TARD BAIT: castles, fish, bands, and blue water

So its been a day or two so I'll start where I left off at. Our second day in Osaka- We had a few things we wanted to go to. Sheridan really wanted to see the osaka castle and we both really wanted to go to the aquarium. So we started off first with the castle. I was quite big, it had a giant moat and all. We walked around the outside checked it out and for six bucks we could tour the inside. Inside we went, and it was mostly just a museum filled with history and old artifacts from back to the 1500's. I actually paid attention to the history part and read a bunch of story's on how it had been taken over and the battles it took place in. very interesting it was but we got hungry and split.

Next after lunch we hopped back onto the railway and headed for the aquarium. When we got there we realized it was summer and there was no school, so the place was packed to the brim with screaming children, people kinda pushing around to see shit, and an irritated me getting knocked around. Yeah it was about as annoying as it could possibly get but after a while it kinda smoothed out and we got to see all the cool underwater creatures. It claimed in the book we read to be the worlds biggest but i will argue against that. Though they did have a whale shark and a huge manta ray, and also an exhibit of baby river otters that i wanted to steal.We were off and it was time to go get a drink and see a couple bands at the fandango bar we went to the night before.

The first band i think was called School of cook? I don't know or care nor should you they sucked. I don't know the name of the second band but they were pretty good. They dressed up like cowboys and Indians and played some good ol' Japanese rock and roll. I have no idea what they were saying but they made us laugh. The last band was called national. They killed it! They put on a great show. I enjoyed them so much we spent our last bit of beer money for a cd.

We wanted to go to a beach somewhere while we are here so we asked the bartender where the closest beach was. He told us all the osaka beaches sucked and are dirty but he pointed us to Shirahama beach . Its about 2 1/2 hours south of osaka by train. We got up around 730 the next day looked it up online and were sold. The pictures we saw online were of white sands and blue water. Lets go! So, we immediately got up and headed to the railway to hit the next train.

The next train didn't leave till 12 noon so we took it got to the beach by 3 and relaxation set in. This is something we both really wanted to do but didn't think we would since it was so far away. The water was so clear. I swam out to where it was about 10 to 12 feet deep. dove all the way to the bottom, opened my eyes to see the white wavy sand for about 50 feet away. I looked down at the sand below me and noticed some kind of shell. I went to grab it and realized it as a crab and watched it scurry away. This place was great! We got some sun, swam, and watched the sunset all in relaxation. No rushing around, no hiking and no busy streets. Next time we come to japan we'll be sure to spend a few days over a few hours in shirahama. Thanks Couichi for telling us about this lace, it was well needed.

We didn't get back to our hotel from the beach till midnight, so we kept it chill and stayed in. We woke up packed up our stuff and headed back to tokyo for another two nights before we come back to the bay. Our new hotel is pretty rad. Its got two bowling alleys, and aquarium, dolphins you can pet, tennis courts, and 7 restaurants. I think we are probably going to hang out around here. There is enough stuff to do here to keep us busy for 2 days. I'm over riding the train everyday. We both are ready to get back. I want a burrito, cheesesteak, pizza and some t.v i can understand. See you soon