The Osaka Castle

Hello world! This is Matt. I'm taking this last post from Amanda because it is about our last stop on our Osaka trip and one of my favorite parts of Japan so far- Osaka castle!

I've has an affinity for castles ever since I was a kid. One of the coolest things about Okinawa is that it is home to twenty castle ruins. My inner ten year old comes out when I get to explore one of them. When we planned our trip to Osaka I found out that it was home to a castle, and I told Amanda that we were going. Not that I would like to go. We were going.

Osaka-jo was easily one of the coolest and most striking things I've ever seen. When you approach it the first thing you see are the sixty foot stone walls that were placed by hand. Some of the stones were as tall as I am. The next thing you see is the moat, and that is followed by audible squealing on certain castle enthusiast's part.

The castle had two walls and two moats. They were both imposing and beautiful at the same time. 

As we wove our way around the castle walls to get to the inner bailey, we entered the main gate. 

And just inside was the biggest stone I've ever seen. 

No, but really. Hand placed. One stone block.

A sign next to it explained that it weighed 108 tons and was so big it had a name- the Octopus Stone. I would have gone with the "you're-pretty-much-screwed, welcome-to-Osaka" stone since it guards the front door, but Japanese culture is all about subtlety. Again, hand placed, people. No trucks. No heavy equipment.

After reeling from analyzing the defenses and the building techniques, we rounded the wall and the castle came into view. 

The five story tower has beautiful oxidized copper shingles and gold leaf decorations. It was breathtaking and a wonderful last stop before heading home to Okinawa.

The Owl Family Cafe

My friends Victoria and Kacey had already traveled to Osaka and came back with pictures and stories of an owl cafe, so while we were in the city we researched the address and took the railway followed by the subway in order to reach the location. While it took time and effort to take multiple public transit systems to find a small cafe, the experience was so novel and exciting I am glad we made the trip.

The owl cafe was similar in structure to the cat cafe I had already visited in Okinawa. You pay around ten dollars for an hour with the animals and a small drink. While you simply read the rules for the cat cafe (for example: don't pick up the cats, don't let the cats drink from your glass), there was a presentation for the proper handling of owls. The rules were given in Japanese, but the instructor used a stuffed owl for visual purposes. I therefore had a pretty good idea of the etiquette of introducing yourself to owls. You let them see the back of your had before you pet them on the back. If they try to fly away while on your arm you raise your hand high and hold on tight to their lead. There were also multiple women there to pass the owl from one person to the next and make sure everything went smoothly. I asked about our camera, and they assured me pictures were acceptable as long as no flash was used. So...here are the owl pictures!

This guy was huge! Too big to be held, so I just pet his back.

This is Tubu. It means "minimized" because he is the smallest in the cafe.

The resting area for owls on break. They took naps.

David and Beverly looking classy.

I'm holding Kome, and Matt has Bei. 

We had so much fun interacting with owls from all over the world....even though Kome pooped down the back of my dress as he sat on my shoulder. This was before lunch, so I had to go the rest of the day before I could change into clean clothes. I was so glad I packed an extra outfit!

The Japanese Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I grew up reading Harry Potter. I read the first three books in elementary school as I patiently waited for my owl to arrive. Even after I resigned myself to a muggle middle and high school education I would read the newest installment of the series every summer that one was released. As a family we would ride the golf cart to the local bookstore for the midnight premiere. I was able to grow up with Harry and his friends as I received the final book for a high school graduation gift. I always wanted to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, but despite the fact I was only one state away I never did.  When I discovered the opening of the same park at Universal Studios Osaka I had to see it for myself. I was able to convince Matt and our Harry Potter-obsessed friends to come along!

The park in Osaka had many of the same attractions as the park in Orlando: the Flight of the Hippogriff roller coaster, Hogsmeade shops, the Three Broomsticks restaurant, and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey located inside Hogwarts Castle. Even though we were in Japan, I assumed that, based on the British location and original actors, most things would be in English. I assumed incorrectly. We went to see Ollivander in his wand shop. While he was a Western actor who delivered half of his lines with a British accent, when he asked direct questions to the audience he did so in Japanese. The ride inside Hogwarts featured the actors from the movie, but their lines were dubbed over in Japanese. The attendants in the gift shop spoke Japanese, and they were thrilled with our attempts to communicate. They complimented us on our few words. 

We were the only Westerners in sight other than the hired characters. We were stared at quite a bit while waiting in line. Speaking of lines, there was a line for EVERYTHING. We had to obtain a ticket for a specific time to simply enter the park. We waited in line to enter Ollivander's wand shop, waited in line to enter the Three Broomsticks to order food, and then waited in some more lines to ride the rides. There were lots and LOTS of people. Luckily the day was overcast so we were not dying in the sun as we waited. It was all worth the wait! I had so much fun experiencing the fantasy of the world created by J.K. Rowling. 

The Mirror of Erised in a gift shop! We saw ourselves at Harry Potter World!

Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks

And my pumpkin juice!

The Hogwarts Express in Hogsmeade

The entry to Hogwarts Castle

Hogwarts over the Black Lake

The Osaka Overview

Over Labor Day weekend Matt and I took our first vacation to mainland Japan. We traveled with our friends to the beautiful city of Osaka. We used the agency IACE Travel to book our trip, and the whole experience was easy peasy. They booked the flights, the airport transfers, and the hotel for us in advance. The main attraction for our group was the newly opened Wizarding World of Harry Potter inside the Universal Osaka theme park, so the travel agency reserved a hotel within a five minute walk of the theme park and included a ticket as well. The entire hotel had a Jurassic Park theme to match the ride inside the park.

The view from our room. I can see Hogwarts Castle!

The screen in the lobby that reports on wait times for every ride.

The animatronic dinosaur in the lobby! It moved!

The first night we explored the shops and restaurants of Universal City Walk right outside the theme park and hotel. We ate American food at Hard Rock Cafe Osaka. The second day was spent at the park riding rides and immersing ourself in wizard culture! The last day we took the train into the city and visited an owl cafe and Osaka Castle. 

Burgers and BBQ ribs, yum!

At the park!

Jurassic Park was Matt's favorite movie growing up.

He's happy. Can you tell?

Green tea ice cream in Osaka!

Owl Family Cafe

Osaka Castle

This was only our second vacation while living in Japan, and it was SO FUN! More details to come in following posts about places to see and things to do in the city of Osaka.

The Cafe Called Transit

While it is almost impossible to choose between all the amazing eateries on the island, a new winner for my tastebuds has just edged out all of the competitors. The name of this winning restaurant is Transit Cafe. It sits on the second floor of a white building overlooking the seawall. It is a tiny cafe that only fits a four tables inside and three outside on the porch. It is near Kadena Air Base where I work, and I have come to expect Matt to take me there as reward whenever I have to work Saturdays.

I especially love ordering one of their six lunch sets. In addition to your entrée you receive soup, salad, a drink, and a special price on a half order of cake! Everything you order is adorned with orchids or mint sprigs and beautifully presented. My current favorites on the menu are the ahi poke (avocado, tuna, sea grapes, and raw quail egg), camembert cheese fondue, and mango juice with fresh fruit. 

The staff are very friendly, and I frequent Transit so often I began to recognize faces. I used my meager Japanese to ask one server her name and tell her mine in return (in Japanese!). I then had to beg a friend to ask her again because I didn't catch it the first time she said her name. Now whenever I enter she calls "Amanda-san!" I enjoy being a regular at this little cafe by the sea. 

The Castle of Sweets

I decided to use my knowledge from working at Information, Tickets, and Travel to plan a day for my friends. I purchased tickets for a glass bottom boat ride from work and planned to take them to Cafe Doka Doka for a meal beforehand. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...we did not do either of those activities that day. Cafe Doka Doka was closed, and the sea conditions were so rough the boat stopped going out. We were on the west coast on the island in the resort town of Onna, and I quickly did some research online to see what was in the area. We ended up touring Cape Manzamo and Okashi Goden, the castle of sweets. 

Cape Manzamo is a scenic point on the East China Sea where the cliffs meet the ocean. It was very crowded with tourists with cameras (I consider us locals by now), but we stopped and snapped some pictures of our own. 

At the castle of sweets we ate lunch upstairs in the restaurant Churaumi, which means "beautiful ocean." While the fare was standard Okinawan ramen, there were two points of interest that had me falling in love with the restaurant: the view and the case of beni-imo (purple sweet potato) desserts. One entire wall of the restaurant was a window overlooking the turquoise East China Sea. There were even binoculars available so we could stare out over the ocean during the meal. I made sure to leave room for dessert since the display case was full of dark purple cakes and tarts. I had a beni-imo sponge cake with a beni-imo sweet cream filling. Amazing!

We were full from lunch, but that did not mean we stopped tasting sweets. Downstairs was a gift shop full of Okinawan delicacies, all with free samples that the salespeople urge you to try. The main flavors were beni-imo, mango, and shiquasa (a green Okinawan citrus). There were sponge cakes, donuts, ice cream, and even some candies with cheesecake filling. 

At the back of the gift shop was the beni-imo candy factory. We could see the machines through a glass wall producing and packaging the cookies. 

We left Okashi Goden very, very full of treats, but overall I was happy my day that I thought was ruined turned out so sweet. 

The Murder Mystery Party

Even though Halloween is months away, our neighbors gave us an excuse to dress up in costumes when they hosted a murder mystery dinner party. This specific mystery was entitled "Pasta, Passion, and Pistols" and took place at an Italian Restaurant. For those who have never been accused of murder for fun, everyone is assigned a character beforehand. I was Angel Roni, the tough daughter of the deceased living in New York City. Matt was Father Al Fredo, a priest who knows everyone's secrets. We enjoyed an Italian dinner, and afterwards we were all given a script and secret clue to reveal. We take turns revealing clues and accusing each other. We all make a final guess on whodunnit, and the murderer is revealed at the very end. I loved how everyone at the party stayed in character, and some even attempted Italian or French accents. We had a wonderful evening, and this time neither Matt nor I were guilty of murder!

The sign greeting us at the door. 

Tara Misu and Rocco Scarfazzi

Mama Rosa and her son and daughter

Clair Voyant, Father Al Fredo, Bo Jalais

Who committed the crime?