Japanimawesome: Osaka

JAPAN!
Land of the Nippon, Nikon, Nissan and Mazda. And Sony. And Mitsubishi. And... yeah. Lots of stuff. Lots of coolness too -Japan was a fantasmical trip where good food met our needy stomachs. We had only 8 days in Japan, so we wanted to make each one count.
The first day was in the city of our landing, Osaka. It's a cute little city near Kyoto (only $5 to get from one to the other by train) that was pretty much levelled in WWII when the US firebombed most of the country. But, I think there are 2 cultural relics still standing in the city, the first being some shrine thing, and the second being Osaka Castle, built by the dude who unified Japan AND invaded Korea in the 1500's! He was, essentially, the initiator of 500 years of bitterness between two neighboring countries, but dude could he build a castle.

We pulled in around 7pm to the Minami (South) part of the city, where we plunked down in our 'petite salle': the room was like a big closet and the door would bring many a fond memory to the mind of a wandering hobbit.
On a side note here, when I worked at Douglas College, I met many Japanese dudes who were quite stellar, and fortunately, most were in the cities we were visiting. In Osaka, we were able to see Akiya, Makiko, Misato, and Masako (say that 5 times fast), and it was so nice to enjoy their company and their expertise in the intricacies of Osakan life. SO, after viewing our room and settling in, we gave Akiya a call. When he saw our place, he said:
"Um, this is where homeless people stay when they have money."
Then we said,
"Akiya, the doors really small."
"Ok, you should come to my place."
"Right."
It's not that we weren't appreciative of our wee abode, but who could pass up the opportunity to stay with a Japanese family? And especially when we actually knew them?! (Sort of) So, we were really fortunate to have stayed here instead:
That's right: sliding rice-paper doors, wood floors with a cool hallway thing, sleeping on the floor on tatami mats, and just coolness all around. They fed us real Japanese breakfasts of rice, beautifull cooked and rolled omlettes, puny salted fish (the Stan Rogers song "Catch tiny fish for Japan" finally made sense) with freshly grated radish and soy sauce... everything was "just so" and quaint as only Japan can manage. They also had a crazy little dog which we'll have to post after this -in all, the stay there was completely memorable and we are so thankful to have enjoyed that time with them.

The next day, we met up with the rest of the Osakan crew for a little sight seeing and castle viewing (historical relic #2).
The city sights...And a huge ferris wheel on the side of a building...Then off to the beautiful castle o' spledor:To build it, they diverted the river nearby to create this HUGE moat, with walls protruding out of it that were made from these monstrous stones that were shaped so precisely. It was quite daunting, especially considering how large the grounds were.
I know, you'd think we're Japanese. But actually, we're not.

That night we had dinner together, saw some sights and a short musical, and then went back to Akiya's place for his dad's massage chair (genius) and some more of their crazy dog. Then the next day, Akiya brought us all the way to the train platform (the dude is awesome) where we began our journey to Kyoto. So we said our goodbyes, boarded the train, and enjoyed the countryside.