Day 16 – Osaka

11.12AM, Kansai Airport Train – The forecast was right – it’s raining today so my plan to switch Nara to yesterday worked well. It’s still really humid, my jeans are constantly stuck to my legs.

I’m just off to Osaka Aquarium, the largest in the world. It’s supposedly got a ton of sharks which will be cool.

12.40PM, First Kitchen – BURGER. The aquarium was cool, bar the small hordes of children. There’s a massive whale shark in the central tank, penguins, dolphins, spider crabs – it’s a shame the screaming masses made it a loud experience.

I’m just going to head to the Osaka Transport Museum as it’s supposedly got loads of trains, and I like trains if you’d not guessed. The weather is dry, but overcast – it makes sense to do things indoors where air-conditioning can reduce the impact of humidity.

I lied, it’s now raining.

1.53AM, Osaka Loop Line – That was cool, they had a load of model trains and a few real things, including the driver’s car of an old Shinkansen. Even the older models look like spaceships. Another plus was the amount of kids, there was only a small group at the museum.

There was also a large scale model, complete with conductor and day and night frame. My grandfather would have loved it.

3.43PM, Osaka – The castle was cool, it’s in a really nice park. It started to rain heavily so I left, but not before I passed a dressed up giant iguana, walked through a scene from The Birds and passed a Japanese version of Full Metal Jacket.

I hope it clears up for my trip to Mt. Koya – it’d be very awkward if it’s raining all day.

Tagged: Japan 2011, Osaka, travel diary