Day 19: Osaka's Bayfront

After the craziness of yesterday, we took today a bit slower and slept in a little to recover. We rode a few trains to the bay area, which has several attractions I had read about. On the way, we picked up a 2-day pass in Osaka station which gives free admission to certain attractions plus unlimited rides on the subway. We'll be using it tomorrow as well before we head to Tokyo on Friday for our last two days of the trip.

Osaka is a very big, busy city... and did I mention busy? I read on a pamphlet that the average temperature during August is 28 C (82 F). I would like to know where they got that "fact." =_= Despite the heat and crowds, I am really enjoying the city. It definitely feels a lot like Tokyo; not at all like Kyoto (which I liked enormously). Anyway, the first stop of the day was Kaiyukan, Osaka's aquarium and one of the largest in the world. The building was beautiful outside, but the inside was especially neat: You take an escalator to the top floor (8th I believe) and then spiral slowly down as you look at exhibits. Some of them, such as the Pacific White-Sided dolphins, sea lions, and the 27-feet high Pacific Ocean tank could be viewed from multiple floors. I really loved the main tank. It had many different shark and ray species. The best part, though, was the whale shark. Actually, there were two of them. At one point a diver was in the tank feeding them. It was amazing to watch... they just suck in water like a vacuum and expel it out their gills! I got some video of that little show, haha.

The only thing I didn't like about the aquarium was that it was packed. I was constantly being elbowed. One boy, though, bumped into me and when I said "sumimasen," he turned and bowed and said it back to me. :) Most people here aren't that nice except when in service, so it was a sweet gesture. A lot of the young people are nice though, it just kinda depends.

Next we got lunch at a shopping mall near the aquarium. I saw a KFC, Subway, and Baskin Robbins inside, but we got Japanese food instead. :P Afterwards we headed to- dun dun dun- a giant ferris wheel!!! I think I read it is 115 meters tall. It was covered by our pass and I'd never been on a ferris wheel before, so I thought, why not? Well... the view was amazing. And it was really cool to spot landmarks in Osaka. When I thought about where I was, it was scary, but I'm glad we did it. You only live once. :)

Well, that was it for our day. We took a subway and local trains back to our hotel- which were totally slammed- and settled down to rest for the evening. It's no exaggeration to say the heat here is overwhelming at times. A lot of people carry fans and wear towels around their necks. Even then, there's only so much one can do when it's this humid. 70 feels really cold to me now, haha.