Even as we speak, I'm stuck in Nagoya for an hour-long changeover to the Ise peninsula, but fortunately after the previous trip I know where to find a net cafe near the station. The following covers yesterday's trip to Osaka, probably Japan's third most heard-of city, and may yet allow me to catch up on my backlog.
After being force-fed Osaka references for a year during my diploma course (which, by the way, I have unofficially passed - yay! assuming the Exam Board doesn't have a dramatic change of heart), it is perhaps appropriate that I ended up in the most referenced place first - Osakajoukouen, or Osaka Castle Park. At the heart of this quiet, extensive park lies Toyotomi Hideyoshi's castle - in his heyday as unifier and ruler of most of Japan, Hideyoshi chose to build his castle in Osaka, and thereby settled its position as a major city for centuries to come. The castle proper was destroyed and rebuilt twice, and right now most of what remains is one grand tower, the Tenshukaku, which can be approached by a leisurely walk through the park.
From extensive research, I can inform you that a meow in Osaka-ben fits the expected pattern - having longer vowels and more even pitch than the Tokyo-ben meow.
Osaka Castle's moat is a respectable obstacle to invaders, and it is no wonder that when Tokugawa Ieyasu's forces finally took the castle, they started its destruction here. However, it is no obstacle to modern-day fishermen, I learned.
One of the perks of Osaka Castle Garden is a series of marvellous views out from the heart of the storm into the busy city.
Main tower, distance view. As a keep of this sort, it is apparently unique in Japan. Logically, being labelled as a donjon, it may be the closest Japan has to an oubliette.
Main tower, "Besiege this!" view.
Main approach, having a pretty mini-park and lots of souvenir stalls. Of course, even to get this far, both invaders and tourists have to climb a steep hill via twisting paths, and go through a very heavy-looking gate.
To get to the tower, visitors have to get past these gas emitters. I found them positively sinister, but a questioned guard assured me that it was only dry mist for cooling-down purposes.
Inside, what the tower lacked in historicity (the inside is strictly modern in structure) it made up for in information and, hugely, in disabled access - during reconstruction they really went all out to make this tall, narrow tower accessible to wheelchairs. I was impressed. The contents are a museum in which one starts from the top (observation floor) and works one's way down through a series of chronologically arranged information displays, including a series of holograms telling the life story of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and a replica of the glorious folding screen painting depicting the Battle of Osaka (think Bayeux Tapestry, but bigger and more detailed), with amazingly thorough explanatory boards and videos (you can identify at least 21 famous generals in the painting).
I really liked the chronological arrangement, which allowed me to go from minimal knowledge of the Warring States era to a vague understanding by the end (taking me from Hideyoshi's peasant birth and service to the epic warlord Oda Nobunaga, to his meteoritic rise after Nobunaga's death, the Toyotomi forces' defeat by Tokugawa, and eventually to the castle's last fall during the Meiji revolution). That said, by the time I got to the artefact floors I was suffering from a bit of information overload and could take in little beyond the story of Nobunaga's betrayal and assassination by a vassal (which caused Nobunaga's lieutenants to scramble to become his sole successor).
A view from the top floor of the keep (the building on the right is the Crystal tower). Hideyoshi must have been happy here.
Though he probably didn't go out for strolls outside much, which surely contributed to his status as a power-hungry conqueror.
I do have this angle without the giant mystery golden fish, but I feel it looks better this way.
A time capsule, one of its two containers due to be opened in 5000 years. I'm almost a little jealous of people who believe that humanity will still be around then - I can't help feeling that we'll have either driven ourselves into extinction or transcended our human form through technological or spiritual singularity.
A food shop selling "Mitarashi Dango". This one's for Naruto fans.
An Osaka Decorative Pigeon. It maintained this pose for as long as I watched it.
The walls around Osaka Castle are impressive, doubly so when you realise that this one, the Octopus Stone (look carefully and you might work out why the name), is a single piece brought here but means as yet unknown to Sengoku-era historians.
A fountain in the park. I was going for an illustrative shot of the surroundings, but the narrow one came out too well to ignore.
My next destination, based on proximity as much as anything, was Osaka's harbour district, complete with famous aquarium. But before I went there, I decided to once more enjoy Osaka from an epic height by riding the harbour's ferris wheel (loudly proclaiming itself "world's biggest" on signs, with a more subdued "one of the" qualification on their pamphlets). It is one of those great contradictions of life that I love the view from high places, yet am utterly terrified of heights. So it was this time.
These three shots form a panning view of Osaka in all its glory. They do belong to rather different heights and angles, though.
Osaka Aquarium, visible from a great distance and therefore a boon to lost tourists.
I would like to know exactly which member of the Oubliette is responsible for this.
This sign is uniquely intense in content. "Please don't lean against the door NO MATTER WHAT" is what it says.
I was about ready to head for the aquarium, but then saw an interesting-looking sign and had to investigate. It was a promotional poster for Shinobi-ya, a ninja house adventure maze-type thing. I could tell from the start it was aimed at kids, but felt that with the appalling lack of ninja-related experiences since I came here (the Naruto Shippuuden movie notwithstanding), I had to give it a try. In the event, it was one of those places that was so tacky and cheaply made that it actually went around all the way through "pathetic" and into "fun" again. The disturbingly underdressed assassin descending from the sauna ceiling was a highlight - be very grateful I did not photograph it.
The entrance hallway. Note plastic ninja hanging from the ceiling. Further down, a net descends to within three feet of your head with a hiss as you pass.
This ingeniously disguised trapdoor is a quick exit for "senior ninja", and ordinary visitors are encouraged to ignore it and proceed to the rest of the course.
After successfully surviving the various labyrinths and traps of Shinobi-ya (the greatest threat being death from laughter), I was finally ready to cool down at the aquarium. The entrance fee was steep, but the place itself had a nice feel, being themed around the "Ring of Fire" formed by volcanically active marine areas around the globe, and the "Ring of Life" this sustains. The aquarium was thus more or less one long spiral, with many tanks stretching across multiple floors, and ecologically-themed messages explaining the aquarium's foundation as the James Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis - the idea that the Earth is a living organism with which all other organisms are in symbiosis, and the conclusions on ethical responsibility that this entails. To be honest, I was neither that clear on how this linked to the aquarium's immediate activities, nor that comforted by it - I can't help feeling that the way things are going, Gaia is going to finally lose patience and get rid of us before humanity manages to change its act.
Since all I really did from there was wander through the aquarium taking pictures of cool things (wait, isn't that all I've been doing since I came to Japan?), this is also what the next part of the post will consist of. Readers who hate nature may wish to skip it.
A proud-looking bird, alone among an ecosystem slice primarily inhabited by otters. Forgive me my inability to remember the names of the various species I photographed.
A family of otters (I think) lazing around on a waterside platform. They seem happy to use each other as matresses.
Turtles such as these share an environment with some fairly placid ducks. It always amazes me a little bit to see different species of animal happily coexisting without any conflict (where they are not in a predator-prey relationship), and this generally leads to sad reflections on how humanity is managing.
The mysterious Shadow Small-Clawed Otter. These creatures are masters of evading photography - for all that there were about a dozen of them in different parts of the aquarium, I haven't a single perfect shot.
I was one of many visitors who were convinced that this was a plastic decoration, until it blinked lazily at shifted its head a few degrees to the left.
A full minute into looking at this tank: "those aren't logs, are they."
Like dolphins, penguins spend half their time swimming and the other half visibly showing off for visitors.
Unlike penguins, dolphins usually do both at the same time - I kid you not, they followed trajectories designed to keep them as visible as possible, and spun in them over and over again.
A submerging dolphin, complete with trail of bubbles.
A manta ray that cannot stay out of the limelight.
A beautifully-patterned fish; the inspiration for the first microchip.
My prize shot: two whale sharks and a manta ray circle around each other while a cloud of smaller fish shelter in their shadow.
A gorgeous manta ray, whom I have named Forneus in a highly obscure reference.
Close-up of Forneus; note the smaller fish hitchhiking on his back.
Seal break: they are remarkably fast and smooth swimmers.
As seen from this shot, they also like to swim upside down.
The star of the Great Pacific tank, and of the aquarium: the whale shark peruses its domain.
But it's amazing how graceful such a beast can be when evading paparrazi.
A less predatory but still quite impressive fish glides along the tank bottom.
If fish travel in schools, then this is the entire school trip population of Kyoto on a Saturday.
The turtles' slow movement is possessed of a dignity that makes one better understand the ancient belief that one of these carried the world on its back.
Their expressions, too, are solemn and contemplative. Or possibly just bored.
"The invasion fleet is ready, my liege."
"Excellent! Now those foolish Earthlings will finally see what it means to mock us! I mean, wait..."
I have had a mortal fear of jellyfish ever since seeing the movie "Sphere" as a child. I guess it was just going to be one of those days...
This lot were remarkable not only in colour, but in the trails they left as their tendrils intersected.
Having mercifully escaped- I mean proceeded through the jellyfish tank at the end of the aquarium, I took a brief detour through the petting zoo section. It was notable for a see-through tube complex for otters, where they constantly chased each other and engaged in what I can only hope were play-fights.
Note also their powers of blurring photos, still in full flow.
Few things in the world are more unintentionally hilarious than the sight of this tiny penguin attempting to act intimidating.
While I did not get involved, various forms of fish and stingray were freely strokeable.
My favourite rodent, the capybara. It seemed rather uninterested in its surroundings.
I totally want a copy of this sign. I would stick it in unexpected places in temples etc., and watch people worry about what it meant. Especially those who didn't know what a capybara was.
Bonus Engrish: "New York Sand" is, amazingly, slightly more appetising than it sounds.
After that, it was time for me to get back to the town centre. I wandered around for a while until I found Osaka's famous entertainment district, but by then I was feeling tired and rather apathetic (and the place seemed fairly ordinary by the standard of some parts of Tokyo, anyway, for all its scale and flashiness). I went home slightly earlier than I had to.
The one shot I got round to taking in central Osaka, a fairly cool skyscraper.
On the plus side, before I got tired I managed to write half a chapter of "That House", featuring a whole new direction for a sub-plot that had only occurred to me the previous day. Incidentally, for current readers, I suddenly realised with a shock where I got my recently-developed mental image of Natasha from. It occurred to me that I'd met someone who looked like that in real life, and then I remembered, for the first time in many years, meeting that girl exactly once at a friend's little sister's birthday party. What's more, I'm pretty sure her name was Natasha. My brain works in mysterious ways.
Anyway, with this I am once again exactly one day's posting behind. However, there's not much to say about today's visit to Ise Shrine, so perhaps I'll be able to catch up after all.
P.S. On my return, we went out for a meal, largely to cheer Haruka up. She'd had a pretty rough day, between rejection by a certain high-profile university (but she can reapply in October) and receiving an A&E-grade scratch on her cheek from Taruto. After the meal, we went to return manga and DVDs to the rental shop, and Hiroko explained to me that I was being unnecessarily polite, and, as a member of the family, could use plain style freely. This finally made me relax a bit on some deep subconscious level, and it's been a lot easier talking to all of them ever since. (though, while I now find it a lot easier to start conversations with Haruka, she still shows no interest in doing so herself)
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