Jess and Liam (Jono's sister and her boyfriend) have arrived in Himeji and for our first big adventure we headed to Osaka. In search for a new camera for Jess, we found our way to Yodobashi Camera. The world of all things electronic sucked us in and held us hostage for several hours as we browsed through the computer section, the camera section (Jess got an Olympus camera), toy section (we bought UNO) and then made our way to the 8th floor for lunch.
This floor was jam packed with different restaurants where Jess and Liam looked at the various display cases, containing the plastic models of each meal on the menu, with intrigue! A common question being..."What's that?" We decided to dine at a steak house and introduced Jess and Liam to their second Japanese meal. Jono, Liam and I had the lemon steak and Italian hamburger with rice, cabbage salad and bacon soup, while Jess had the lemon and soy steak, curry and rice, salad and bacon soup. All meals were delivered to the table sizzling on a hot plate with the steak looking quite rare. We quickly turned the meat over on the plate and let it cook a bit more. The meal was delicious and very filling.
T-shirts were the main form of entertainment for us. Here are some t-shirts we remember:
One particular store kept us entertained for about half an hour. It was full of little nick knacks, foods and odd bod merchandise. There were Alf, The Little Mermaid, McDonald's and Trolls trading cards, bacon print packing tape, animal kettles, fruit key heads, coin purses in the shape of a chicken wing, a peanut, a steak, SPAM 25% bigger in Japan (alright, time for a SPAM burger!), and the list goes on.
After many hours of exploring Yodoboshi we ventured down the road to the Entertainment Park, another high rise shopping building. We went to the Snoopy shop and the Disney shop, buying some cute merchandise. On the top floor there is the Hep Five Ferris wheel. It is 106m tall and one round trip goes for 15 mins. Jess, Jono and I boarded the Ferris wheel and were just amazed at how many buildings are crammed in next to each other. We laughed when we saw the train station, only one block away. We were out and about Osaka today!!!!!
This floor was jam packed with different restaurants where Jess and Liam looked at the various display cases, containing the plastic models of each meal on the menu, with intrigue! A common question being..."What's that?" We decided to dine at a steak house and introduced Jess and Liam to their second Japanese meal. Jono, Liam and I had the lemon steak and Italian hamburger with rice, cabbage salad and bacon soup, while Jess had the lemon and soy steak, curry and rice, salad and bacon soup. All meals were delivered to the table sizzling on a hot plate with the steak looking quite rare. We quickly turned the meat over on the plate and let it cook a bit more. The meal was delicious and very filling.Next we cruised the many shops (yep, in the same building) and had a laugh a minute. Our first crazy purchase for the day were the "Nudy Sandals" which feature in the What the? section. Hmmm, Jess and I were intrigued and assume that, because they were marked down to 504 yen from 2980 yen, they didn't really take off. Well, imagine the base of a sandal with a sticky film on the top and you have the Nudy Sandal. Jess tried hers on and said they felt squidgy!
T-shirts were the main form of entertainment for us. Here are some t-shirts we remember:-"No Crackheads" with a picture looking similar to ghost busters, but he had a particular apparatus in his hand.
-"Camp fun time" with a picture of a totem pole.
-"Water Melon. I fell in love with this taste".
-"Bowling. Observe the rules and play happily. The ball was disgusted".
-"Boy Howdy" with a beer bottle that had eyes and arms.
-"Ringo" With a cartoon picture of Ringo Starr eating an apple (apple is 'ringo' in Japanese).
One particular store kept us entertained for about half an hour. It was full of little nick knacks, foods and odd bod merchandise. There were Alf, The Little Mermaid, McDonald's and Trolls trading cards, bacon print packing tape, animal kettles, fruit key heads, coin purses in the shape of a chicken wing, a peanut, a steak, SPAM 25% bigger in Japan (alright, time for a SPAM burger!), and the list goes on. 
After many hours of exploring Yodoboshi we ventured down the road to the Entertainment Park, another high rise shopping building. We went to the Snoopy shop and the Disney shop, buying some cute merchandise. On the top floor there is the Hep Five Ferris wheel. It is 106m tall and one round trip goes for 15 mins. Jess, Jono and I boarded the Ferris wheel and were just amazed at how many buildings are crammed in next to each other. We laughed when we saw the train station, only one block away. We were out and about Osaka today!!!!!VISITORS COMMENTS:
First time out of himeji which wasn't the bus ride from the airport got to see a lot of the different cities when travelling on the train (even though they all run together and the only way to tell is by the train station you get off at). Osaka was a lot busier than any where i have been before. People are everywhere and it's very crazy. There don't seem to be as many bikes as Himeji but we didnt really travel very far away from the train station lol. So far it has been a very fun trip (except feet are hurting haven't ever walked this much i think (liam)) also Jess and i havent had to navagate the train system by ourselves yet so that could also be interesting :S . all in all the day was lots of fun and got to look at some electronics :) . Also got to buy a new camera and new shoes (it only took me lots of complaining to get them)... so a great day of shopping for me!
