わたしの日本りょこう２０１１ part 3

 SHIRAHAMA-- Here's a great view of one of the pandas at Adventure World Zoo.  It was a pretty cold day, but nobody seemed to mind.  There were quite a few pandas I think about 8.  Also, new cubs, they were about 4 months old.  The two guys here on the swing are adolescent age, they played for a good hour straight, then took a bath and fell asleep.

えきちょうさん！

I know pandas are endangered and playing with a seal was a new experience, but my  favorite guy at the zoo was the dog Ekichyousan, the train station "boss".  Here's a video: パンダははなします！

Shirahama is also a big hot spring locale.  We stayed at a traditional style hotel.  Tatami mats, futons, hot spring baths, the whole deal.  For dinner the waitress served us in our room and later a two-man team hustled in to set up our futons for the night.  It was very well-coordinated and unique!  In the morning, we had "Viking-style" (buffet) breakfast in the dining hall.  Of course, I'm sure the view of the beach is much better in the summer, but sometimes I like a chilly, grey beach.

These reminded me of David Sedaris...

OSAKA--Our textbook wasn't kidding. Osaka is, in fact, a "lively city."  We spent only a half day here to visit my wife's friend Atsuko.  So far every city I've been to in Japan I liked way more than Tokyo, so if you any of you ever get to go to Japan,  try to check out the other cities!

くいだおれ、はじめまして。

Tsutenkaku.

The area around Tsutenkaku Tower especially had a little different feel to it though. Here it was more worn down, like a part of the city that's often overlooked.  Go ahead and compare the colors of the Tsutenkaku photo with my other Osaka photos.  We walked by a toy store and saw old dusty toys that my wife remembered from when she was a kid. I got excited when I saw an old Nintendo there still in its original packaging. But everything in the store had been yellowed and faded over the years.   I got a feeling if we ever go there again, that old Nintendo will still be there.  I learned later on a TV show that there's a bit of a homeless and crime problem here.