Day 11 - Osaka

A lovely long sleep-in this morning was greeted by less than lovely rain. But no complaints here. We decided on a fairly relaxed tempo today with only one major activity undertaken, visiting a Factory Outlet Centre. So after getting ourselves ready for the day, we walked to Osaka Station and caught the train to JR Rinku-town Station. 

Can you spot our intrepid travellers making their way to Osaka Station?

Getting closer...

At Osaka Station and it's a balmy 13 degrees C.

Waiting for our 11:06 train, it's the one after the next on Platform 1.

And our train arrives.

The trip took around an hour-and-a-quarter, and thankfully only we had to avert tragedy once along the way. You see, when the train got to Hineno Station, it was split into two. The first four carriages would travel on to Kansai Airport stopping at the Factory Outlet along the way, whilst the second four carriages travelled southwards to Wakayamako. Unfortunately for us, we were in carriage number five, so we needed to make a mad dash to carriage four, lest we wind up in Wakayamako...and nobody wants that.

Enroute to Rinku-town Station.

The Tsutenkaku is a well-known tower in Osaka and advertises the brand Hitachi. We hope to visit it tomorrow.

A poor quality photo; however, you can make out the many tarpaulins on the roofs of houses, still trying to recover from Typhoon Jebi in September this year. It was the strongest storm in the region in 25 years. 

We hopped off the train at Rinku-town station and were greeted by the sight of a giant Ferris Wheel, I'm thinking they must be very popular in Japan. 

Arriving at Rinku-town Station.

We then passed through a Shopping Centre called Rinku Seacle before crossing a pedestrian overpass to the Rinku Premium Outlet Centre, apparently it's the largest outlet centre in Western Japan. I must admit, it was pretty huge, 'cause we spent a whole three hours there. There were some great bargains to be had, though one person's bargain is another person's baggage limit.

The Rinku Premium Outlets are located adjacent the Kansai International Airport Access Bridge (Skybridge R) is the longest truss bridge in the world at 3.75 kilometres. In the foreground you can see the Rinku-town 'beach'. 

Rinku-town beach.

Kyle has a successful day's shopping at Rinku-town.

Of particular interest was our experience with Gashapon, or should I say, Maureen's experience with Gashapon. So what's Gashapon? Gashapon (also spelt Gachapon) are small vending machines that dispense capsule toys; however, unlike western equivalents the Gashapon dispense toys and collectables aimed at the adult market and they range in price from 100 yen ($1.20) to 500 yen ($5.70). The name Gashapon is not really a traditional Japanese word, rather, it just simulates the sound of the machine - 'Gasha' is the noise of the hand-cranking action as you turn the handle, and 'pon' the sound of the capsule hitting the bottom of the machine. They are truly an institution in Japan. So today, Maureen became hooked on a Gashapon machine that dispensed miniatures of famous sewing machines. There were five different types to collect, and it took eight capsules, but she got them all. So that's Gashapon.

Gashapon Machines.

Maureen's haul of miniature sewing machines.

We finished up there and headed back to the station to catch the train back to Osaka Station, thankfully with no weird train uncoupling along the way.

Back at a wet Osaka Station.

After getting back to Osaka Station, we split up again and Maureen and I enjoyed a nice steak meal together. We then headed back to the apartment to be met sometime later by Sky and Kyle.

Here's an interesting find; Saki in Cardboard Milk Containers.

Oh and by the way, it rained all day.

So, signing off now from today's Blog, stay tuned for tomorrow when we undertake another full day in Osaka.