Friday (3/14) .. White Day

Today I decided to head over to the Osaka castle or 大阪城 (Osakajou). On the train on the way there, an old guy tapped me on the shoulder as he left the train and said something I didn't understand, and a girl just behind him told me (in English) that this was the last stop. I found out she was going to the same stop I was, and I just had to wait for the next train. I found out she was going to work at a restaurant in Osakajou park, so I walked her there, and then headed for the castle.





On my way there it started to rain. By the time I got to the entrance it was coming down pretty hard, so I gladly went inside, hoping that it would let up while I looked around. It was really pretty, the golden details really stood out, but I guess they had help from the really gloomy sky behind them.



Here's a few pictures from the top







And here's a closeup of some of the golden decorations they had on display inside.



After I saw enough of the castle, I was getting pretty hungry. I walked around and saw a bunch of stands, but the only enclosed restaurant I had seen was the one where that girl (whose name is Tomo) had gone to work, so I headed back over there.

Here's a little Engrish at one of the stands



I had some unagi, and as I was leaving she was standing by the counter so I asked if she wanted to meet up after work (the trip has been pretty lonely, and I was really wanting some company). She said sure, and I came back around 4 to meet with her again.

We went back to the station, and headed back to Umeda. We walked around a mall for a while and talked a little bit. Then she had an idea for something I hadn't done that is distinctly Japanese. It's called プリクラ (purikura) which is short for プリント倶楽部 (print club), and it's like a photo booth, but more like a game. It tells you to pose, and you take a bunch of pictures. You choose which ones you like, and then you're given a few minutes to decorate your photos. She got the pictures on her phone, so once she sends them to me, I'll post them. It was kinda weird; I was having a hard time decorating them, but it was fun to watch her do it. It's a very Japanese thing, I think, to cute-ify things. I was just making things look weird =)











Then she had to go, so I went over to a nearby Yodobashi camera, and found another decidedly Japanese thing, ガシャポン(gashapon) machines. They're machines with plastic capsules in them with random toys inside. I know we have the same type of thing in America, but we don't have entire sections of stores devoted to them, and they don't have so much licensed stuff, so I decided on an Evangelion one and a Mario one.

Here's a picture of the Yodobashi camera store. From two basement floors up through the restaurants on the 8th floor, and then apparently parking on the 9-11th floors (I'm not quite sure how that works).



And here's the toys I got from the Gashapon machines



The evangelion one says, in various voices, "AT フィールド全開" or "AT field maximum power" (literally "AT field fully open"), and the Mario one plays the sound of getting hit and dying in the original Mario Bros.

Then I found an okonomiyaki place and had their "Mixed yaki" which had shrimp, octopus and cuttlefish / squid. It was really tasty. And finally, I headed back to my hotel to get out of the rain and rest a little. I found out that there is a sumo tournament right now in Osaka, so I'm going to get up early tomorrow and see if I can get a ticket for tomorrow's events.