28 août 2008
Jellyfish
22 août 2008
Fish day
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We definitely don’t want to leave Japan without watching a kabuki show. We’ll tell you more about it tomorrow. So our first mission of the day is to get out tickets. We then head to the world’s largest aquarium. The entrance is amazing and you get to see the fish up-close. There are lots of different sorts of aquatic animals, from seals to penguins, to sharks, manta rays and the magnificent whale shark. We stroll from one place to another like kids. Don’t miss the jellyfish right at the end. Their colours and shapes are incredible. We then go to the 3D movie theatre, one of the biggest in the world. We choose the underwater theme. It’s a first time for us and we find the concept really nice and moving. I felt like on a guided dive while lying nicely in a comfortable chair.
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Some shopping is inevitable and we go to the train station for that. We’re thrilled by the lift hostesses, with their all matching outfit and white gloves asking you where you would like to go and introducing what’s on every floor!
We go out and it becomes once again a challenge to find the places we are looking for.
Cellar is a place where it is said there is some good live music, but not tonight, so no luck for us!
After looking around for some time, we settle at Sol, a ‘typical’ Spanish tapas bar. We drink wine, eat some Spanish specialities, and enjoy our last night out in Japan.
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Tips of the day
Entry to aquarium for 2000¥. It’s expensive but worth it. When purchasing a ticket there, discount for the 3D movie can be had (500¥ instead of 1000¥)
We lunch at Kushimaro restaurant at the top floor of the Tempozan centre, just by the aquarium. There are all sorts of skewers that you enjoy putting in the batter mix and then in the fondue style table and taste weird things.
Shopping at Kita, just by the Osaka station. Two great shopping places: Hep5 and Est. Otherwise, there are the usual big shopping malls
The whole Dotombori area caters for visitors and it can be surprisingly hard to find a good restaurant. Best to head to back streets instead of the main ones. There are few exceptions here and there though.
Going out in that area requires some good planning. One needs to know the good spots and going out with a Japanese who knows the city may be the best asset. There are many bars that cater to lonely men, and it may be challenging for a foreign visitor to find a normal lively bar. At least, it was for us: despite getting the good addresses – those were either close, impossible to find, or empty…
18 août 2008
Nagasaki and arrival to Osaka
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We ride our bikes to the Nagasaki Cathedral that was destroyed during the bombing. Ironically, the epicentre of the atomic bomb was just the cathedral in Japan’s only renown Christian town. Very little is left, some statues and stones. We then go to the memorial of the bombing that is less impressive than the one in Hiroshima.
We pick up a bento at the train station and head to Osaka in the silent car train to the city that never sleeps.
Osaka attracts you immediately by its lights, skyscrapers, small alleys, and that non-stop car and human traffic jam. Jeremie had selected a list of 3 or 4 places to hang out: concert bars, night clubs and other concepts. We hit the streets motivated and all stylish looking. Then we hit another street. And another street full of night clubs on signs on each and every floor. Our eyes quickly get busy looking at names of clubs we want to go to. Even though we are going in the right direction, we just can’t say where we are going. We could have tried a club for the luck but the codes are very different here and we could easily stumble on a girls club or an adapted Japanese invention that we didn’t have the working manual for. By around 1 am, we manage to find one of the clubs we were looking for but it is closed! We are tired and have seen so much of Osaka’s streets for one night, so we head to our mattress club.
Tips of the day
At Osaka, we stayed at Dotombori hotel, right at the heart of the entertainment district. Semi double room can be had for 9000Y. (if one wishes breakfast, you would pay a whopping 1000¥ more per person) The room is very small, it’s not really sound proof.
Nagasaki museum is interesting, slightly different presentation than Hiroshima but covering same issues
Dinner at Osaka at Krungtep, nice Thai meal.
