A day of rest

Having walked ourselves silly the past few weeks, we thought our last day of true Japan (not counting tomorrow at Universal studios :)) should be spent in a slightly more relaxed manner. We had no real desire to visit the Osaka Aquarium or the Osaka castle and had shopped the Dontonbori-Namba area thoroughly so decided to visit the Umeda area, the big shopping district around the Osaka station. A strange place as the map is split into two, above and below ground with each covering as much area roughly as the Melbourne CBD. The underground is a crisscross of networked shopping malls linking the various rail networks together and above ground are wide boulevards and tall department stores.

The obligatory morning coffee.. but with Buddha sprinkles on it!

We caught the underground and in no time we were there, at a bunch of closed shops.(?) We asked in a convenience store and found out it was a public holiday.
 The web says this..

お盆 (O-Bon or Lantern Festival) - 13-16 August

Obon is a Buddhist festival in homage to the spirits of the ancestors. It is said that the spirits return to earth during Obon, and lanterns are lit in front of houses to show them the way to their family. Lanterns are then floated on rivers to indicate the way back to the underworld - although the practice is now forbidden in big cities to avoid pollution. Obon is normally held mid-August, but sometimes also mid-July. Many people living in cities return to their hometowns. It is also a busy vacation period, like the New Year and Golden Week, although this applies to all August, not just Obon itself.

...so it was the festival that started back when we were in the Okunoin cemetery on the 13th with that night celebration. Makes sense.

Anyway, we walked to the hub of the area and found many shops, particularly department stores open.

One store, Hep Five, had a huge whale sculpture inside it and a Ferris wheel up on the 7th floor. So we went and checked it out. I sat out but the others climbed on board and described it as one of the most amazing views ever and unbelievably high. I would have been white with Acrophobia.

Coming in to land.

We also played some games in the arcade there including a few more expensive, ride simulator things. On took 12 people at once and simulated a water rafting experience, complete with wind in your face and sprays of water at dramatic moments. Quite fun despite the long wait.

After that we picked our way back through the underground maze to our subway station and caught the train back to our hotel. The station at the hotel is pretty much directly beneath it which is quite handy.

Found a really great Sumi brush and paper shop. Lots of nice stamps and inks and paints.

 We ate in a nice Japanese place in the shops next door. The place sold mostly deep fried pork and shrimp and it was delicious. 

More Sake?

On leaving, the waiter gave us a gift of 5 ceramic Japanese cups; very nice of him. We went to the basement of the shopping center and bought cakes and nougat and macaroons as a bit of a finale in our room.

Rows and rows of calories!

Sleep!