Saturday, June 18
Welcome to Osaka. We started our day with a traditional Japanese breakfast at the hotel. Cushions on the floor, low table and many dishes of sometimes unidentifiable foods. We filled up and headed out to Osaka Castle. The subway system is relatively easy to figure out. Friends had given us their transit cards which are like magic passes to get through the turn styles. (They had put money on the cards when they had visited Japan but didn't have the chance to run down the balance.) Then all we had to do was get on and off at the right stops. We did fine with that and arrived at the castle with plenty of time to walk around the grounds and explore the castle.

It was hot but not too humid and there were crowds but mostly congregated in one area. The park is the largest in Osaka which tells you how big it is, but also, maybe, how little park area there is in the city. The original castle was built in the 1500's but burned down a few times. The one there now was built around 1930.

Much of the historical artifacts have been moved to the Osaka Museum of History so we crossed the street and had a visit.

It was a nice museum but the English signage was an after-thought and minimal at that. I have mixed feelings about the lack of English. I get that this is not an English-speaking country and if I want to understand the Japanese culture I should learn some Japanese language. But if you want tourists to come visit, and they seem to want that, given the advertising I've see, then you need to provide a bit more English. When we were on the train yesterday a couple, who were speaking Chinese to each other, switched to English to speak with the conductor. Like it or not, English is the universal language.

Back to our day in Osaka. Our hotel is very close to the touristy market and restaurant area called Dotonbori. It reminded me of similar places in Siem Reap, Cambodia; Bangkok; Yangshuo, China; and even the Central Park area of Kaohsiung. There are pedestrian-only streets lined with little shops, bars and eateries where people gather to spend their yen. Like all those places, Dotonbori gets especially busy as night falls. We wandered through a couple of times, had some coffee, ate some okinomyaki. It was even nicer in the early morning to walk along the river when most people were still in bed.