They don't build em' like they used to.

About two weeks ago Val, myself and our good friends Anh and Aaron went to check out one of Osaka's most famous landmarks, Osaka-Jo. That's Osaka Castle for you English speakers out there (I'm turning into an elitist snob aren't I? :P)

As with any day trip, many pictures were taken and these are the "best" ones. The castle was not as cool as I had hoped it to be, but then again it's not like there would be samurai walking around with ninjas lurking on the roof. *sigh*

Photo tour!!


The area surrounding the castle is definitely interesting. It's not every day you see a huge moat in the middle of the city. Makes you kinda wonder what it used to look like before the office buildings and skyscrapers were put in around it. As you can see, the moat is pretty huge. In terms of depth it's a good 20 feet deep at least, so I pity the foo (back in the day) who would try and break in. I suppose it keeps the black knight at though.

The Japanese have a knack for having food stands set up near temples, shrines and...castles. This is usually pretty awesome because they have this one food (the name escapes me at the moment) that's a pick sized pancake filled with red bean or custard. The custard one is obviously the superior puck food. The other thing is seeing some of the more...unusual "snack" foods. They had a guy just straight up grilling some squid. Yeah, it looks hella gross, but I figured it warranted a picture. :)




Anh was hankering for some squid, so here's an extreme close up! Doesn't it look like a bunch of fingers? ewwwwww.




They have a time capsule! It was buried back in 1970 to be opened 100 years later. I figure it's a smart move. I mean, who won't want 8-track and tie-dye shirts in 2070?



The main attraction! The rest of the grounds were open, spacious and frankly, boring. However, the castle does look pretty cool. Unfortuneately, this is a rebuilt version of the original. Something about the original burning down. My Japanese history is a little fuzzy but if I'm not mistaken it wasn't too long ago...early 1900's?

That's it for Osaka Castle. Kinda blah right? Next update to come shortly. We went to Nara and Ikoma mountain and imho I took some sweeeet pics.

Jaa-ne!

Japan Delight #2

Follow the light...


That's what they'd say if they could talk.

You know how they say slot machines are one-armed bandits? I suppose these vending machines would be like armless bandits? At least they keep you refreshed. :) Every time you pass one you can't help but want to buy something. The problem is that there's one every 10 feet or so. I don't even know how much money I've pumped into these things. It's shameful. They look even more inviting at night because the entire front is all lit up .

One of the most striking things here is the sheer amount vending machines EVERYWHERE. The thing is, none of them sell food. They usually only have drinks and cigarettes. While in Canada we're used to vending machines just having Coke and sugary stuff, here they have all kinds of drinks. For cigarettes there's usually about 20 or so types per machine. They even have peach menthols! I'm tempted to get them just to say I smoked some peach menthols. We'll see...

They have a few dozen variety of coffees, teas, juices and energy drinks. The other awesome thing is that they have HOT drinks as well. Yeah, hot. Weird huh? Basically it's a can of coffee or tea heated up in the machine. It's a little burny on your hands at first, but for those cold winter mornings it's pretty awesome. However, despite the plethora of coffees (which I enjoy) they don't really taste all that good. Man, I miss Timmy's.

Did I mention you can also buy beer and sake from the machines?