Day6: Exploring the new world

After a good long sleep I started the day by organizing my trip to Tokyo. Whilst my parents would have the luxury of travelling by Shinkansen, my budget wouldn’t stretch to that and so I booked myself on an overnight bus. Whilst less comfortable the round trip would also cost less than a one-way ticket by train so I was happy.

By about 11am I travelled over to Tennoji to rendezvous with the family. We had a brief chat about our plan, getting to Tokyo and so on and decided to go our separate ways for the day. Whilst it has been months since we’d seen each other, you can always have too much of a good thing. My mum and dad set off for Namba or a bit of retail therapy, whilst I decided to check out a bit more of Tennoji.

In the guide book it was claimed that Tennoji contained many of the historical sites within Osaka, read more temples and shrines, but there were some other things to check out as well. My parents had claimed that everywhere had been shut when they looked and thought it was a bit of a dump.

I had decided to check out Tennoji park but my first stop was for luncheon, I was not repeating the mistakes of the previous day. Unsure what to go for I decided to suck it up and give Mos burger, probably the most common western inspired Japanese fast food place, a go. I got myself a teriyaki chicken burger and it was actually pretty decent, a far cry from Maccies.

Coming back up above ground, yeah I retreated to a mall to escape the heat whilst I ate, I wandered over to Tennoji park. Like nearly everywhere in Japan you have to pay. It was only a few hundred yen though and it was a very pretty and expansive park, including a rather lovely greenhouse and a zoo, which I gave a wide berth.

The central portion of the park is a traditional Japanese style garden with a large central pond full of Koi. Hat really made me giggle is that as I got close I noticed an old Japanese gentleman tossing bread into the water. I guess normally people would feed the ducks in England but over here they feed the Koi. I love little observations like that.

I carried on over a picturesque arched bridge that gave a great overview of the park before finally exiting over the far side. Right next to the park was a very large Buddhist temple that is actually fairly hidden  by the tree cover, I only noticed it due to a large golden spire at it’s centre, that and by it's rather colourful frog bins.

The to Oni statues guarding the central exit where very imposing and impressive. In fact it was a very nice temple complex altogether. I almost felt as though I was intruding a bit, being the only foreign visitor at the time. I think that many of the Japanese people present were observing O-bon (a Buddhist celebration of the dead). I made a quick dedication at the shrine before setting off. This is also the reason I didn't ake too many pictures it seemed a bit disrespectful.

This temple is part of what is known as the “Nana-saka” or seven slopes of Tennoji. Each one has it’s own theme and a major temple or shrine located along the path. I considered seeing all of them but decided that I’d had enough of temples and shrines for the Day.

Instead I moved on to a rather less tranquil are of Tennoji known as “Shin-sekai” (new world). This region used to be one of the main entertainment districts of Osaka however now it was more a representation of Osakan llife in the 60’s. It’s not a bad place actually with many street vendors and gaudy neon signs. On the way I also found a vending machine that sold coconut milk, which made my day.

 

The main attraction of Shin-sekai is Tsukentaku tower (the tower reaching to heaven) which has at it’s top a shrine to Billiken, a deity of happiness invented by some American lady in the early 1900’s. It is said if you rub his feet you will be granted good luck. It seems this place is very popular with Japanese tourists but I braved the huge queues for my turn with Billiken-san wishing Yuko a speedy recovery.

Just before leaving the tower I spotted a few bottles of "ramune" (basically lemonade). Nothing unusual there its very common in the summer in Japan. What was bizarre where the flavours. Kimchee, wasabi and Kare were all present. Not what you really want in a 'refreshing' beverage I'm sure. Still from what I've experienced no one loves a good gimmick better than the Japanese. 

I then had a quick look around the neighborhood. It’s nowhere near as mad as Umeda, apparently it’s quite a destitute area these days, in fact due to ties with the Yakuza it is supposed to be one of the more dodgy areas of Osaka though I think that's wildly exaggerated. During my wander I managed to pick up a new pair of shorts and a rather swank one piece T-shirt.

Wandered out I headed back to Tennoji to meet back up with the rents at the hotel. We chilled out there for a bit before heading back to Fukishima. Earlier in the day I’d discovered a shop that served tomato ramen. I’d heard about it before from a friend and it seemed like it was something that I needed to try. It was only actually a small place (the best places in Japan always are) and it was rammed.

My self and my dad got “Tomago tomato Ramen” (noodles with egg) and my mum opted for the seafood option. It was supremely tasty, the tomato sauce was nicely seasoned with herbs and had a very Italian flavour whilst the noodles where steadfastly Japanese. They were a good mix and rapidly disappeared.

We headed out after a rather hasty meal, the queue outside was building up though I think this was more because the Japanese love a good queue even more than the brits. My parents walked with me to Umeda sky building, the tallest building in Osaka  believe, where I would be catching my bus. I tried to convince them to go up for the views but the outdoor glass elevator seemed to put them off.

Getting on the bus was actually surprisingly fuss free. I tried to get settled but the man next to me was a bit of a blob and, being Japanese, was fast asleep as soon as the engine turned on. In fact there was a very interesting mix of people on the bus including what I can only assume where the Japanese equivalent of scals. It tried to settle down for what I was pretty sure would be a long night and dream of Tokyo.

Ja ne minna.