Day 2: Namba-Yasaka Shrine, Arcade and more

08/23/2023

konban wa together,

Today we slept in and got up at 7am. To all those who are now wondering about this time, because otherwise you wouldn't actually see us before 12 p.m., don't worry - we're fine. The fact that we were up so early was very positive, because when we set off at about 8:15 to look for breakfast, there was hardly anyone on the street, except for a few people who were cleaning the street.

For breakfast we both had an onigiri, Moritz a sandwich and pineapple, and for me a really disgusting bread with lots of mayonnaise and corn (please don't ask what I was thinking, I don't understand it myself), apple and an orange juice. That only cost 11€ together with a large bottle of water! Since you are not allowed to eat on the street here, we went back to the room and strengthened ourselves there.

The plan for today was to discover Dotombori shopping street, visit the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living and a shrine.

First we drove to Namba to see the Namba-Yasaka Shrine. Before that we had to teach ourselves the temple etiquette and the washing ritual, which worked out quite well in the execution. In the shrine is a huge lion's head with its mouth open, meant to devour all that is bad so that only good remains. The bad feelings from my corn mayo bread were gone right away.

From the shrine we continued to the metro station. Before that we made a quick stop at 7/11 to get an ice cream and we set ourselves the goal of speaking Japanese with the Japanese. Yesterday it was too uncomfortable for us (today actually too), but you have to go out and learn new things. Luckily you can see that we are not from Japan and therefore the nice salespeople are able to accommodate us in terms of language.

In the Osaka Museum for Housing and Living, an old village from the former Osaka is recreated with all its shops and trading places. You could also rent a kimono, a traditional Japanese garment, but we didn't do that. There was a second exhibition about the Tenjin Festival and its origins, but unfortunately everything was written in Japanese, so we didn't understand that much. Google translator was used here.

After the museum we took a look at a Japanese supermarket. The fruit is really expensive here. 2 very nice looking apples cost 3€ / 500 yen here, grapes 4.5€ / about 750 yen.

The heat, getting up early and all the walking made us (actually just me) very tired and we went back to take a little nap. At 5:00 p.m. we got up again and got ready to go shopping/walking around.

We found our way into a well air-conditioned metro station that doubled as a shopping mall. There were so many great things here. Clothing, stationery, anime merch, food and much more could be found here. I would have really liked to have bought some stores empty, but the thought that we are actually adults (at least on paper) and don't need 3000 new stuffed animals in the form of fish, vegetables or dinosaurs held me back.

Especially for Hannah there would be a lot of nice things here. Maybe next time I'll just pack them in my suitcase.

Then we went to another shopping center, where there was an arcade on the 6th floor! But first we went to eat at an Indian place (what else should you eat in Japan?). Here, too, all the employees were very friendly and we got along quite well with our broken Japanese. But now it should go to the arcade. That was a fun. We also spent some time here. There were various devices such as claw machines, drum games, games of chance, toy machines and much more that you could try here. Luckily we're both sensible people and didn't leave all our money there.

I now have a cute squid charm and a purse that looks like a ramen wrapper. Moritz and I played two rounds of air hockey and Moritz then played two rounds of Taiko No Tatsujin.

Then we started our way home around 10:15 p.m. and walked a bit through the city. Coincidentally, we arrived at another small temple where we saw a few cats. But we weren't there for too long because Moritz was soaking wet and exhausted and it slowly started to rain.

Have seen enough for today. With 23,000 steps I think we were quite good at it.

Tomorrow we want to look at the Umeda Sky Building, the Osaka Castle and in the evening we are in a digital museum.

Now it's time to rest and cool down.

Thank you for reading and see you later!

Greetings to all :)