Osaka!!

This here picture is of this intense covered street mall that goes on for ever!! Literally...we got lost in it - there are twists and turns...and of course lots of shopping. It was awesome especially because it was raining.

Anne with the Japanese icon - yes, that is a massive hello kitty. Just wait...

If you want authentic - this restaurant was it. This man made sushi as you can see by the tons of raw fish in front of him. It was awesome.

Street side in Osaka - not much visual stimulation eh?

A random river that flowed through Osaka. We paused for a swim - and by swim, we mean photo op.

The protective lion that is found outside of all temples.

Inside the temple.

THE MOAT!! This was awesome - it was surrounding Osaka castle. It was a tiring swim across but the pictures were totally worth it.

A little rock - that as you can see, is massive. Colin is in the picture to illustrate the sheer size of this rock - he is also reading about the massive rock. Did we say - this rock was massive?

We're not tourists or anything. Castle in the background + head cut out touristy things = a great time in Osaka.

Why stop at one when you can take pictures with all the pretty cut outs!!

MORE!!!! Do you like our outfits? We're palace royalty - clearly.

We figured at the castle we might actaully want to take pictures of the castle - sans head cut outs. It was amazing.

More castle!

View of Osaka. Osaka does a good job of combining the old (castles, temples, etc.) with the new buildings and urban landscape.

View of Osaka as we left the castle. This picture doesn't do it justice - it was beautiful.

Symbol of Osaka at night.

Osaka was a great city. We really enjoyed it.

Up next - Kyoto!!!