Japan (pt.2) Osaka

From Kyoto to Osaka, it should have been about a 40 min train ride.  We must have messed up and bought the wrong tickets (or just followed what we had read about online) because after settling in for a nice little nap, we heard the announcement that we would soon be arriving at Shin-Osaka station.  It had only been 10 minutes since we boarded..talk about a bullet train.  The first night we just walked around the Amerimura/Dotonbori/Namba areas, and the next day we got up to visit Osaka Castle.

Dotonbori

Lamp posts in Amerimura

Dotonbori

Dotonbori Canal

Osaka Castle

view from the top of Osaka Castle

Dotonbori

Later in the week, we checked out the Umeda area of the city which is around the main Osaka Station.  This seemed like the biz-district with a lot of high-rises and department stores..so many department stores.  The man reason we went here was because my friend really wanted to visit the Pokemon Center.  It was beyond crowded with not only thousands of children but grown men/women standing around playing their DS.  We also took a ride in the ferris wheel at the top of the Hep5 Building.

buildings around Umeda

Osaka Station

Osaka Station

Hep5 Ferris Wheel

Osaka from the Hep5 Ferris Wheel

Pokemon Center

people hangin out playing the DS at the Pokemon Center