where teenage hipsters strapped themselves into simply immense freaking futuristic pods with a 180 degree screen view and took command of a control center to giant robots hell bent on blowing each other up while others sat around to watch the game on the big screen... and place bets of course. All in all; epic.<br><br>The next day we found ourselves in Beppu, a small, somewhat touristy town ...

... castle in Osaka. When we arrived, we realised it is much more ornamental than Himeji, and less impressive for a defensive fortress so we didn't pay to go in, instead spending our time in a pretty garden nearby. We walked around a lot, and found that these parks have a lot of homeless people making temporary shelters there. It was a bit sad, but they kept to themselves and took care of the stray cats. We couldn't find ...

... from 1st to 5th grade were awaiting us. Japanese Children are very well mannered. I never saw any of the teachers or aids yell or scold, they had no need to. It was a nice change from what I encountered when I did substitute teaching for the same age group back in America this summer. I don't want to give the wrong impression though. There was no sense of unnatural suppression. Their eyes were glowing, they were full of energy and often times they would get so excited just ...