Osaka
Osaka is the third biggest city in Japan, with 2,7 millions of habitants. It is located on the main island of Honshu at the side west of Osaka Bay, and it is one of the ports and major industrial centers of Japan.
It is completely surrounded by more than 10 smaller cities, almost all of them in Osaka Prefecture.
The city of Osaka was originally named as Naniwa, and later was given the name of Ozaka until the early modern period. Osaka literally means “large hill” or “large slope”.
Central Osaka is often divided into two areas referred to as Kita, the north, and Minami, the south, each placed at one end of the major thoroughfare Midōsuji. Kita is the area surrounding the business, and Minami is home of shopping districts.
Osaka has a large number of wholesalers and retail shops, like the area of Den Den Town, the electronic and manga/anime district, and it has a great shopping mall with lots of restaurants and all kind of shops.
Osaka it’s known by its food. There is a saying that sais: “Dress (in kimonos) till you drop in Kyoto, eat till you drop in Osaka". Regional cuisine includes takoyaki (octopus dumplings), udon (a noodle dish), as well as the traditional battera sushi between others.
Places to visit here are:
-Umeda sky building, one of the tallest buildings on the city. It consists of 2 towers with 40 floors each one, linked with bridges and with a moving stairway.
It was originally designed as part of the “air city”, a project from a Japanese company that thought about building a great skyscraper with empty floors to place gardens and parks.
There is an observatory on the roof called “the floating garden observatory”.
-Osaka castle, one of the most famous on Japan. It is built on two raised platforms supported by rock walls, each one overlooking a moat. Its grounds cover about sixty thousand square meters.
Now it’s a museum, opened to the public, and it is a popular gathering point for celebrations that takes places during the blossoming of the cherry blossom.
-Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan: located near the Osaka bay, it is one of the largest museums in the world. The habitats are from the ring of fire, an area on the pacific ocean with large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
-Dotonbori: a single street famous for its historic theaters that are all gone now, for its shops, restaurants and its many neon and mechanized signs. It is one of the principal tourist destinations.
The cost of the flight, staying there a week, it’s 1954,28 EUR for 2 adults.
