A Tale of Yoshikitties, Neverending Stations, and Sharks

Howdy! I miss Texas A&M, partly because I can't say that all the time. XD

So, Osaka was an adventure, as expected! Wouldn't have it any other way. It was a blast! The question is: where do I begin?

We left right after a meeting on Friday and headed to the station. Our plan was to go straight to Takarazuka, so Jess could go to the Grand Theater and buy stuff, then head back to Osaka and run around town. Takarazuka was actually not too far out of our way - just a 20-minute train ride from Osaka station. It couldn't have gone more smoothly. We get off the train from Hikone (a straight shot, thankfully!), and the platform for the JR Takarazuka line is RIGHT THERE. Wonderful! So, we headed over to Takarazuka. It's a gorgeous city. The road that connects the Grand Theater and the station is Hana no Michi - road of flowers. And it's done up like an old European town, complete with little boutiques, cobblestones, and a pretty gazebo! Lovely place.
The theater is pretty impressive, too! We were there during a performance so we just wandered around on our own. We hit the official gift shop so Jess could get the coveted performance DVD she wanted, then we just headed back to Osaka. That was a little tricky...we happened to get on a train that randomly turns into a subway line that does NOT actually hit Osaka. Luckily I figured it out, and we only had to backtrack 2 stops to change trains for Osaka. Not bad, right?

Our next task was finding our hotel. I was a little concerned, but I did have a map. So, we go out the exit we're supposed to, go through this covered mall walkway area, and cross the street to find our hotel. Easy as pie! Also, if you're ever staying in Osaka, I highly recommend the Hearton Hotel Nishi Umeda (west Umeda - it's the area around the station). It's convenient to the station (like a 2-minute walk), and really nice. We had a 3-person room, and we each got our own beds and everything!So, mission accomplished there. We stop in the covered mall area for katsu curry (mmmmmm), then head off in search of Yoshikitties. Jess is also a fan of the band X-Japan - they're the grandfathers of visual kei, basically. And Hello Kitty makes a line of X-Japan goods. These items are only carried at certain stores, and there happened to be one right by Umeda Station. So, we went to go look for it. Our first task: finding Umeda Station. That was easy enough: we were walking through Osaka Station, and suddenly a sign informed us that we were now in Umeda Station. o.0 ...okay then. Look at a map of the Osaka subway system sometime! You'll see that there are a bunch of stations all around Osaka Station: Nishi Umeda, Umeda, Umeda (yes, there are 2), and Higashi Umeda. But all of these stations are in the same building. So Osaka just likes to be confusing.

So, we're wandering through this sprawling metropolis that is Osaka Station (and the other members of its conglomerate), trying to find this store called Kiddy Land. We don't even know what building it's in, and the Umeda area is FULL of highrises. It's one of the shopping districts, making it hard to find exactly where some random shop is. So, we just try some buildings. The first one we try is the Yodobashi Camera store - 7 stores of technogadgets. No toy store, though there was a Uniqlo (my favorite Japanese clothing store). We walk all around Umeda Station (to the best of our abilities), and find nothing. So, we just pick another department store. We chose the HEP 5, one of the big 3 around the station. Kiddy Land isn't there, but we decide to wander there anyway. We're going in and out of random shops, and then we reach the top and realize that there's a ferris wheel. On top of a highrise. So we ride it!
Minus minor concern from being on a ferris wheel ON TOP OF A BUILDING, it was a lot of fun! Everywhere in Umeda was lit up so we had a gorgeous view. After the ride, we did our typical travel activity of puri kura, followed by Crepe Ojisan. And there were claw machines with Sentimental Circus things inside, just to taunt me. :( After that, we crashed back at our hotel.Day 2 of Osaka we started with the aquarium! This was the one place I really wanted to go to, so I was a happy camper. It's probably the best aquarium I've been to. All of the animals look really healthy and well-cared-for, and there's so much to see! The feature is, of course, the whale shark, housed in a huge tank in the center of the aquarium, but they also have otters and seals and all sorts of cool stuff. Commence photo barrage!We stopped at a Turkish place for lunch. And by lunch I mean donor kebab sandwiches. Tasted just like the ones I had in Germany, so they must be authentic. XD SO tasty.And then we went to Osaka Castle! I must say, these castles are starting to blend together. This one seemed exactly like Nagoya Castle! It's entirely modernized on the inside, with a lookout on the top and a history museum on the lower floors. In this case, a lot of the museum was dedicated to the life of the famous warlord, Tokugawa Ieyasu, builder of the castle. It was a pretty short visit, but I still enjoyed it. What I liked about Osaka-jo is that it's surrounded by a big park! People take their dogs there and there are all sorts of food stands and street performers. Seems like a cool hangout!As a fitting end to our trip, we headed back to Umeda in search of Kiddyland. We were armed with better information this time! We knew the building it was in. Of course, the building was INSIDE the station. You'd think this would make things less confusing, but no such luck. We probably walked past the same part of the station 3 different times (and on multiple floors) trying to find the silly store. Here's an example! We were on the first floor, and saw signs pointing down for the building we wanted. So we went downstairs. Saw a sign for Kiddy Land pointing straight down, went downstairs again. Finally found a directory that said that the store was on basement 1, so we went back up. Then, we find out that the store is in a different wing and that we have to go back to basement 2 to get there. But we FOUND IT! Finally. And Jess got her Yoshikitty and I got Sentimental Circus trinkets and all was right with the world again. So we headed back to Hikone. :)
Hope you enjoyed the story of our Osaka adventure! Have a wonderful week. :)