We woke up today at around 6:30. It was really difficult waking up Nolan, Tristen, and Malachi, because they had been playing cards through the night. When they finally did wake up, we all got ready, as we had a big day planned. First we would visit the Osaka Castle, and then we would go to eat at the Kuromon Ichiba Market. Afterwards, we planned to visit the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. We got dressed, ate breakfast, and headed on our way.
Osaka Castle / History
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| Otemon Gate |
At about 8:00, we got on a cab to the Osaka Castle, and we arrived after a 12 minute drive. We entered at the Otemon gate. It had two large pillars holding up the roof, and was connected to sections of the castle wall. It was built in the traditional Japanese Koraimon style. The path leading up to the gate was a bridge over a moat circling the castle, and it was lined with trees.
Afterwards, we visited the Osaka-Jo Tamon-Yagura, Sengan-Yagura, and Inui-Yagura. All three of these were turrets, facilities used for surveillance and defense. All three were tall and built in the traditional style. We checked out the Ensho-Gura storehouse next, which was a building used to store gunpowder. It was extremely cramped, and there was barely any room at all. When we went in, Nolan started coughing, and he only got better after we left. Does an allergy to gunpowder exist? Afterwards, we backtracked and visited the Nishinomaru Garden, a large open garden area in front of the Ensho-Gura storehouse. It was beautiful, with cherry blossom trees and wide open spaces of nature. It had a stream area nearby, and it was very peaceful and enjoyable. It also overlooked the actual castle, and we got a really nice view of it.
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| Nishinomaru Garden |
After visiting the Nishinomaru Garden, we looked at the Rokuban-Yagura, which was another important turret. By now, we had past our starting point, the Otemon Gate, and were making our way to the actual castle we saw earlier. We also looked at the a remnant of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji. This was the fortress of the IkkÅ-ikki (leagues of warrior monks and commoners who opposed samurai rule). The Osaka Castle was built on the ruins of the original Ishiyama Hongan-ji. We then headed to the Sakuramon Gate, which was built in the same Koraimon style as the Otemon Gate. This was the main gate that led to the inner portion of the castle grounds. It got its name, Sakuramon (literally meaning "cherry gate"), from a line of cherry trees planted in the late 16th century. After passing under the Sakuramon Gate, we passed the Former Osaka City Museum and the Kinzo Storehouse. The Former Osaka City Museum was built as the headquarters of the Imperial army of Japan until it was bombed in WWII. It was converted into a police office and then a museum, until it was closed permanently. The Kinzo Storehouse was built to store gold and silver coins kept in Osaka Castle. We began to climb the stairs to the entrance of the main castle. Halfway up the stairs, a platform was laid out with the Kimmeisui well roof, which covers the Kimmeisui well. The well is the same well that existed when it was built in the 1600s. The well was very deep, but didn't smell so good, so we moved on to the actual castle.
The inside of the castle was very clean. There were eight floors to explore. There was a lot of information on each floor, along with stairs and elevators. My favorite thing was a model of the old Osaka castle third floor. Tristen and Malachi loved the Samurai helmets and models on the fifth floor. Sirvaad liked the golden statues on the second floor, and Nolan's favorite was the observation deck that was the eighth floor.
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| Osaka Castle Main Tower Observation Deck |
You could see so much of the city, and it looked really beautiful seeing all the building laid out like they were. We could see all the places we had been, and it was awesome. After exiting the main tower of the Osaka Castle, we visited the Hokoku Shrine, built for Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the person who rebuilt the Osaka Castle in the 16th century. After that, we visited one more turret, the Ichiban-Yagura. The last thing we did in the Osaka Castle was visit a fountain. It was really tall, and had stone pieces that formed it. After this, we left the Osaka Castle out of Exit 3B.
Kuromon Ichiba Market / Food
After visiting the Osaka Castle, we decided to visit the Kuromon Ichiba Market. It was this huge market with authentic Japanese street food and shops. The first thing we did was try some Takoyaki. Takoyaki are balls of dough filled with octopus, dough, ginger, and onion. It is covered with sauce, seaweed, fish bits, and cheese. I had heard that it was really good, so we tried it. It was AMAZING! The octopus was really well cooked, the sauce tasted and amazing, and it really exploded in my mouth. I loved it so much, we got another order. Sirvaad thought it was okay, but the rest of us devoured it.
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| Takoyaki |
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| Grilled Scallop |
Afterwards, Malachi really wanted to try some grilled scallop. I didn't know what it was, so it was news to me when I found out that it is a type of clam. They cracked open the scallops and scooped the meat and juices into one of the halves after being cleaned. It was grilled in its own juices with some butter and soy sauce. When we got it, it was like a soup in a shell. It was unbelievably good. The meat was really tender, and the 'soup' was really flavorful. This was Sirvaad and Nolan's favorite meal, mine was still the Takoyaki. After scallops, we headed to buy some oden. Oden is a dish that contains eggs, vegetables and fish in a broth covered with a type of mustard. It looked really good, but I couldn't eat it because it contained beef. The other guys loved it though, so I suppose it was good.
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| Oden |
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| Sushi |
We moved to a sushi stall next. We got a bunch of sushi filled with tuna. It was pretty good. The tuna itself was nice, but I'm not a really big fan of seaweed, so that kind of messed up the sushi for me (I know that Takoyaki has seaweed, but that's different). Tristen and Nolan loved the sushi though. They ate loads of it. There were lots of other foods that memorable too, like crab, snail, eel, ramen, squid, and puffer fish! They removed the poison, and it was nice and tender. I was still a bit nervous, so I had Malachi eat it before me. My favorite was still the Takoyaki; we actually went back to get more! For dessert, we bought mochi, ice cream stuffed in rice skins. It was almost like ice cream dumplings!
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| Mochi: Ice Cream Dumplings! |
We went looking around the other stalls. Nolan bought a t-shirt, and we left for the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan.
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
After eating at the Kuromon Ichiba Market, we took a trip to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. There, they had many tanks of different fish. One of the more memorable tanks at Kaiyukan was the ‘Aqua Gate’ exhibit. It was a tunnel shaped tank, and had Cownose rays swimming around in the tank. It also had a type of fish called the Blotched Foxface, which was a very bright color of yellow.
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| Aqua Gate |
Another cool tank was the ‘Ecuador Rain Forest’ exhibit. It featured the Pirarucu, the largest freshwater fish in the world. Its scales were glittering with many colors. It also had the Capybara, the largest rodent in the world. It looked like a giant rat, but seemed very peaceful.
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| Ecuador Rain Forest |
The biggest tank we saw was the ‘Pacific Ocean’ exhibit. It had the majestic Blue Whale, the largest mammal in the world, and the Scalloped Hammerhead. It was kind of surprising to us that the Blue Whale and Scalloped Hammerhead didn't fight over territory or food.
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| Pacific Ocean |
The most interesting exhibit was the ‘Japan Deep’ exhibit. It had the Japanese Spider Crab, the biggest crab in the world. It was huge for a crab, probably bigger than my face! It also had the Giant Isopod, which looks like a big piece of lice. I was getting a bit tired of walking around at this point; the Takoyaki was still settling, and the Giant Isopod wasn't helping.
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| Japan Deep |
Our favorite exhibit was the ‘Arctic’ exhibit. You could look up at the seals swimming above you and down at them from the floor above. It felt like we were actually in the Arctic, swimming with the seals! On second thought, that would be kind of cold. It was awesome seeing the world of the seal from an upside-down perspective.
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| Arctic |
We also got to see a new exhibit, ‘The Face - Secret about face of fish’ exhibit. It was all about the different features on a fish’s face. We also got to see the first ever Megamouth shark and tried a camera that put your face on a fish’s. Tristen thought that the fish's face looked better than Sirvaad's, and we all laughed at that (except for Sirvaad, of course).
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| The Face - Secret About The Face Of Fish Exhibit |
After finishing up at the aquarium, we relaxed for a bit, then went to dinner and back to the hotel. Today was really fun, and I can't wait for tomorrow!
Written by Rohan
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