More about Osaka

In the center of Osaka town, Umeda, there is a building called HEP FIVE. At the entrance of it, there is an art object of a big red shark. There are many fashionable shops in the buildings.




On the building, there is a big and red Ferris Wheel.
We can see the night views of Osaka on it.
What do you think it is? →
It is the night view of Osaka Castle!!


By the way, look at the picture. This is the chair in subway platform in Osaka. It has the cushion! How kind Osaka's subway is !!





This is a tree standing by the roadside, in front of the family court near the Osaka castle. I felt it was so splendid that I took the picture.

The Osaka Castle !!

The next day we enjoyed Doutonbori night, we went to see the Osaka castle. It was rainy day, but a volunteer guide explained about the castle very kindly.


Because of rain, I couldn't see Osaka's scenery from the castle's deck well. But there was something like museum in the castle and I could study the castle's history and Hideyoshi Toyotomi there.

Then we found we hadn't eaten Takoyaki yet in Osaka, so we went into a tea stall around the castle. There we ate Takoyaki and Mitarashi-dango. They were very hot and good taste.
We were at ease too much there, so when we noticed we had short time to our flight. We hurried to the Kansai Airport.

Doutonbori in Osaka !!

After enjoying Takarazuka, we left for Osaka. We went to the famous place 'Doutonbori'.
We took some pictures with Guriko's neon sign, Kuidaore doll', and so on.

Then we felt hungry, and we went to the famous Okonomiyaki restaurant, 'Boteju' near Doutonbori.
We drank beer, and ordered three kinds of Okonomiyaki.
All of them were very delicious.

Takarazuka's Souvenirs !!

There were many original sweets and snacks at the souvenir shop in Takarazuka.

I found very unusual souvenir. It was 'Hagi-no-Tsuki'. Hagi-no-Tsuki is a famous kind of cake in Sendai, but in Takarazuka, it was packed in the Takarazuka's boxes (see the photo). Why Sendai's cakes were there? It's very mysterious.


And one more original snack is 'Kageki Senbei'. It is kind of Tansan Senbei. Tansan Senbei is very light snack included carbonated water in hot springs. It is famous snack in Hyogo prefecture. I think the word 'Kageki' has two meanings. One is 'opera' and the other is 'strong' like carbonated soda. The photos of Top Stars in Takarazuka printed on the can. People who love Takarazuka must be dying to have it.

My First Takarazuka !!!

Last weekend I went to the Kansai area with my two co-workers. The aim of this trip was to watch Takarazuka Grand Theater. I had never watched Takarazuka's stage, so I was looking forward to watching it very much. At Takarazuka company, all the members who act are woman, and the top stars who play men's role are all beautiful. There are many crazy fans of them.


We watched Yuki-Gumi(Snow Troup)'s stage 'Lucifers Tears'. The top star Asami Hikaru performed very well. She was powerful and dynamic. I was attracted by her. But...oh, how regrettable it was!! I had been too busy to sleep at work recently, so as soon as the stage began and became dark, I felt very sleepy. I could only endure my sleepiness in the play, so I couldn't understand what were going at the story. When the curtain came down on the last scene, many audiences were sobbing. My co-workers were very excited. But I...felt very pity.
Anyway I enjoyed Takarazuka very much. It was very excited place. I want to go there again some day when my work doesn't very hard.