Monday was another day that started early as we were up a little after at 5:30 am. We had in-room coffee and repacked our suitcases because we wanted to store one suitcase here at the hotel since we will be coming back on Thursday evening. After getting ready and finishing packing, we checked out just before 9 am and then walked to the JR Ticket Reservation Center at the adjoining Shinagawa station. We booked our Shinkansen ride to Hiroshima. With the Japan Rail pass, we didn't really need to make advance reservations and could've boarded any train but to reduce any chances of close misses, we felt it was better to make the reservation. The first train was from the Shinagawa station in Tokyo to the Shin-Osaka station in Osaka with a total ride time of 2 hours and 46 minutes with a start time of 9:40 am.
Since we had a good half an hour to go before boarding the train, we decided to have breakfast. The Shinagawa station has numerous options but we decided to go with a safe bet and chose the French bakery chain Paul. As you might remember, we dined at this chain in various cities of Europe earlier this year. We had a chocolate croissant, chicken croissant sandwich, apple jam pie slice and a mushroom and cheese croque-Monsieur with coffee. As always, everything was great. In fact, the quality might have been a tad bit higher than the quality in Europe!
We boarded the train at 9:35 and it left even before 9:40 am! That's when we realized that we had boarded the wrong train. We were waiting at the correct platform in the correct line for the car where we had gotten reserved seats but the confusion arose because the trains come and leave so quickly that we didn't realize that our train was the one supposed to arrive next. Anyway, no harm was done since we were told by the conductor to get off at the next station and wait a few minutes to catch our original train which was coming right after this one. We got on the right train at the Shin-Yokohama station and then bought some cookies and orange juice from the train's trolley service. We researched Osaka during the train ride using the guide book that we had purchased from Calgary and after reading about it a little, we decided to change our plan and stop in Osaka for sightseeing. The bullet train ride was so comfortable that we fell asleep for 20 minutes towards the end of the ride.
We reached Shin-Osaka station at 12:26 pm and stored our suitcase in a coin locker. Then we reached the Osaka station after a short train ride and explored the huge station complex that has a 20 floor mall connected to it. We window shopped at different stores on various floors before coming down to the basement floor that has food shops. As impressive as the mall was with all kinds of international brand stores, the food shops were even better - desserts and sushi of all kinds was on display. We munched on a few items that we liked, got a couple of things packed and then took the Osaka Loop train to get to our first stop, Osaka-jo or the Osaka Castle. As the name suggests, the Osaka Loop train goes around different areas of Osaka in a circular route, much like the JR Yamanote train of Tokyo.
After getting off the train, we had to walk 15 minutes to get to the castle building. The building is surrounded by a moat (a deep trench filled with water, built with the intention of keeping out enemies). Osaka used to be the capital of Japan before Kyoto and Tokyo and this castle was used by the royals of the time. The castle is built in the pagoda style with 4 roofs but the actual castle was destroyed by bombing of the allied forces in the Second World War so what we saw was a concrete and steel reconstruction of the original building. It was still very impressive and gave us a fair idea of how advanced Japanese architecture was, even back in the 7th and 8th centuries.
Then we walked another 20 minutes to reach a different train station and took two trains one after the other to reach the Namba station in the South area of Osaka. Within the station, there was a pretty long underground walk in a shopping area that had hundreds of shops. Saving space and time seem to be a common theme of Japanese life and by building shopping options at all major train stations, they achieve both.
Osaka has two major touristy areas - Kita (North) and Minami (South). Kita is new whereas Minami has some older streets mixed with modern buildings. In Minami, we explored the Namba city complex which comprises several buildings - the rail station, shopping mall, parks building and a cinema. Then we started walking to the Dotombori street which is the icon of Osaka and flanks both sides of the Dotombori river. On our way, we stopped at Burger King and had the whopper which had a higher quality than what we are used to in North America. Samia suspects that all these chains have better tasting food in Japan because of the country's emphasis on quality control which is a trademark feature of the Japanese way of doing business. No wonder the Japanese are pioneers in the manufacturing of all kinds of electronics in the world. Unfortunately for us, the famous Glico man neon sign was under renovation so we couldn't see it. It is a huge neon advertising board which depicts a man running with both his hands up in the air as if he is just about to finish a race. Over the years, it has become a symbol of Osaka's status as the leading commerce and industrial center of Japan, a status that Osaka has held since many centuries ago when this port city became the trade hub of the country. Legend says that back in the day, Osakans used to greet each other with the phrase, "Are you making money?"
After taking pictures with Glico man's replacement billboard that features some famous Japanese actress while the renovation is going on, we started heading back to the Shin-Osaka station after taking three different trains.
After reaching the Shin-Osaka station, we got our suitcase from the coin locker storage and sat in the waiting area for our Shinkansen train to Hiroshima. The train started at 8:20 pm and we were so tired after walking 13 km today (and 11 km yesterday) that we fell asleep shortly after that. We reached Hiroshima after exactly two hours at 10:20 pm and after getting out of the station, we walked one minute to reach our hotel and checked-in. In our room, we ate the tomato bread and chocolate bread that we had gotten packed from Osaka and are now going to bed. I had thought about commenting on our general observations of Japan and the people of Tokyo but after changing our plan today, there wasn't enough time for it plus after seeing the people of Osaka today, I feel that it'll probably be a better idea to pen such observations at the end of the trip.
Till tomorrow's update, take care and good night!
Since we had a good half an hour to go before boarding the train, we decided to have breakfast. The Shinagawa station has numerous options but we decided to go with a safe bet and chose the French bakery chain Paul. As you might remember, we dined at this chain in various cities of Europe earlier this year. We had a chocolate croissant, chicken croissant sandwich, apple jam pie slice and a mushroom and cheese croque-Monsieur with coffee. As always, everything was great. In fact, the quality might have been a tad bit higher than the quality in Europe!
We boarded the train at 9:35 and it left even before 9:40 am! That's when we realized that we had boarded the wrong train. We were waiting at the correct platform in the correct line for the car where we had gotten reserved seats but the confusion arose because the trains come and leave so quickly that we didn't realize that our train was the one supposed to arrive next. Anyway, no harm was done since we were told by the conductor to get off at the next station and wait a few minutes to catch our original train which was coming right after this one. We got on the right train at the Shin-Yokohama station and then bought some cookies and orange juice from the train's trolley service. We researched Osaka during the train ride using the guide book that we had purchased from Calgary and after reading about it a little, we decided to change our plan and stop in Osaka for sightseeing. The bullet train ride was so comfortable that we fell asleep for 20 minutes towards the end of the ride.
We reached Shin-Osaka station at 12:26 pm and stored our suitcase in a coin locker. Then we reached the Osaka station after a short train ride and explored the huge station complex that has a 20 floor mall connected to it. We window shopped at different stores on various floors before coming down to the basement floor that has food shops. As impressive as the mall was with all kinds of international brand stores, the food shops were even better - desserts and sushi of all kinds was on display. We munched on a few items that we liked, got a couple of things packed and then took the Osaka Loop train to get to our first stop, Osaka-jo or the Osaka Castle. As the name suggests, the Osaka Loop train goes around different areas of Osaka in a circular route, much like the JR Yamanote train of Tokyo.
After getting off the train, we had to walk 15 minutes to get to the castle building. The building is surrounded by a moat (a deep trench filled with water, built with the intention of keeping out enemies). Osaka used to be the capital of Japan before Kyoto and Tokyo and this castle was used by the royals of the time. The castle is built in the pagoda style with 4 roofs but the actual castle was destroyed by bombing of the allied forces in the Second World War so what we saw was a concrete and steel reconstruction of the original building. It was still very impressive and gave us a fair idea of how advanced Japanese architecture was, even back in the 7th and 8th centuries.
Then we walked another 20 minutes to reach a different train station and took two trains one after the other to reach the Namba station in the South area of Osaka. Within the station, there was a pretty long underground walk in a shopping area that had hundreds of shops. Saving space and time seem to be a common theme of Japanese life and by building shopping options at all major train stations, they achieve both.
Osaka has two major touristy areas - Kita (North) and Minami (South). Kita is new whereas Minami has some older streets mixed with modern buildings. In Minami, we explored the Namba city complex which comprises several buildings - the rail station, shopping mall, parks building and a cinema. Then we started walking to the Dotombori street which is the icon of Osaka and flanks both sides of the Dotombori river. On our way, we stopped at Burger King and had the whopper which had a higher quality than what we are used to in North America. Samia suspects that all these chains have better tasting food in Japan because of the country's emphasis on quality control which is a trademark feature of the Japanese way of doing business. No wonder the Japanese are pioneers in the manufacturing of all kinds of electronics in the world. Unfortunately for us, the famous Glico man neon sign was under renovation so we couldn't see it. It is a huge neon advertising board which depicts a man running with both his hands up in the air as if he is just about to finish a race. Over the years, it has become a symbol of Osaka's status as the leading commerce and industrial center of Japan, a status that Osaka has held since many centuries ago when this port city became the trade hub of the country. Legend says that back in the day, Osakans used to greet each other with the phrase, "Are you making money?"
After taking pictures with Glico man's replacement billboard that features some famous Japanese actress while the renovation is going on, we started heading back to the Shin-Osaka station after taking three different trains.
After reaching the Shin-Osaka station, we got our suitcase from the coin locker storage and sat in the waiting area for our Shinkansen train to Hiroshima. The train started at 8:20 pm and we were so tired after walking 13 km today (and 11 km yesterday) that we fell asleep shortly after that. We reached Hiroshima after exactly two hours at 10:20 pm and after getting out of the station, we walked one minute to reach our hotel and checked-in. In our room, we ate the tomato bread and chocolate bread that we had gotten packed from Osaka and are now going to bed. I had thought about commenting on our general observations of Japan and the people of Tokyo but after changing our plan today, there wasn't enough time for it plus after seeing the people of Osaka today, I feel that it'll probably be a better idea to pen such observations at the end of the trip.
Till tomorrow's update, take care and good night!
No comments:
Post a Comment