Japan - Osaka

Wa-heeey! The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things! Like Claire going to Japan a couple of weeks ago! Whheeee! You heard correctly, little old Claire got on a big plane and went on a short tour of Japan! I really enjoyed the trip, and would love to go back. We (I travelled with my boyfriend's sister, Emma!) were booked in on a 9-day tour (Japan Express: Osaka to Tokyo) with the awesome company G Adventures - whom I very much recommend, we had an amazing Tour Leader who went above and beyond her duty to give us a memorable and fun experience!

Well, we arrived by plane into Osaka about 9am on a Sunday, and the first thing I noticed was Japan's super high-tech toilets, complete with heated toilet seat! Woah! At first I was unsure about this heated toilet seat business, but I have now realised that they are a revelation! (Especially comforting in winter!)
The airport was pretty interesting in itself, I found a couple of cute graphics that needed to be pictured:



But yes, once we found our hotel (bumbling along using a mixture of English and garbled Japanese), had a nap and generally settled in, we set out and explored the city of Osaka!

We discovered the glorious vending machines, the Japanese subway system and Osaka Castle!



We then went for a little walk around our hotel, and found the most eye-popping shopping street area called Dotonburi.




So many colours! In the evening we met our Tour Leader and the group of people we would be travelling with (who were a jolly good group of people!), and most importantly, we went for dinner.



It was a mini-barbeque affair, we were given a selection of meats in a tasty marinade and we fried them to our liking! It was pretty cool, perhaps every dinner table at home should have one? I think so.
And heres a little look at the more *exotic* meals on the menu, I don't know about anyone else, but the 'Scalded Aorta' does make me slightly curious!



So that is Day 1 of my Japan Bonanza Trip, I shall be posting the adventures of the next few days soon, where we stay over in a monastry in Koyasan and stop over in the laid-back Hiroshima to see the Peace Park.