A full day in Osaka: May 4

 Today we finally decided to try renting a bike through a bike share service called Luup, we used the service to rent a scooter before, but this was the first time we used their bikes. It was absolutely awful to be honest, the bike was extremely short and it was an ebike so it felt strange to bike with. Going up hills was difficult because the crank arms were super short, the whole experience was very uncomfortable and I wish I could have just ridden a regular bike. Not only was it an uncomfortable ride, but to get off the bike and end the ride you have to bring it  to specific Luup stations, and they have a limit on how many bikes or scooters can be stored there. We ended our ride really far from our actual destination. So from that point on we decided not to rent any more bikes or scooters and just walk or bus or train.

    The destination we were headed to was Shitennoji temple, and it was surrounded by vendors outside selling thousands of books. I was tempted to search for some old manga, but even if I found it I wouldn’t be able to read it, so we just strolled by. The inside of the temple was pretty new, it must have been recently restored because the paint was fresh and everything was very clean. The highlight was that we could walk up the stairs in the temple’s five story pagoda. Normally this is not allowed, but because we were there on a holiday during Golden Week the rules were different. We explored the temple as much as we could and started walking to our next spot; Osaka Castle.

    Osaka Castle was a magnificent sight, you could see it from miles away as it is perched upon a big hill. It is surrounded by a large moat and huge stone walls, and boat rides around the moat were offered at every entrance. It was built in 1597, and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times since then, whether by warring shogunates, civil war, lightning strikes, or World War II. During World War II the castle was used as a massive arsenal, employing 60,000 workers to manufacture weapons. The main keep of the castle was heavily damaged from bombings on the arsenal and was rebuilt in 1995, but cracks in the foundation remain to this day. There were signs there saying that the castle was damaged from U.S. bombings but conveniently left out the fact that Japan was using it as an armory. We had the opportunity to go inside and even go to the top, but the line to get in was really long and we didn't really feel like paying for that, so we enjoyed the view from the base and headed towards Osaka City Central Public Hall.

    On the way to our next destination we were getting a little hungry, and happened to walk by a Taiyaki shop. Taiyaki is a deceptively named sweet treat, its name literally means fried sea bream (Tai = sea bream, a type of fish)(Yaki = fried/cooked fast). But it's not a fried fish, it's a pastry in the shape of a Tai fish with a sweet filling, usually red bean paste or custard. Tai fish were seen as a symbol of wealth or luck in Japan because they were quite expensive, reserved only for the wealthy or special occasions. I got a vanilla bean custard taiyaki and my dad got a classic red bean paste taiyaki. We chowed down and walked the bustling yet squeaky clean streets of Osaka towards the public hall.

    Osaka City's public hall sits on an island in the middle of the river, and the whole island was full with people celebrating Golden week, there was live music, games, food, but we were just passing through. There was also some kind of local film festival going on inside of the public hall. Osaka City public hall was made in 1918 with grant money from Einosuke Iwamoto. He was a wealthy broker from Osaka, and was inspired by American businessman who paid their own money for public halls like Carnegie Hall. We explored as much of the building as we could, then made our way towards the next building, the Umeda Sky Building.

    The Umeda Sky Building was built in 1993, its a pair of huge skyscrapers that are connected by a bridge at the top and halfway up. It was started in 1988 and the original plan was to have four interconnected towers, but that fell away due to Japan's economic bubble of the 80's bursting. We got some good views of the building and had the opportunity to pay to go to the top, but like many of these opportunities we opted to save some time and money instead. We explored some of the inside because the lower levels are basically a vertical mall. We stopped at a movie theater for a bathroom break and it was interesting to see all the Japanese movies I had never heard of on display. After we got a good view of the building we parted ways, I  headed to home base while pops found a local brewery, and we eventually met up back at the hostel.

    At the end of the night we looked around near our hostel for some food and we happened upon a little indian restaurant and decided to give it a shot and it turned out to be some of the best food I'd have on this entire trip. I got some chicken curry with naan and we shared some cheesy naan with honey (this sweet cheesy naan was a surprisingly good combo) and the plain naan was absolutely huge. It was a delectable meal and when we finished up and left the owners thanked us and walked us out and even stood in the door to say goodbye. We awkwardly walked away as they waved goodbye, then got ready for the trip to Himeji the next day.