Japan 2018: Day 12

Cloudy but no rain was the weather that greeted us when we woke today. We had a busy day planned, so we got up pretty early and headed off for breakfast, near Osaka Station. Breakfast was a Wendys Fast Food Restaurant...how American of us.

We then headed to Yodabashi (probably our favourite shop in Japan) just on opening time so that Sky could collect a copy of a game Smash Bros Ultimate, which was released today. He also got a new Coldplay live album, released today as well. However, when we got to Yodobashi there was an amazing rush of people trying to get their hands on a copy of the new game. The queues were very long, so Kyle and I held a position on the queue, whilst Sky searched for the game and CD. I'd say, they probably sold around 500 copies in the first half-hour, at 7,200 yen (AUD$80), that's pretty impressive.

On the queue at Yodobashi.

Afterwards, we headed off for a walk to the Umeda Sky Building.

Nearly there.

Check out this trolley filled with kids. It even had a ramp.

Interesting Fact - The Umeda Sky Building is the 19th tallest building in Osaka Prefecture...fascinating! Seriously though, the building actually consists of two 40-story towers connected at the upper levels and was designed by famous Japanese Architect Hiroshi Hara who also designed the Sapporo Dome in Hokkaidō. The Umeda Sky Building also has a bridge and two very cool, very high escalators that also join between the two buildings. In fact, the two escalators are the highest in the world. Unfortunately we couldn't go up to the roof-top deck because it is still damaged from Super Typhoon Jebi, which I briefly mentioned yesterday. Nonetheless, we still managed to get to the level below and got to use the cool escalators. Two buildings that I had researched and which we were keen to see, were the Hotel Monterey and the Gate Tower Building.

Looking up towards the top of the Umeda Sky Building when we arrived.

The Gate Tower Building actually has a highway running through it due to a mix up caused by issuing building approvals for separate road and building projects at the same time. Literally, the building's owner wouldn't budge, so they put the highway between the 5th and 7th floors.

Here's a closer view that I took from the Loop Train out of Osaka Station.

Zoom into that view and you see a 14th Century Chapel built on the Monterey Hotel. The Goedele Chapel is an exact replica of a late medieval-style Chapel in Moorsel, Belgium.

The escalators on the Umeda Sky Building go from the 35th floor to the 38th floor traversing the 50 metres between the two towers.

On the escalator descending from the Umeda Sky Building's observation area.

The view from directly below the Umeda Sky Building.

We then walked to Osaka Station for our next adventures stopping for a couple of brief photo opportunities along the way.

A brief stop for a romantic photo opportunity.

The Pool Grand Front with its cool reclining bear and cascading water staircase is near the northern entrance of Osaka Station.

We then caught the train to Shin-Imamiya Station and walked to the Tsutenkaku Tower, which I also mentioned yesterday. The walk to Tsutenkaku Tower was interesting in and of itself as we passed through the streets and alleys of Shinsekai, a colourful and vibrant food and souvenir street.

Our travellers in the streets of Shinsekai on their way to Tsutenkaku Tower.

The Tsutenkaku Tower.

Streetscape underwear the Tsutenkaku Tower.

Tsutenkaku Tower was built in 1956, replacing a previous tower which suffered a fire in 1943. The tower advertises the Japanese electronics company 'Hitachi' on its sides in both Japanese and English language. Hitachi have been sponsors of the tower since 1957. The 103 metre tall Tsutenkaku Tower one of Osaka's most famous landmarks and it has an old-fashioned charm about it. Tsutenkaku means 'Tower reaching Heaven' in Japanese, and we were quite impressed with the outstanding views of Osaka that the tower provided.

Gettin' those Blog pictures done.

Apparently, the Glico Company have had a collaboration agreement with the Tsutenkaku Tower since 2016. Glico make the popular Pocky Sticks.

Once we descended from Tsutenkaku Tower we decided to try something different for lunch, as in catching our own lunch. So we headed to the Tsurikichi Restaurant and Kyle caught us a giant Sea Bream in the Restaurant, whilst Maureen provided the net to get the fish out of the water. The staff then took it away, prepared and grilled it for us and cooked it to perfection, it was delicious. We also tried an assortment of Sushi in a Bento Box which included a side dish that had Hiyayakko (Japanese cold Tofu) with green Onions and Benito flakes. Now normally, I am a big fan of Tofu...honestly I am; however, this was the worst tasting Tofu in the history of Tofu. It was so bad that I got Kyle to try it and videotaped his reaction, or should I say, his gagging. Nonetheless, it was a fun experience.

Kyle gets his catch of the day.

It was delicious.

Beautiful dish.

Tsurikichi Restaurant.

We then walked back to the the Station; however, this time we took the Subway Line. Maureen and Kyle headed off to Esaka Station and walked to a five-story fabric store, where Maureen spent the entire budget of a small nation on fabric. Maureen said that each level had a different theme, such as;

Level One - 'Cotton'

Level Two - 'Dress Material'

Level Three - 'Quilting Material'

Level Four - 'Curtain Material'

Level Five - 'Haberdashery'

The big white building on the left is the Fabric Store.

Maureen is in her element.

Meanwhile, Sky and I caught the Subway to Namba Station and walked to a district called Nippombashi, not far from Dotonbori, which we all visited two nights earlier. Nippombashi is the largest commercial district for electronics and pop culture in Japan after Akihabara, Tokyo. There'll be more said about the Akihabara District in a future Blog. We weren't overly impressed with the location, but that's mostly because we weren't familiar with the area. Here's some of the vista we saw whilst there:

Can you see Spider Man?

A wrapped tower in Nippombashi.

I think that places such as Nippombashi have many secret little shops down lanes that specialise in the theme you are interested in. But, we still had fun walking the streets, and getting an invitation to a Maid café by a pretty young lady dressed in a skimpy maid costume. Maid cafés are another interesting Japanese institution and are a subcategory of cosplay restaurants that are very popular in Japan. According to Wiki (no, I didn't visit), in these cafés, waitresses are dressed in maid costumes and act as servants, treating customers as masters (and mistresses) in a private home, rather than as café patrons.

We all met up at Dotombori and had dinner there together, followed by a short stint of shopping. We then caught the Subway back to our local station and walked back to the apartment.