It was an activity-filled day, in one of the most famous cities of Japan, Osaka(大阪The first area early in the morning was Osaka Castle Area. The 'bridge' I was standing on connects the castle to the 'mainland', over the waters that surrounds typical castles.
The grand Osaka Castle. Somehow i felt that it looked nicer than the Hiroshima Castle, probably coz of its more 'livelier' colors.
As usual, the Castle had exhibitions of Japanese history, like the armour soldiers wore, the letters, the paintings. Photos were prohibited, and as we reached the 8th floor (3 floors more than Hiroshima Castle), bird's eye view of the city was presented before us again. This was a view of the entrance we came from.
The exact opposite side of the castle..
And one of the sides of the castle. See the waters that separate the castle from mainland. I wondered.. wont the enemies know how to swim? :X
After touring the castle, we took this osaka park tram(covered by the 1 day pass) from the entrance/exit of the castle to the bottom of the 'hill'. The ride was supposed to let tourists admire the sakura trees during sakura season, but we missed that period. 
What's balex pointing?
Taking the tram, passing by the walkways, seeing these cute japanese kids.. felt as if I was in the zoo/safari. Who were the animals? :X
Japanese kids seems to be very different from the ones we see in SG. So kawaii, so quiet n well-behaved when supposed to.
The wall standing firm, protecting Osaka Castle.
Out of time, we skipped Osaka Museum of History and took the train to reach Bay Area at about 1pm. As the name suggested, this area is near to the seas. (duh~) We came across this huge ferris wheel.
Look at my impromptu pose! ;)
The first food theme park we went to in Japan. Naniwa Kuishinbo Yokocho. EH?! Kuishinbo.. sounds familiar. Anyway, it's kinda food street, where many types of foods were sold, in the 'old streets' settings.
Ate Takoyaki for lunch, one of the local delicacies of Osaka.
They were sold in larger quantities, but fell short of my expectations. Was a bit too watery, n didn't have the mayo n 'fish flakes' that i luved in SG.
As time was against us, we bought some food from the 'theme park' n hurriedly made our way to the next stop. We took the Osaka Bay Cruise named 'Santa Maria', a 50-min boat ride around the Osaka Bay Area. There was on-board commentary to introduce the places of interests to us too.
It was a nice boat ride to rest our tired legs after all the rushin. So comfortable that i dozed off in the 2nd part of the ride as the boat made its way back to the dock.
See the arch at the background? It's actually the tracks of a roller coaster ride in Universal Studios. Balex strongly opposed against visiting Universal Studios, so we didn't go as well. 
Osaka Maritime Museum. Interesting architecture.
Next, we took the subway to Kita area. This is the Tenjinbashi-Suji Shopping District. Japan's LONGEST shopping district at 2.6km(!!!). It reminded me of the 2.4km I had to run yearly. Given the time we were left with, I wished i was in running gear instead.
However, most of the shops we saw were selling female clothes, or pachinkos(japan's arcades), or uninteresting stuff. We gave up within 1 km of 'shopping', my only coup being the ice cream cone on my hand.
We had to cancel another place of interest penned on our initial itinerary, Osaka Museum of Housing and Living. As we were waitin for the train to the next destination, we realised the area we were waiting at was surrounded with women, only. Upon looking at the platform's floor, we then realised, it was their 'special' cabin.
It was less crowded, as compared to other cabins.
This was the highlight of our Osaka trip. My most desired place of interest. The Floating Garden Observatory. We had carefully planned to reach this place at evening time, to capture sunset in Osaka.
It's a commercial building if i'm not wrong, but the observatory deck is open to public.
We had to take a lift from the 3rd floor to the 35th floor, before takin this see-through escalator to the 39th storey.
It's a long long escalator ride..4 storeys high!
From the 39th storey, we took an escalator to the 40th, and climbed a flight of stairs to the rooftop, 173metres above ground. An aerial view of the east of osaka city. The red ferris wheel in the centre is called Hep-Five, which we didn't take.
Peeping tom caught red handed!
View of Osaka Castle from the telescope 
A very 'artistic' shot of the structure i saw at the rooftop. Up to u to visualise what it symbolises.
The northern view. I wonder why are there so many bridges over the same 2 plots of lands. Anyway, the one on the extreme right was meant for trains.
It was soon time for sunset..
Balex looked extremely black(or should i say charcoal black) in this picture.. and thin as well. Kenyan import?
A picture of 3 skin tones..
Finally, we waved goodbye to the sun.
The night view of the eastern osaka city.
Time was running out (again!). We chiong-ed to this 2nd food theme park of the day. Naniwa Gyoza Stadium. It was recommended by Zeng Guo Cheng on Da Xiao Tong Chi when i was watching the variety show in SG.
The entrance of the building
the escalator that led us to the world of gyozas.. Yummy!
There were 9 stalls in all, selling gyozas. We still had another food theme park to visit after that, hence we had to be choosy. We eliminated the 'Chinese' gyoza stalls(4 0f them), and picked 3 among the remaining alternatives. A sample of the 'queue number' we had.
My first bite of a Japanese gyoza.
The fillings was substantial, never stingy.
This gyoza melted the moment it got into my mouth.
The 'skin' of this gyoza was quite chewy... Very nice nonetheless. I missed the gyozas badly!!!
Our final stop for this short yet eventful Osaka trip. The Minami area. We were quite lost in the area, thus i asked for directions, from 2 pretty jpn gals again. :X
Our 3rd food theme park for day8. Dotonbori Gokuraku Shotengai. A lot more filling food were sold. 
A pic of me with the obasan preparing Okonomiyaki.
Our 2nd try at Takoyaki. I still prefer SG's ones.
'Pancake' with red bean paste filling.
Chicken drumstick that we shared
A glass of wierd tasting oolong tea + alcohol.
And so-normal chix wings.
The streets of Dotombori.
Another of our objectives for visiting this area. To take the World's FIRST Oval-shaped ferris wheel, Don Quijote Dotonbori.
Ferris wheel.. something I always wanted to take in Japan!
So special!
Balex was running low on cash, so only fred and I took it.
View from the top
I was hanging in the 'air'.
It was already 11pm, and we had to leave Osaka. See how well-mannered the Japanese were. There were no irritating announcements to ask ppl to queue up for the trains, nor to stand behind the yellow lines, but they still did it. No wonder lesser ppl were listening to their mp3 players in Japan. There wasn't a need to.
When we finally got back to Kyoto, it was near midnight, and our usual exit was closed already. Imagine navigating our way thru on a late night, in unknown territory. Walking along the dark, small streets, was quite an experience. Fortunately, the 3 of us managed to orientate ourselves in the dark alleys, and got ourselves back to the hostel. Tiring day.
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