The Golden Days of Freedom

is over…!
“Golden week” came and went, but the memories are still there.

I had so much fun, it was great to get out and about in Japan again, I really have missed travelling!
Osaka had more to offer than I first thought, for example, they have a place called “ROUND 1″, it’s a game paradise! You pay for x hours and play as much as you want without paying extra. You can play games like arcade games, dance dance revolution, guitar hero etc. or you can play darts, have a game of bowling, or sing karaoke. This one even had massage chairs and even better, an onsen (hot spring). Though I never got to try the hot spring, because I sat down in a massage chair, and kind of just didn’t move for an hour! haha!

A cute dolphin

We also went to the Kaiyukan Aquarium, they have  the worlds largest fish on display, the whale shark. Though my favourite was the dolphins, I just simply love them. How they frolic around playfully. They are absolutely beautiful!
For those interested to know more about the Kaiyukan, here’s a link to their homepage http://www.kaiyukan.com/language/eng/
The day we went there, was absolutely crowded, but who could have expected otherwise on a national holiday?
We had to fight our way through the crowd just to get a glimpse of the animals behind the glass.
If you ever go to Osaka, and want to visit this place, you should make sure that it isn’t a national holiday, OR a weekend day, because the place will be swamped.

Tempozan

Right next to the Kaiyukan, is one of the largest Ferris Wheels in the world, Tempozan, with a total height of 112,5 meters and a diameter of 100 meters.  The ride takes about 17 minutes and you can see a nice view of Osaka bay and surrounding areas.
It offers a spectacular view around sunset, though I did not get the chance to see the sunset, since it was cloudy that day.
Under Tempozan, there is a huge mall, with a lot of different shops and stores. There is even a  petting zoo, where you can go pet a cat(?) or maybe a woolen llama.  You can also get a hand peeling done by some small eager fish…no they’re not piranhas..

Pettingzoo cat

The place also offered an animal show, where they had trained their dogs, cats, llama etc. to do tricks. and they involved the little children.
The “house of cats” was a place where people could go in, and pet a REAL CAT….*ahem*
I felt sorry for the cats there, they wanted attention from the people who worked there, but not from the people who came visiting the place. Some of the actually tried escaping the hands of the strangers, by climbing up as much as they could. They didn’t look very interested or happy about being petted by total strangers, who obviously knew nothing about cats or how to treat them. Most people just kind of sat there, staring at the cats or trying to take pictures of them.

Unko-chan...yes, it's a golden turd!

The Japanese have a strange fondness for Kin no Unko.. aka the golden poop.  They are sold as lucky charms at souvenir shops around Japan.
I find this a little bit disturbing, yet also very funny. You can now gift your friends and family with this “holy shit”.  Who wouldn’t see the fun in that?
Actually there is a story behind this little fella. The name “Kin no Unko”  plays on the fact that the Japanese word for poop (unko) starts with the same “un” sound as a completely unrelated word that means “luck” (Un), and also the ending “ko” is usually used in girls names, and means “little one” or “child”.
Japanese enjoy this kind of pun, traditional storytelling is full of them,  which may help explain why more than 2.5 million of the lucky little poops have sold in the last seven years. I even got myself one!