After a morning at Osaka Castle, my parents and I took two trains and less than 20 minutes to get to Osaka Port, home of the amazing Osaka Aquarium. This was another place that I had been on my solo trip west last year, but it was so impressive that I had no problem seeing it again.
Before we went in, we stopped for lunch at the nearby shopping centre. On my last trip I found an okonomiyaki restaurant (one of Osaka’s famous foods) where the staff cook at your table. I tried, unsuccessfully, to describe okonomiyaki to my parents on the train ride. “It’s like an omelette pizza pancake with stuff in it and delicious sauce” wasn’t really enough for them to get a good mental image of the food, so I told them to just trust me. On their first trip to Japan, we probably would have ended up at a McDonalds in this situation. This time we all sat down for delicious okonomiyaki which they loved.
Okonomiyaki ready for sauce. Yum!
The last time I was at the aquarium, I noticed that most of the gaijins at the aquarium were talking about the beautiful assortment of marine life on display, while more than a few of the Japanese people (especially the kids) were commenting on how delicious the assortment of marine life looked. I told this to my parents over lunch, but they didn’t completely believe me. I asked them to listen for the word “oishii” which means delicious. It didn’t take long for them to hear it!
Osaka Aquarium is a world class facility featuring marine life from around the globe. The variety of different species and information available is simply fantastic. I would post more pictures, but it’s extremely difficult to get good pictures through thick aquarium glass. Other than that I would highly recommend the aquarium to all visitors. Also, if you have been in Japan for a while, don’t go hungry – everything will start looking delicious to you.
Before heading back to our hotel, we watched a show at the Imax theatre near the aquarium. It was a fun day exploring Osaka, and we were all ready for an early night! Nara tomorrow!
Drinking in Japan 