Japan Trip- Osaka, continued

Morning sunrise in Osaka.

We loved the breakfast buffet at the hotel. 

City view from our room.

After breakfast we walked through the city towards Osaka Castle.

Girls and I with Osaka Castle in the background. 

Osaka Castle was built in the late 1500's... so pretty!

This is the large empty moat surrounding the castle. 

After our visit to the castle, we decided to wander around and enjoy the scenery. There were many temples and shrines in the area. 

It was a beautiful day to walk around the city. 

Osaka has a lot of shopping arcades with stores and restaurants. 

We tried a stand up sushi bar... you stand up the entire time at the counter and order sushi directly from the chefs. It was so efficient and the sushi was amazing!

Selfie in front of the Namba Yasaka Jinn shrine which looks like a lion's head. 

We walked through the Shinsekai Market. 

We visited a well known knife store called Tower Knives.

The store has an impressive selection of knives.

Customers can try out the knives by slicing carrots and tomatoes. We ended up buying the knife with the brown handle. 

Our next stop was the Shitenno-ji Bhuddist temple. 

This five-story pagoda was built in 593! We unfortunately arrived too late to see it up close, but it was still neat to see it from a distance. 

We were hungry from all the walking so we stopped at a crepe shop. 

A nicely decorated pothole. 

Late evening view from the hotel room. 

We had so much fun trying different snacks from Seven Eleven. 

The girls loved these fruit and whipped cream sandwiches!

Japan Trip- Shinkansen to Osaka

We rode the shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Osaka... it took about 2.5 hours. The train has a top speed of ~200 miles per hour!

The train stations sell grab and go box lunches to eat on the train.

It was a clear day so we were able to see Mount Fuji.

When we arrived at Osaka station, we caught a glimpse of the Hello Kitty shinkansen.

We walked through the station and took a subway train to our hotel. 

It was evening by the time we arrived at the Conrad Osaka... the hotel is located in a skyscraper and the lobby is on the 40th floor. When the elevator doors open, guests are greeted with this stunning view!

The lobby/lounge area was so pretty.

The girls had a nice view from their room.

Justin and I got a complimentary room upgrade... the room was huge and the view was gorgeous!

After we dropped off our luggage in our rooms, we went to the hotel executive lounge to eat. 

Then we started exploring Osaka... we walked through the Midosuji illumination area, a shopping street decorated with pretty holiday lights. 

Then we went to Dotonburi, an area famous for street food and shopping. 

The Glico running man sign is one of the most famous landmarks in Osaka. Glico is a snack manufacturer in Japan... their most popular product is Pocky.

Next we went to a shopping arcade... the stores and crowds seemed endless.

We tried these strawberry skewers... hard to tell from the photo, but the strawberries are covered in a thin crispy sugar coating.

Lauren enjoying her strawberry skewer.

We also tried takoyaki which are fried dough balls with octopus meat in the center... tasty but very filling.