Osaka

Today was warm and sunny with blue skies. And … we were going to visit Osaka, Japan’s second largest city behind Tokyo. And … we were planning to visit Namba, one of the city’s busiest shopping districts. And … it just so happened to be the Saturday of the Black Friday sales weekend here in Japan too. We knew what was coming when we figured all of those events into calculation. Today was going to be one huge crush from beginning to end, and we could probably expect massive crowds wherever we went. It started from the moment we got to the station. We waited patiently in line by a door as we watched each carriage disgorge masses of people onto the platform, then we all crammed in like sardines until the carriage was once more totally packed. It was a tight squeeze all the way to Osaka, though the entire journey proceeded in silence as everyone in our crowded carriage observed the unwritten ‘no loud talking on public transport’ rule.

Upon leaving the railway station exit at Osaka, we immediately began to feel a bit lost. I guess we’d expected to leave the station and find a bus depot and taxi rank, or at least be swallowed up in a flood of people because we’d emerged into one of the busiest parts of the city. But none of that happened. When we came out into the sunlight, there were no buses or taxis to be seen and there were hardly any people on the street. We took a guess and crossed the street at some traffic lights and soon spotted a stationary taxi. He said he’d take us to our destination – Osaka Castle. It was about a fifteen minute ride. We found ourselves travelling through a much busier part of the city than where we’d come out of the station. When we stopped at traffic lights, the huge numbers crossing the road reminded me that we’d be battling crowds all day in this city.

The Main Tower of Osaka Castle looked magnificent on such a sunny day. Like many castles in Japan, it has had a turbulent history. Originally a temple built in 1496, it was burned to the ground in 1580 during a period of conflict. Another castle was built on the site in 1583, but another war in 1615 caused the new castle to fall. Another large scale reconstruction took place, but in 1665, the Main Tower was struck by lightning and destroyed. More rebuilding took place, and the castle became a key base for the ruling government’s control of the west of the country. More buildings burned down around the time of the Meiji Restoration. Following the end of the Meiji Period, the national military took control of the castle, and in 1931 the Main Tower was once again reconstructed. Bombing raids caused further destruction during World War II. Following the war, the castle was restored yet again and turned into a historic museum. It’s still a museum today.

When we arrived, we had to join a very long queue, midway between signs saying ’30 minutes to the ticket vending machines’ and ’15 minutes to the ticket vending machines’. Thankfully, it was a pleasant day to be waiting in a very long, slowly moving queue. The problem with the three ticket vending machines is that they slow everything down while people search for a way to make them readable in their own languages and then try to make sense of the different options the machines ask them to choose from. Then the machine offers multiple payment options. It has so many different buttons and slots that it literally takes about three to four times as long to buy the tickets as it would if we could get them from a human at the ticket window. But I think there’s method in their madness. I wouldn’t be surprised if the authorities were happy that the machines slowed the flow of large numbers of visitors into the relatively confined spaces of the interior of the structure.

Once we had our tickets there was a choice of taking an elevator to the fifth floor or climbing the stairs. We chose the stairs because the long elevator queue was virtually not moving. The stairs were fairly steep and I was a bit puffed by halfway, but I had to keep moving because there was a wall of humanity coming up behind me. As you ascend each storey in a Japanese castle, the floor space of each level diminishes, so by the time we reached the eighth storey, the top floor, there was very little space for anyone to move around in. We were able to step out onto a balcony and walk around it for great panoramic views in all directions over the city of Osaka. But it was a tight squeeze out there trying to find a good spot along the rail for a photo, especially when people were taking selfies and blocking everyone else’s passage.

We descended the floors one by one. The museum displays on each floor had a different theme. For example, on the seventh floor, the life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who built the castle and unified Japan, was featured. But much of the text describing the displays was in Japanese and you often had to stop to search for the English. The crowds around every display were 2-3 people deep, and most of the graphics would need dedicated time before they would make much sense. There were a number of very small screens with videos, but only one or two people at a time could watch them. It just made good sense to walk around the back of the people gathered around the displays and find the next set of stairs down to the next level. I suppose the level that interested me most was Level 5, which told the story of the Summer War with miniatures and wonderful historic paintings, But this was a popular level and it was a real challenge to get close enough to see or read anything much. On Levels 3 and 4, personal artefacts and other objects from the era of Toyotomi Hideyoshi were on display. No photos were allowed, due, I guess to their sensitivity to flash photography. Many were portraits that closely resembled ones we’d seen elsewhere or scrolls of Japanese characters I couldn’t read, but I did enjoy looking at the samurai armour, and was disappointed I couldn’t get a photo or two of that. On Level 2 there were facts about the construction of the castle and Level 1 had, you guessed it, the souvenir shop. So it was worth going to see the exterior of the castle, and worth the climb for the view, but on a busy day like today it was pointless trying to see or learn much from the displays. Marg, Theresa and Ian seemed to make it down to ground level in record time, which was probably smart. I took a little longer, trying to find something to see that would make it all worthwhile or perhaps trying to get a photo worth posting here. If you’re planning to visit Japan and want to see a great castle, visit Himeji. Don’t bother with Osaka Castle unless the crowds are small. A photo or two of the exterior should suffice.

We haven’t seen too many buskers in Japan, but there were a couple of guys combining gymnastics with knife juggling just a short distance from the castle exit. We didn’t hang around for long. Essentially the crowd around the performance was just too large.

Adjacent to the castle was a shopping arcade. While Marg and Theresa were in one of the shops, Ian and I found a bit of space nearby that was out of the way of the crowd pushing past. We waited there, killing time. I was standing right next to some claw machines. While I waited, I started checking out the sort of goods the machines dispense. Despite the fact that most of them contained ‘kiddy’ toys, I watched as adults fed coins into them and were delighted when they managed to extract a toy with the claw. It can’t be that hard, I thought, so I dropped 100 yen (AU $1) into the slot and moved the joystick so the claw was sitting over a prize. Then I dropped the claw, expecting it to grasp the toy. But it didn’t, and it was game over and the machine had swallowed my money. I swallowed my pride and slipped away, hoping no one noticed.

It was close to midday, and right outside the castle walls was a street food market. I’ve been keen on the street food over here and haven’t made a bad choice yet, although nothing has come remotely close to the grilled scallops I had at Nishiki Food Market. I was tempted by the Japanese Fried Chichen, known as kaarage, which I’ve become very fond of, but eventually I settled on the yakitori chicken skewers, which were very good. I should have ordered five, not three.

Our itinerary notes suggested we should spend some time in one of the shopping districts, Umeda or Namba. We’d seen signs to Namba from the taxi as we drove to the castle earlier in the day, and figured it might be the closer of the two. We found a taxi and asked him to take us to the Namba shopping district. Nearing it, we passed some very exclusive boutiques, and I started wondering if we were coming to the right sort of shopping district for our limited budgets. But I needn’t have worried. The taxi driver turned a corner and dropped us near a street that was teeming with people and seemed to go on forever. We started following the crowd (perhaps being ‘swept along’ with the crowd was a more appropriate description), stopping from time to time to check out some of the shops along the way. The street took us down to the canal and across it on the bridge, where pro-Palestine supporters were making their voices heard. Looking left and right along the canal, the Dotombori River, huge advertising billboards competed with one another for your attention. The crowd surged on. I wondered what ever happened to the concept of a leisurely afternoon at the shops. Several places had long queues forming outside, as people waited patiently to enter. Security guards stood at the doors, keeping the queues in control. I have no idea what they were selling or promoting. Marg and Theresa were having fun. They enjoy shopping, and although we’ve all completed all our gift buying for family and friends back home, the pair of them kept looking out for bargains. I’m glad they both wore colours that helped them stand out in the crowd today.

While waiting for Marg and Theresa outside another shop, I took a few steps inside a gashapon machine arcade. I wrote about them in yesterday’s blog post. People put between 100 and 500 yen in the slot and receive a randomly generated toy in a plastic capsule. The open the capsule, put the toy in their pocket, and return the capsule to an empty capsules bin so it can be used again. Some of the arcades must have had thousands of machines, all featuring a different theme. What baffles me is that the toys look like the things young children would want, but it is adults walking in and making the purchases. It seems adult Japanese people really love cute kiddy stuff. These machines are everywhere and I’ve seen lots of people using them.

I suspect our travel agent, Haydn, deliberately planned our itinerary so that we could do all our big shopping on our final day, just before coming home. If it was deliberate, I think it was a good plan, and I’m grateful to Haydn for that, as it meant we had relatively light luggage all the way around Japan. Today, when we’d had enough of the Namba crowds, there was one more thing we really wanted to do. Ian had the address of a specialty store that sold finely crafted Japanese chef’s knives. We turned around and headed back the way we came, through all the crowd, and past all the shops and arcades we’d already checked out. On the far side of the main road, we found the store. The range of knives on display was awesome. We’re no expert chefs, and the knives are very expensive, so each couple opted for an all purpose ‘beginner’s’ knife – one that can be used for meat, fruit and vegetables. The woman at the counter spread out five magnificent knives before us and explained the difference in terms of the hardness of the steel, how sharp they stay, how easily they rust and so on. Both couples ended up buying the same type of knife. I think it might give me cause to buy a nice piece of eye fillet when I get home.

Satisfied that we’d seen and done enough, we found a set of steps leading down to a railway station and found a train heading back to Shin-Osaka. From there we caught a Shinkansen back to Kyoto Station, which is directly across the road from our hotel.

We fly home tomorrow evening, so I won’t be writing any more posts from this trip. We’ll spend most of tomorrow morning packing our gear and just sitting around waiting for our train to leave. We have two train journeys, totalling about three hours in the early afternoon, that will take us directly to Narita Airport. It’s an overnight flight, and we’ll be home in Melbourne in time for breakfast on Monday morning, Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read my posts. I really appreciate it. And do consider visiting Japan one day. You won’t regret it.