Ari & Nici in Japan: Osaka - Shinsaibashi, Denden Town & America Mura \(*-*)/

Hey guys (^.^)v

Let's continue with our journey through Japan!

When half of our stay was over, we left Tokyo and made our way to Osaka.

Since I first got in touch with Japan, I've always wanted to visit Osaka the most ♥

Somehow it has always been the most interesting town to me.

Also, my favourite character of my favourite anime 'Azumanga daioh!'

is called 'Osaka' (her real name actually is Kasuga Ayumu) since

she is an exchange student from Osaka xD

After I managed to get all the stuff you saw in the former post into my suitcase,

we took the metro to Tokyo Station to catch our Shinkansen.

Sadly, that day a strong typhoon hit the parts of Japan we had to travel through

and so we experienced the only time a Japanese train was late.

But it was not only late, it also suddenly changed the platform and we had to

carry all our havy stuff through this huge amount of people to another platform.

But fortunately we had reserved seats and could rest during the ride.

we took the Hikari super express at 10.33 to Shin-Osaka ^.^

there is so much space for your legs in the Shinkansen, we could place our suitcases in front of our legs *o*

Of course, the ride took longer than usual due to the typhoon but whereas the delay

was more than one and a half hour somewhere in between, we arrived at Shin-Osaka

Station with just 25 minutes delay. Good job, Japanese train drivers!

Since it was already quite late, we went out for dinner with our new host family
and decided to visit the city on another day x3
We discussed our plans for the next day in the evening and Nici really wanted
to go to Hiroshima and I wanted to see Osaka city, so we split apart for this day.
So the next day I dressed up and went to the train station.

The only mirror in the house was in our kitchen/bathroom

 My first stop that day was 'Denden Town'!
It is said to be Osaka's Akihabara and I think that's true xD

You could win a Harry Potter wand in this Ufo catcher *o*

Oh no! It's Mosra attacking!

I bought a few things and played Ufo-catcher x3
It was a typical Osaka Ufo Catcher since you had to catch pin-pon balls
and let them fall in the middle of a Taiyaki pan x'D

the best thing in Japan: vending machines with delicious drinks everywhere!

I thought this building was rather interesting..

Next, I wanted to visit Shinsaibashi!
Maybe you have seen pictures of Glico Man before?
It is a huge illuminated advertisement sign with a guy in a running suit.
It is very famous and nearly every Osaka tourist takes a photo of or with it xD
Me too of course:

I saw many people taking photos with him and I wanted too 
but I was to scared to ask anyone...
But, I didn't walk all on my own that day, I took my friend Tiger-chan with my ^.^
He is a small plush tiger my boyfriend gave to me ^.^
He accompanied me on the whole journey and so I thought
'why not show him some parts of Japan, too?'

Tiger-chan and Glico Man! My photo with him will follow x3

Dotonbori River

 When you are standing in front of Glico Man on this brigde over Dotonbori River
and just turn around, you will see the entrance of Shinsaibashi-suji.
A very, very long roofted shopping street.
It even crosses some streets and you have to be careful where you are walking
since suddenly a street can cross and a car can hit you o.o

The entrance of Shinsaibashi-suji. A very very long roofed shopping street x3

Inside Shinsaibashi-suji

Since it was already sometime in the afternoon, I decided it was time for lunch xD
The easiest way to get lunch in Japan is to go to a Conbini store
and they are located at literally every street corner.
This time I went to a 'Family Mart'.
 

I love this 'Royal Milk Tea' *Q*

After restoring my energy, I could walk on and visited 'America Mura'!
The word 'Mura' means 'village' in Japanese and the district is something
like the Harajuku or Shibuya of Tokyo.
The name refers to the youth culture and clothing style they wear.

Ame Mura was greeting me x3

Unfortunately, I did not take many pictures in Ame Mura
but like in Harajuku and Shibuya you will find many fashionable young people
and lots of clothing stores there. But on the streets you can see
that in Osaka there is much more influence from America and
espacially from rap and hip hop culture.

I just bought one piece here which I will show you in a seperated shopping haul post x3
But I also had my only bubble tea in Japan in Ame Mura ^.^

Actually it wasn't tea but mango juice x3 still delicious ♥
And I was happy everytime I ordered something in Japanese 
and they understood what I wanted x'D

So, that was my first entry on Osaka ^.^
I think there will follow two more and also some of other places we visited.
So stay tuned and see you next time (^.^)v